The attacks may seem far off, but they have already affected Southern California, leaving one resident dead: a student from California State University Long Beach, Nohemi Gonzalez.

ISIL is a major threat to the free world, said Dr. Majid Mosleh, a political science professor at College of the Canyons.

“We don’t know where ISIL operational bases are, they are unknown and abstract,” Mosleh said. “In comparison (they are) by far more dangerous than typical terrorist organizations.”

ISIL is widespread geologically all over the middle east and has now penetrated into the western world, Mosleh continued.

“I can assure you there is no part of the country that is immune (from danger), including Santa Clarita,” said Mosleh.

ISIL’s attack plans are not normally about hitting the highest value target. Their goals are to cause a commotion and get widespread media attention with their attacks, to cause terror, said a terrorist expert with the Department of Homeland Security.

High value targets for these attacks are areas that possess “soft targets,” or places that are very public but easy to attack, that are well spread out, said the terrorism expert.

The attacks try to achieve the highest damage possible with the fewest tools needed. For some, that could be something as simple as a knife, the terrorist expert said.

Recently, attacks have been carried out more frequently by residents that reside within the communities attacked. It is more common to find threats by citizens who radicalize and become dangerous with no connection to ISIL, but instead influenced by it, the terrorist expert continued.

Los Angeles is a potential “high value target” in this regard, as it offers a large, spread out area that is very well publicized by the media, the terrorist expert said. Santa Clarita, being a suburb of L.A, makes the city just as likely to be a target as any other suburb in the county.

The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station is constantly training to handle emergency situations, such as an attack, said Captain Roosevelt Johnson.

“We definitely are prepared,” Johnson said. “We do active shooting training, we monitor schools in terms of intelligence, communicate regularly (with agencies) and to make sure we are training and constantly reviewing our plans.”

The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station recently held training to prepare emergency officials in the event of an active shooter at Six Flags Magic Mountain earlier this week.

The training exercise brought together sheriff’s deputies, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Parks Bureau, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, SWAT units and Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

The city of Santa Clarita works closely together with first responders, such as the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, said Donna Nuzzi, the city of Santa Clarita’s emergency services supervisor.

All city employees have to go through active shooter training as well to better prepare for emergencies, Nuzzi continued.

To ensure Santa Clarita stays safe from an attack, there are somethings that residents can do to help prevent a future attack from happening.

“If you see something, say something,” Nuzzi said.

The phrase is a national saying that the U.S has adopted to have more public help in identifying potentially dangerous activity and alerting.

“Every citizen has to remain vigilant,” Mosleh said. “(Citizens should) report suspicious activity.”

If something is out of place, such as the same person constantly taking pictures of an area day after day or something equally bizarre, residents can contact the FBI through their tips website, or the Joint Regional Intelligence Center.