I’d engage hands down. Engagement doesn’t mean draw and start putting rounds down range, it means to engage the threat. I’d talk to the threat, try to get them to calm down, see what they want, attempt to diffuse at all costs and if that fails, wait for an opportunity to eliminate the threat.
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First, take a deep breath and assess the situation. You don’t want to do anything to hasty that would get the girl killed. Engage the situation if possible. If it’s not possible, call 911 and assess again.
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Engage but monitor closely. Talk to the suspect find out his intentions. Once i could do it safely without danger to the victim or bystanders I would shoot to the center of mass by a double tap and continue until the threat was neutralized.
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You must engage in some way, it’s the HUMAN thing to do especially if he kills the girl after grabbing her, then to continue on his spree.
I know that some ranges don’t allow human hostage scenario targets, but IMO they are important training tools. I’m lucky to have a range that allows then.
However if the bad guy/gal hasn’t cause the girl any physical harm, I would keep my weapon concealed and attempt to de-escalate the situation.
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Call 911, then try to keep things calm and wait for the police to arrive. Contain the situation.
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Anyone that is willing to get into a third party encounter not involving your love ones is foolish and living in a fantasy land. Unless you are an operator do not get involved. Or if you know for a certain that you will not hit the hostage. It’s best to call 911 and be a good witness.
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Legally in Minnesota I have a duty to retreat but I think it depends on how close the guy is to me. If it’s within a few feet or yards, I would probably try to do something.
Maybe trying to talk first or give commands would be a start but it would more than likely end in a shot fired.
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In this case I would retreat to a better tactical position before engaging the threat. The hostage is the last person we want getting hurt.
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Quickly observe, assess then engage if possible. If you immediately draw the situation can escalate quickly making the situation worse. You should move out of the 21’ danger zone, observing the background in the event you do fire “and miss” you know where that round is going. Most importantly keep calm and read the situation, is it absolutely necessary to draw? Is there a clear shot? Who or what is in the background?
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The longer I study and teach this the more convinced I am that mental preparedness is somewhere between about 75-90% of your likelihood of success.
The more of these scenarios you observe and study or go over in you mind the more likely you are to be able to recognize what’s going on, make the right decision on how to react and then carry out your plan made in a split second or seconds successfully.
The longer it takes you to recognize what is going on and decide on a plan of action the more likely you are to freeze or to hurry through it making a mistake.
The Young lady in the first video expected something to happen, recognized what was happening, came up with a decent plan of action but never really got past or over being startled.
You can see that from the time she begins to reach for the gun she’s pushing like she’s behind the ball, failed therefore to get a clean draw with a proper grip and thus ended up just flinging shots without ever getting on target.
I’d bet that if they’d asked her why she thought she failed to succeed she’d probably tell you all that was going through her mind from the instant when she recognized the scenario was “Shoot, Shoot, Shoot”.
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Wow! What a question. What about the answer “Call 911”? Am I armed or unarmed? Too many unknowns to answer the question properly.
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You’re very right, @Charles16 - did you watch the video? There are more details about the situation in the video. 
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Keep in mind that the duty isn’t just to retreat, it’s to do so “if you can do so safely and reasonably”.
She went to her gun so fast in this scenario that really wasn’t an option. She skipped “make a decision” really and was simply reacting in a startled response"
Unless you’ve drilled these types of scenarios until you’re bored to tears it’s hard to make that orderly transition from recognition to making a decision, to carrying out your plan of action.
I honestly think she’d have probably done better if she wasn’t’ expecting something to happen, and the pressure of wanting to look good to the bosses.
I believe having that knowledge ahead of time led to the startled response.
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In that particular situation I don’t believe it was an option for her, she was simply too close to the event. She’d have needed time to withdraw to where she wouldn’t be observed to make the call.
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Blood on the knife…he is serious but the hostage is his only protection. Immediately draw on him and tell him if he hurts the hostage he will die. Can buy time for someone else to engage him from another direction.
He either releases hostage or I take the shot As soon as possible.
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I might suggest slightly different language here, @GrandpasRock, for your legal protection after the incident. Something along the lines of he needs to release the hostage otherwise you’ll be forced to help defend her. That way, your intent of defending the hostage is clear.
Glad to have you here!
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Agree that is better 
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Just want to make sure you’re safe physically and legally 
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The thing about this lack of information is. If you were there you wouldn’t have any of the back stories either.
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