The Mass Shooting Playbook

Introduction by Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications…

Every issue of Crisis Communications Today is written with one hope: to teach and give our readers usable, do-able information.

Unfortunately, we know the reality many of you live with every day: the threat of a mass shooting is no longer theoretical for city halls, schools, colleges, hospitals and first responders. It is a planning assumption.

In all the years we’ve produced this newsletter, I don’t believe we’ve ever shared a single resource more important than the Mass Shooting Handbook you’ll find below. It was created for exactly for many of you on the distribution list for this newsletter: public information officers, superintendents, police and fire leaders, hospital administrators, higher-ed and K-12 communicators, emergency managers and the elected officials who ultimately answer to the community when the unthinkable happens.

When a mass shooting occurs, tactical response is only half the crisis. The other half is communication:

• What you say in the first minutes and hours.

• How you coordinate messages across police, fire, schools, city/county and hospitals.

• How you handle rumors, social media and the 24/7 news cycle.

• How you speak to victims’ families, staff, students, and an anxious public who are desperate for answers.

Those moments cannot be improvised. Under stress, you will not “rise to the occasion”—you will fall to the level of your preparation. This handbook is designed to raise that level. It provides practical, ready-to-use guidance to help you:

• Clarify roles and responsibilities before a crisis.

• Anticipate the questions you will be asked and who will answer them.

• Align law enforcement, schools, government, and health care in one coherent voice.

• Communicate in ways that protect investigations, preserve public trust, and support recovery.

If you are responsible for a community, a campus, a hospital or a public safety agency, this is not “nice to have” material. It is a core duty-of-care document. Your community will judge your leadership not only by how you respond operationally, but by how you communicate when people are most afraid.

I want to be very clear: this is not a marketing piece. We are sharing this because we believe it can help save lives, reduce chaos and give you a framework to lean on in the worst day of your professional life.

We strongly urge you to:

1. Download the Mass Shooting Handbook.

2. Share it with your leadership, communications and emergency management teams.

3. Integrate it into your existing emergency operations and crisis communication plans.

4. Walk through it now, before you ever need it.

Please don’t let this guide sit in an inbox or on a shared drive. Take the time, as a leadership team, to review it, adapt it and own it. The work you do with it today is what will be there for you when everything else feels like it’s coming apart.

Thank you for the work you do, the responsibility you carry, and the commitment you’ve already shown by staying engaged with this newsletter. We hope you never need this handbook—but if you do, we want you to have it.

The Mass Shooting Playbook

The Mass Shooting Playbook was inspired by Mayor Bill Peduto of Pittsburgh, who led that city’s response to the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Mayor Peduto urged us to develop practical resources for mayors, city managers, and other local officials called to respond to mass shootings and other forms of violent mass casualty incidents.

Research

Starting in 2020, our team conducted interviews with mayors, first responders, and professional staff from six cities that responded to a mass shooting: Dayton OH, El Paso TX, Orlando FL, Parkland FL, Pittsburgh PA, and San Bernardino CA. Our focus was on the role of the mayor. We used the research to develop the Mass Shooting Playbook: A Resource for U.S. Mayors and City Managers.

Mass Shooting Playbook

The Mass Shooting Playbook is a comprehensive guide outlining a leader’s responsibilities across the
critical phases of a mass shooting response. It is organized into 10 key topics:

• Crisis communications
• Emergency operations
• Victim and family assistance
• Collaborating with first responders
• Managing donations and volunteers
• School shootings
• Community partnerships
• Legal considerations
• Commemorations
• Mental health

Each chapter has an executive summary and a checklist for quick reference. The chapters are divided into the three phases of a mass shooting: preparedness, response, and recovery. Each section provides best practices, training, and resources specific to the topic.

Throughout the Playbook, key resources are highlighted. Many chapters include a leaders in action vignette to illustrate how mayors handled a specific challenge.

The Playbook’s appendices contain additional guidance, including preparedness and prevention strategies, potential state and federal funding sources, and tips for commissioning an after action review or hosting a presidential visit.

You can access the Mass Shooting Playbook by clicking here.

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Need assistance or counsel concerning the crisis communications portion of your overall response plan, or perhaps a peer review of your existing crisis comm plan?  Please give Hennes Communications a call at 216-321-7774 or by email at info@crisiscommunications.com