Chris Grollnek · Active Shooter Prevention Expert · chrisgrollnek.com

On Monday, May 18, 2026, three people were killed at the Islamic Center of San Diego, including a security guard whose actions authorities say helped save others. It has been more than 27 years since Columbine. We have the data, the lessons, and we have a prevention standard built from them. The hardest truth is this: the answer already exists, and it is within reach of any organization that decides to use it.

chrisgrollnek.com · PRO Model™ · #NEVERHERE™

27 Years Of Lessons

By Chris Grollnek · Active Shooter Prevention Expert · Monday, May 18, 2026

Today, I completed two media interviews regarding the tragic events that unfolded in San Diego at the Islamic Center. Like most incidents in the first hours, information continues to evolve. As of Monday, May 18, 2026, authorities and current reporting indicate three people were killed, and two suspects are also dead. One of the victims has been identified by officials as a security guard, whose actions police say helped limit the loss of life. The investigation is ongoing, and federal authorities are assisting. Out of respect for the families and the integrity of that investigation, I will not speculate on motive or on the individuals responsible, there will be time for that. Right now, families are receiving calls they never wanted, and a community is trying to understand why.

But there is something I will say, because saying it is the only way to honor the people we lose. It has been more than 27 years since the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. Twenty-seven years of tragedies. Twenty-seven years of investigations, after-action reports, congressional hearings, and grief. Twenty-seven years of data, and we do not lack information; we lack the will to turn that information into a system everyone could actually use.

We Solved This Once Before. It Was Called Fire.

Here is a fact that should change how we think. For almost 70 years, no child has died in a school fire in the United States; that is not luck. We studied the tragedies, we learned the lessons, and we built a standard code, alarms, drills, inspections, and people who knew the plan. And here is the part most people miss: no building uses every fire solution ever made. A small office is not set up like a hospital. A country church is not set up like a stadium. There are hundreds of fire tools. No rule says one building must use them all. Each place uses what fits its size, its use, and its risk.

That is exactly the model for active shooter prevention. We have 27 years of data, just as we once had decades of fire data. The question is no longer whether we know how; it is whether we will use what we know and make it accessible to every organization, not just those with the biggest budgets.

The Standard Exists, and It Has A Name.

The PRO Model™ Prevention. Response. Options. was built from those 27 years of lessons. It was selected by the U.S. Department of Justice as “A” national standard for active shooter prevention training in 2022 and again in 2026 through 2028 the only organization selected twice. It has always centered on a simple truth: people remain the center of the problem, and therefore, people must remain the center of the solution. Technology, cameras, detection, training, and security all matter. But none of those, standing alone, becomes prevention. Prevention is a system, awareness, and it is intervention. Prevention is identifying behaviors and indicators before they become headlines.

And It Is Within Reach

The lesson of fire safety was not only that a standard works. The standard had to be affordable enough that every building could meet it; the same is true here. Prevention does not start with an expensive purchase. It starts with an honest evaluation of where you stand, followed by training, seminars, and walk-throughs sized to your people and your risk. Affordable assessments, seminar-style training, and keynotes that move people from fear to readiness. A program that scales from a one-location small business to a federal agency, because the standard the government trusts should be the standard a small congregation can reach, too. That is why we give away a lot of what we do. A standard that only the largest budgets can afford is not a standard; it’s a privilege. Prevention cannot be a privilege.

Why Networks Call, And What I Said

When something like this happens, the networks call people they trust to explain what prevention actually means. Here is one of those conversations, with FOX 5 San Diego.

FOX 5 San Diego · Chris Grollnek · Active Shooter Prevention Project™ · #NEVERHERE™

Our mission should remain the same today as it was yesterday, and as it will be tomorrow. I have spent more than three decades on this as a U.S. Marine, a retired police detective, and a real-time active shooter survivor. I do this work because accepting these days as normal is something I will never do. Twenty-seven years have given us the lessons; the standard exists. The least we owe the people we have lost, and the people we can still protect, is to use it.