Ex-Secret Service agent reveals how to survive an active shooter situation

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Would you know what to do if you came face to face with an active shooter?

Thom Bolsch was in the Secret Service for decades. Before retiring, he protected Presidents Clinton, Bush, and then-candidate Obama.

Bolsch says the first defense is awareness.

"If the president was speaking at a site in the middle of the summer and someone was wearing a trench coat, that's out of place," Bolsch explained. "Why is he wearing a trench coat? Is he hiding something? Does he have something underneath there?"

Bolsch now owns Saddle River Range in Conroe. He believes we should all be trained to use firearms, but that doesn't mean we should use them

"Run. Get out of there as quickly as possible," he said. "And I'll say that even if you have a license to carry permit holder."

If you can't get out, he says to hide. The last resort is fighting back.

"You have to respond to violence with violence," he said. "That means trying to get the gun away and hitting him with any object you can."