One NYPD officer and not less than 4 civilians are confirmed lifeless after gunman opened hearth in workplace constructing.
Office security issues have made panic rooms in workplace buildings much less of a luxurious and extra of a strategic necessity, in line with Geno Roefaro, CEO of Saferwatch.
SaferWatch is a security and emergency alert platform that allows real-time communication, tip reporting and panic alerting to assist people and companies.
Roefaro stated the corporate is already consulting on the build-out of those rooms for a dozen firms, a lot of which have reached out lower than every week after a gunman, recognized as Shane Tamura, entered the foyer of 345 Park Avenue and went on a capturing rampage with an AR-15 fashion rifle that left 4 lifeless.
Some workers within the constructing, which homes world funding powerhouse Blackstone, actual property agency Rudin Administration, the Nationwide Soccer League and world skilled providers agency KPMG, sought refuge in these rooms whereas chaos ensured, whereas others took shelter in bogs or barricaded themselves in workplaces.
Nevertheless, one sufferer, 27-year-old Julia Hyman, was shot and killed after stepping out of a panic room inside Rudin Administration’s Midtown workplace. Rudin owns the property.
Roefaro described these rooms as “a critical layer of protection during active threats” that enable workers to flee to shelter safely whereas first responders are alerted in actual time.
DOORDASH DRIVER’S QUICK ALERT SAVES BLACKSTONE EMPLOYEE FROM LOBBY SHOOTER
Whereas they’re costly to construct, costing roughly $150,000 to $500,000 for a completely safe room, Roefaro stated, he argued that it’s pivotal in defending workers and executives from outdoors threats.
Samuel Fish, founding father of Defend Safety Doorways Ltd, stated that firms have historically put in panic rooms and secure rooms of their workplaces for C-suite executives, which generally concerned reinforcing the partitions, ground and ceiling with bullet-resistant supplies comparable to fiberglass and putting in pressured entry and bullet-resistant doorways and home windows.
NYPD Crime Scene Unit investigators stroll on the scene of a lethal mass capturing in Manhattan, New York Metropolis on July 29, 2025. Reuters/Kylie Cooper (Kylie Cooper/Reuters / Reuters)
“The reason this was mainly tailored to the senior executives is because these individuals were the most likely targets for disgruntled current or former employees, or outside individuals seeking retribution against a corporation,” Fish stated.
Nonetheless, he argued that the panorama has modified within the final 20 years “as workplace shootings have become increasingly random, and the agendas of the perpetrators increasingly disconnected from reality.”
Monday’s incident, notably the picture that surfaced displaying workers barricading themselves with workplace furnishings, “sparked a lot of people saying, well, how else can we protect our own employees? Like, where can they go? What can we do for them?” Roefaro stated.
BLACKSTONE, NFL, RUDIN, KMPG CONSOLE EMPLOYEES AFTER DEADLY NYC SHOOTING
Law enforcement officials stand subsequent to the glass window with a bullet gap close to the scene of a lethal mass capturing in Manhattan, New York Metropolis on July 29, 2025. (Mike Segar/Reuters / Reuters)
There’s a variety of panic room choices that workers can at the moment discover in workplace settings, from fundamental secure areas that enable workers to take refuge behind bulletproof doorways and out of a shooter’s direct line of sight, to completely safe and hid rooms geared up with strengthened glass, in line with Roefaro.
These high-end rooms typically require superior communication methods that allow instantaneous, two-way communication with legislation enforcement. That’s the place Roefaro’s firm is available in: companies with such rooms can combine SaferWatch’s panic alert methods, which give real-time alerts and assist activate a coordinated emergency response.
Individuals stand close to a glass window with a bullet gap, close to the scene of a lethal mass capturing in Manhattan, New York Metropolis on July 29, 2025. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters / Reuters)
Over the previous few a long time, Fish stated, an rising variety of firms have began to construct workplace panic rooms in dual-purpose areas comparable to convention rooms, break rooms, and bogs, as firms started to understand that “janitors and CEOs are often equally at risk in workplace shootings.”
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Nevertheless, Roefaro argued that worker security goes far past merely making a bodily secure house. Employers should be certain that employees obtain well timed alerts and clearly perceive the right lockdown procedures within the occasion of an emergency.
