Run, hide, or fight. These are the three most important things you can do in the event of a shooting on campus, EC Police Chief Michael Trevis said.

“If you hear gun shots; if you see these things, if you can run, run away from it. If you cannot, hide. Do the best you can do and hide, so this person doesn’t see you,” Trevis said. “And if you cannot run and if you cannot hide, then you have the right to defend yourself and others.”

In preparation for such scenarios, Trevis said the EC police, Hawthorne police, and Gardena police departments come together to run drills on campus when classes are not in session. They practice how to enter buildings and save lives.

“The campus police here at El Camino Torrance and the Compton Center, both places, our officers are trained,” Trevis said. “We have the training and we have the equipment to save people’s lives – to respond to these kinds of situations, to help people if something was to happen.”

Trevis advises all students and faculty to be aware of their surroundings as well as knowing where the emergency exits and police phones are located. He also recommends saving the campus police phone number in your cell phone.

“I don’t think about a shooting event. I do when it takes place, and I think about people who get hurt. I think it is very sad,” Jacquelyn Gallagher, 19, communications major, said. “But I think you cannot allow yourself to think all the time because it will drive you crazy.”

The FBI classification of a serial murder is when two or more people are killed, according to the official FBI website.

This year there have been 17 shootings with four or more killed from January to September, the most recent of which claimed the lives of 12 victims, according to The Huffington Post.

Trevis also said that every student should have a survival plan, but some students like Rina Cortez, 21, nursing major, and Seulgi Ellen Lee, 17, political science major, don’t feel ready if a shooting were to occur.

“I don’t really have a plan,” Lee said.

Fred Gonzales, 18, undecided major, said he often thinks about what would happen if a shooting were to occur on campus.

“Hopefully it doesn’t happen, but it will be terrible if it happens,” he said. “[My plan] would be to get as far away from the guy as quickly as possible. I learned krav maga.”

Trevis wants all the campus community to be safe so that the students can achieve their goals and dreams.

“I need everyone’s help in community policing, where everybody is looking out for everyone else,” Trevis said.