It Starts with the Sound

A Civilian’s Minute-by-Minute Survival Guide for a Coordinated Mall or Concert Attack

You are at a Saturday night concert or holiday market. The venue is packed. Families, teens, and tourists press shoulder-to-shoulder. You can feel the bass in your chest. People take videos. Drinks are passed. Security looks routine.

Then you hear the sound. At first, it could be fireworks. Then a second burst. People shout. A man drops. Smoke or flash appears near the stage. Phones light up.

In those first seconds, nothing looks like the training videos. The venue turns from celebration to a funnel of bodies trying to escape.

This is the scenario Sarah Adams and others label a “wave one” mass-casualty attack: an initial kinetic strike, shooting, or explosion, designed to create panic, followed by follow-on tactics such as secondary devices, vehicle ramming at egress points, or roaming attackers.

This scene should be treated as a layered and evolving scenario, not a single isolated event.

Below is a practical, minute-by-minute breakdown, the intelligence context, and an action framework you can apply the moment you recognize danger.