CRANBERRY TWP — More than three times the expected crowd turned up Monday for a seminar on a shooter coming to a business or office.

Jeff Schueler, the Cranberry Township’s director of public safety, said he expected 20 to 30 people for the seminar. However, more than 90 attended the forum, which was at the municipal center.

It was put on by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security professional.

Bob Winters, a protective security adviser with Homeland Security’s Pittsburgh office, offered the representatives from businesses, churches, libraries, and other groups at the free seminar a list containing the names of 22 resources they could use to create or improve a preparedness plan.

Winters’ presentation also included the latest information on active shooter preparedness from his department’s National Protection and Programs Directorate.

Winters said while there still is no single, accurate, one-size-fits-all profile of a potential shooter, many are reacting inappropriately to “accelerators” that have angered them.

He said according to the FBI, workplace retaliation, domestic disputes and academic retaliation by a current or former student were the top three accelerators among the 154 U.S. shootings between 2002 and 2012 that included three or more victims being shot.

“When confronted with a difficult situation, their response is going to be to turn toward people who they perceive to be victimizing them,” Winters said.

In 96 percent of cases analyzed by the FBI, the shooter was male, and acted alone. The shooter died in 51 percent of cases, 43 percent through suicide and 8 percent having been killed by responders. Winters said in 45 percent of the cases, the shooters were arrested.

Winters said it is difficult to identify a potential shooter, but he said expert analysis has determined that many are socially isolated, harbored feelings of hate and anger, and had contact with mental health professionals.

Triggers observed in the analysis include loss of relationships, changes in financial status, loss of a job, changes in living arrangements, adverse changes to life circumstances, or feelings of humiliation or rejection.

“You must learn to recognize the people who are ‘outliers,’” Winters said. “Preparedness and awareness are key to helping protect our employees, our customers, and ourselves.”

He said organizations should put into place a procedure for employees to report coworkers who display paranoia or depression, or who react without sorrow to a shooting incident.

“It was discovered that the Sandy Hook shooter idolized other shooters, almost to see what score he could get,” Winters said.

All employers and organizations should have an emergency action plan, and existing ones should be updated to include an active-shooter element, Winters said. The plan should include first responders, such as police, emergency medical services and fire departments.

He said employees should be trained in creating a “mental map” to use if a shooter were to enter their building. In it, individuals would decide whether to flee, hide or fight.

Winters said safely escaping the building is always the best plan if a shooter appears since no shooter has ever chased a target down to shoot that person.

“They look for easy targets,” he said.

Winters also advised organizations to have a “go kit.” That means making first responders familiar with the building’s layout, having copies of keys or entrance badges, and even implementing a system how police can view a building’s situation via the cameras on employee computers or the building’s security camera system.

“You should assemble all the things that would help first responders,” Winters said.

He said employers creating an active shooter plan should invite police and fire personnel to tour the building. There, first responders can note areas where explosive or hazardous materials exist, familiarize themselves with the building’s layout and location of all exits, and locate possible staging areas.

Recovering from an incident should be another area that officials should include in their active-shooter plans, Winters said.

“There is an appropriate way to respond,” Winters said.

Reuniting families after an incident, how facility personnel will communicate with families, and counseling services to be offered are considerations for the incident recovery portion of a plan, Winters said.

“It’s not going to just be the people who were shot and wounded, it’s going to be everyone in the (organizational) community who’s affected,” he said.

A short active-shooter video prepared by Homeland Security was shown at the seminar. Winters said the video can be accessed for free on Youtube.com.

The video advises viewers on how to behave in an active-shooter situation. That advice includes leaving belongings behind, silencing cell phones, avoiding moving wounded individuals, and obeying the orders of first responders.

Winters was asked what common mistakes people make during the chaos of a shooting situation.

Winters said not having a mental map is one of the most dangerous mistakes. He said failure to thoroughly screen new employees as well as vendors and contractors is also a recipe for disaster.

Librarian Lori Hinterliter of the Butler Public Library attended with several other librarians from around the county.

The group said they came because the library is one of the last truly public places remaining where people can come in for no reason, hang out and be left alone. The librarians all agreed that many people who come to the library fit the description of “outliers” given by Winters.

Hinterliter said she feels a false sense of security sometimes exists at the library.

“People don’t think anything is going to happen to them,” she said.

She said her library has an emergency plan that officials are in the process of reviewing. She said an active-shooter segment will likely be added.

“I got some great ideas here,” Hinterliter said of the seminar.

Karen Pierce of the Slippery Rock Library said two weeks ago, a young man came into her facility carrying a duffel bag. Because his demeanor raised her suspicions, Pierce called the police.

“For all we knew, there were loaded guns in that bag,” Pierce said.

She said police responded immediately, but were unable to search the man’s bag because he did not display aggressive behavior.

Jennifer Kissel, director of communications for North Hills Community Outreach, said the social services agency in Hampton Township regularly handles potentially volatile clients.

Kissel said she appreciated the mental map and go kit ideas, plus the sheet of resources handed out by Winters.

“We need to learn how to make a plan and diffuse a situation,” Kissel said.

Schueler said while the township has plans in place for Cranberry’s larger employers and the Seneca Valley School District, the volunteer fire department is compiling a database of the floor plans of each building in the township, plus areas in them where hazardous materials exist.

The fire department surveys each new business for inclusion in the plan, and most of the township’s existing commercial, retail and office buildings are already in the database, Schueler said.

He said township officials have been working with Winters for about a year, and he was glad to schedule the seminar once he discovered Winters performs that task.

“We just thought it was a good match,” Schueler said.

Sgt. Chuck Mascellino of the Cranberry police said the seminar was valuable for organizations as well as for the police department.

“It was excellent,” he said. “A great starting point.”