Disbelief. Tense. Uneasy. On edge. Grief.

Those are some of the words credit union executives used to describe the aftermath of the Dallas shootings, which took the lives of five police officers and shocked the nation.

Credit union employees who work in one of the half dozen downtown Dallas branches at or near where the tragedy unfolded July 7 told CU Times how they are coming to terms with what happened. What's more, because of the shootings, executives said they are also reviewing and updating their disaster response plans to include life-threatening or dangerous events that occur outside of their branches.

Safety and security experts said credit unions can take steps to help save the lives of employees and members if a similar shooting scenario were to occur unexpectedly. Plenty of free resources also are available to help credit unions prepare for a worst case scenario like the one in Dallas.

“Everything is tense. The whole (downtown) atmosphere is tense,” President/CEO Deborah A. Lohrke said the morning of July 11 from her office at the $12.8 million Neiman Marcus Group Employees Federal Credit Union. “Everything's still closed down at the crime scene right down the street from us. Yes, it's of course very tense and there's no getting around that.”

Following the shooting, police investigators closed a 25-block area of downtown Dallas bounded by Ross Avenue and Houston, Jackson and Griffin streets, which forced businesses, including three credit union branches, to close the day after the shooting.

The credit unions affected were the $591 million Neighborhood Credit Union's branch on Elm Street, the $111 million Liberty One Credit Union's branch on Commerce Street and Neiman Marcus Group Employees' Main Street branch.

“One of the primary reasons that we closed the credit union is that we didn't know if there were IEDs (improvised explosive devices),” Lohrke said.

Micah Johnson, 25, the sole sniper in the attack who was killed by police, reportedly said that he planted bombs. But the threat was fake.

Although the downtown Dallas branch of Liberty One was closed to walk-in traffic Friday, all but one of its employees reported to work.

“A couple of the branch employees I talked to said they were a bit uneasy when they first drove downtown,” Liberty One President/CEO Mike Funk said. “The federal building that we're in is pretty well-guarded and I think employees felt OK. Nobody I talked to seemed to be uncomfortable or anything like that. We didn't require our employees to come in. We just encouraged them to take their time because we knew getting downtown was going to be tough anyway.”

Four of the fallen police officers worked for the Dallas Police Department, which is part of the core membership of the $357 million City Credit Union. The Dallas PD helped found the credit union in 1942. The 42,178-member credit union also serves people who work for other Dallas city government departments and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. One DART police officer was also killed in the shooting.

“All of us at City CU are trying to find 'normal' after last week's tragedy. DART and City of Dallas employees are a visible segment of our membership and many are friends of our City CU family,” City CU President/CEO Sharon Moore said. “I think we are all grieving in some way for the lives lost, the devastation to the families of the fallen officers, and to the long-term impact to our community and nation.”

She added, “We are doing everything we can to help raise funds for the families of the police officers who were killed last week and are reaching out individually and as an organization to help provide financial and emotional support for the brave men and women who protect us.”

In addition to raising money, City CU employees dressed in blue last week in honor of the police officers killed and seven other officers who were injured in the attack.

“The area is still in shock, still on edge,” Jennifer Grinder, chief of sales and marketing for the $446 million Resource One Credit Union, said. One of its branches is about two miles from downtown Dallas where the shooting took place, but only a three-minute walk from the Dallas PD's headquarters.

“There's definitely just a heavy feeling around Dallas right now,” she said. “I guess I probably now have a better empathy for other cities that have gone through this.”

The Dallas event prompted executives at Neiman Marcus Group Employees and Liberty One to take a closer look at their disaster preparedness plans. They said they also may make some changes to those plans to ensure their employees and members are kept safe should a similar event occur.

“We have some plans in place, but now that this has occurred we're going to visit our plans a little more in depth just to make our employees feel more comfortable, and know what we would do in case a riot breaks out between here and our cars, or even something that might affect the building's entrances and exits and that kind of thing,” Lohrke said.

About a 150 people a day walk into and out of the Neiman Marcus Group Employees branch.

“If I had a credit union full of members, what would we do if something occurred outside of the building such as a bomb going off, for example?” she asked. “But some of these things are not typically addressed in a disaster recovery plan simply because you don't feel like you need to until an event such as this shooting [occurs].”

Funk also said he is going to review disaster plans with his executive team and the board to make sure they are not missing anything.

“I don't know if there are any lessons we can learn from this yet, but this type of event does certainly make you stop and think that we better take a closer look at things,” he said.

Being prepared for any type of worst case scenario has shown to help protect and save lives.

J. Michael Sullivan, a safety and security expert at FourPeaks Security in Scottsdale, Ariz., recommended that if there is an active shooter outside of the branch or office, employees should stay inside.

“I would recommend that they go on lockdown procedures,” he said. “A lot of this preparation and planning depends on the location of the shooter and how close the shooter is to staff, guests, and the ingress/egress points. If staff members are unable to vacate the office safely, dial 9-1-1 as soon as possible. Barricade the doors, block the line of sight from the shooter, and spread everyone out inside the building away from the doors and the windows. The key is not to group together but to spread out.”

Many security companies teach that if you group together and hide, you'll minimize the chance of the shooter finding you. But that's only partially true, Sullivan said, because with everyone grouped together, the shooter could potentially do more damage.

He also encouraged employees to do dry runs of active shooter drills, noting this will reduce the chance of staff going into shock.

Sullivan also suggested creating an emergency response team and giving duties to each member and their back-up members on who will take what action when an incident occurs.

If employees are able to get out of the branch safely, make sure everyone knows where to meet to ensure everyone is accounted for, he said. And rather than designating the adjacent parking lot as the gathering place, designate a nearby landmark or business. Everyone should also have phone numbers of supervisors, he said.

“Go through 'what if' scenarios,” Sullivan said. “Every situation is different. If businesses train for as many situations as possible, this will reduce their risk for mass casualties and panic.”

Free resources that can help credit unions prepare include local, county, regional and state police departments. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security lists more than a dozen free active shooter resources including videos, guides, courses and other resources that can assist credit union executives with their ongoing emergency plan initiatives and training.