While people may consider it a possibility that a shooting will occur in schools and various places of business, including malls, it’s not often we read about one that occurs in a business dedicated to increasing health. Quite often, “health” goes hand in hand with “safety” (health and safety), so being in a gym, salon, etc. isn’t often thought about as being risky. Realistically, it’s not any more risky than other places, but the risk is equal. Nothing exempts a health oriented location from being a potential target or the location where a bad actor might attack. In this case, the yoga studio where the attack occurred was part of a plaza with numerous other businesses.
On November 2, 2018, a gunman went into the yoga studio, Tallahassee Hot Yoga and shot six women, pistol-whipped one man, and then took his own life. Of the seven wounded (you’ll rarely see us count the offender / criminal in our casualty counts because they chose to commit the act), two of the women died and the rest are reported to have recovered from their injuries. The man who was pistol-whipped should be honored and lauded for his actions. He was reportedly pistol-whipped by the shooter in reaction to the man attacking him with a vacuum and a broomstick. While this man was attacking the shooter, other potential victims took advantage to flee the business – so quickly and in quantity that other witnesses at a bar across the street reported on it.
The shooter was identified as Scott Paul Beierle. It’s reported that he entered the Tallahassee Hot Yoga studio just after 5:30pm eastern time on Nov. 2, 2018. He is reported not to have hesitated on entry, immediately beginning shooting his victims. The two victims who died were identified as 21-year-old Maura Binkley, a college student at the time, and Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, age 61 who was then the Chief Medical Director for Capital Health Plan and a faculty member at Florida State University.
The perpetrator, Beierle, had just turned 40-years of age when he committed this attack. The investigation into his background, performed after the attack, revealed that he was a military veteran and had been a school teacher in Maryland, teaching English and Social Studies.
Beierle also reportedly worked as a substitute teacher in several schools but not for long as his behavior indicated a lack of professionalism. He was reported at least once for making inappropriate advances toward a female student and he’d been arrested twice – once in 2012 and once in 2016 – for assaulting different women by grabbing their rearends. Beierle had posted videos on YouTube indicating he felt isolated and rejected by women in general. He identified himself as part of the “involuntarily celibate” community and he voiced sympathy for other active shooters who he felt had acted based on feelings of isolation, rejection and loneliness.
He had also posted other videos to YouTube that indicated he supported racial isolation / separation, held racist views toward African Americans as well as those of Mexican descent and felt prejudiced toward anyone involved in an interracial relationship. After the attack, both the FBI and the Tallahassee Police Department reported that Beierle generally hated women and had been planning the attack for months. No connection between Beierle and any of his victims has been publicly reported. Beierle’s reported hatred of women, and his having specifically targeted them, is supported by the fact that he only shot women with his firearm – a Glock Model 17 9mm handgun – and did not shoot the man who fought back against him. The man, no name given in reports found, attacked Beierle with both a vacuum and a broom stick and Beierle’s only response was to hit him with the handgun. Certainly he could have shot him but apparently didn’t because it was a man – and therefore not hated by Beierle.
The standard magazine capacity for that handgun is 17 rounds. That Beierle only shot six people (while ONE is too many), can be attributed to the intervention of his attack committed by the unidentified male student. The male student who attacked Beierle undoubtedly saved many more from being shot and was praised by the Tallahassee Police Chief for having done so.
This event serves as yet another example of how casualties and fatalities can be reduced by immediate intervention and action from those on scene. Responding law enforcement officials can never get there as fast as those in the room when the attack occurs. Those are the people who most need to be empowered to fight back.

Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.