WASHINGTON — In less than 24 hours, there were shootings at two different Metro stations across the District.
One was at Metro Center Station in Northwest. Lisa Mae Crawford was on board a red line trained headed into Metro Center, as gunfire erupted.
"I saw all of these people running. People were like running, people were falling down," Crawford said. "I saw and I reacted, I just started screaming, everybody get down!"
Those screams had many of her fellow passengers later praising her and calling her a hero on social media.
"I was like, 'Child, I am not a hero.' I wasn't thinking anything else but that we all got safe."
Crawford is a teacher in the District, and a cancer survivor.
"I said I don't want to die like this," she said.
She said she had just wrapped up active shooter training at work and that training immediately kicked in.
"We didn't have anywhere to run. I'm like we are gonna be safe and we aren't gonna get hurt so what are we gonna do? We're gonna hide," Crawford said.
Run. Hide. Fight. It's the core to most active shooter trainings.
"Worst case scenario, you're going to have to fight for your own life," James Hamilton said.
Hamilton is the Senior Vice President of Quality in Protection and Training at Gavin de Becker. He's a former FBI Agent and co-creator of GDBA's Active Shooter Prevention and Response program.
He said, if you can, "Run as fast as you possibly can. Just get out of the environment."
He says in this day and age, you need to be aware of your surroundings.
"Put your phone down. Get your head up, look around," Hamilton said.
Hamilton said everyone should immediately search for the closest exit when they go somewhere, and figure out how to escape in an emergency.
"You have to stay alert and be aware of what's going on around you. Tomorrow is not guaranteed," Hamilton said.
He also reminded people to trust their instincts.
"Don't ever say, 'oh it's probably fireworks. If you hear something that sounds like gunfire in America, I would say it's probably gunfire" said Hamilton.
For anyone who gets around differently, who is not able to run, he said this is where self-awareness comes into play. What this means is, you should think to yourself, "What am I capable of doing?"
Hamilton said that anyone limited in mobility should, "carefully consider going into environments that can pose a challenge to them, like a subway."
If you must use the Metro, he told WUSA9, "I would recommend they take a friend or colleague who can assist them. Who can move them or assist them in someway. With a group with limited mobility, I would stress the discussion of carrying some type of offensive instrument: pepper spray for instance. And ask them to get some training on deploying it. Something legal."