Lieutenant Mike Madden oversees records, dispatch and the FTO Program for the San Bernardino Police Department but he still chooses to wear his police uniform every day, even though his job doesn’t require it. When the shots fired call came in around the Inland Regional Center it wasn’t unusual – frequently people would use an isolated area close by to do a little illegal target practice.
But on December 2, 2015, it was two ISIS-inspired terrorists coldbloodedly murdering 14 and wounding 22 innocent Christmas party guests.
Madden was the first officer on scene and at a recent “Topics in EMS Time Critical Calls” seminar in Minnesota, he shared publicly for the first time his hard-earned recommendations from that horrific day.
Preparation
The ongoing training by the San Bernardino SWAT Team in active shooter response was progressively more stressful. Starting shortly after Columbine the use of FX rounds, strobe lights, low light and loud noises increasingly prepared the officers for the stress they would face that day.
Making Entry
In a large jurisdiction getting four officers on scene quickly was not a problem. The initial entry team consisted of Madden, armed with a pistol, a homicide detective with a pistol, a motor officer with a pistol and a patrol officer with a shotgun.
- Bring patrol rifles and body armor capable of stopping rifle rounds.
- In two to three minutes 85 rifle rounds had been fired, some at point-blank range.
- Mentally prepare yourself for the dead, dying and wounded.
- The alarms had been activated making wearing an earpiece critical for communication.
- The sprinkler system had been activated.
- The air was thick with smoke from the rifle fire.
Madden credits the efforts of the SWAT team and their dedication to their officers’ training for the level of preparation they had that day. It had been four years since his last training on active shooter but there was no doubt about what to do and how to do it. The idea of a single officer entry had taken root in LE training since his last active shooter refresher. So he followed his training and waited to form a four-person entry team.
Clearing and Searching
Madden and his team would learn later that as he arrived at the scene the two suspects left in a black SUV. He was told a single person left in the vehicle. Witnesses identified the shooters as two to three white or Hispanic males dressed in black wearing hoods to 911 operators. So the search began through the large conference center for those believed to still be inside.
Bring chalk and have a prearranged signs for doors that have been cleared and those that have not to save time and avoid checking already cleared rooms.
Be prepared for victims jumping out of hiding places. Proper weapons handling skills are critical to avoid an accidental discharge during a critical incident due to hypervigilance. When clearing a women’s bathroom they located a locked stall. When the door was forced in there were 4 women all balancing on top of the toilet to avoid their feet being seen under the stall. This was only one example of a number of times where innocent victims could have been accidentally shot due to the extreme stress of the situation.
As soon as possible get keys to unlock doors. His team bypassed locked oak doors on the belief that a shooter would want to remain mobile and cause as many casualties as possible. When they got around to breaching, the doors proved so tough, they actually broke a ram. A number of people had hidden in those rooms.
When the SWAT teams for SBPD and SBSO (who were at active shooter training only 11 minutes away) arrived the clearing and searching was turned over to them because of their training and equipment.
Evacuation
Officers with minimal medical training had difficulty determining the severity of victims’ wounds and deciding who could be moved. The arrival of SWAT medics on scene expedited the triage and evacuation.
Bring Litters
Those already wounded were dragged across floors, some through broken glass in the haste to clear them from the danger area and to get them to the treatment that they needed. Some were dropped. When squads equipped with litters arrived evacuation went faster, more efficiently without adding additional physical trauma to the victims.
Communications
A single incident channel is critical so that multiple agencies can communicate among themselves. When a critical incident is ongoing, officers advising dispatch that they are “In route” is unneeded and chokes the channel with unwanted chatter.
Self-dispatched officers can be a curse and/or a blessing. Around 500 officers, local, county, state and federal responded. Armed LE officers of various agencies and levels of training showed up eager to help. Be prepared to determine officers’ capabilities and assign them a task that will benefit the situation.
That day SBPD dispatch was manned by some of their most experienced dispatchers. Madden credits their experience, professionalism and calm with much of the success that day. Not only did they handle the shooting and the gunfight that day but also the thousands of calls related and unrelated to the incident.
When enough dispatch personnel are on scene, assign one person to double-check the information being broadcast as a back up to the main dispatcher. An enormous amount of information was being gathered, prioritized and put out. Having someone to serve as a monitor to make sure that it was as accurate as possible was vital to clear communication with numerous units responding to the scene of the shooting, to the reported sightings of the terrorists after they fled the scene and the ensuing gunbattle hours later.
Command Post
Once the situation was identified as terrorist activity federal agencies were activated and brought all of their resources to bear on the incident.
Separate Staging Areas
The areas assigned to the media, medical treatment, family members and the questioning of the witnesses (in this case over 100) must be kept away from each other for obvious reasons.
The Gunfight Four Hours Later
Once located, the suspects stopped to engage in a gunfight after a short pursuit, most likely because they only saw one marked squad behind them. Fortunately, there were several unmarked cars behind it. The male driver exited the vehicle and the female, who had opened fire out the back window during the pursuit, stayed behind the rear seat, firing unsighted over the back seat.
IEDs were present in the vehicle, at the scene of the gunfight, and were thrown during the pursuit.
The gunfight lasted six and a half minutes. Both shooters were wearing body armor.
You know things are bad when the observer in the police helicopter says he is going to start shooting.
One officer who skidded past the squads set up for a high-risk stop ended up closer to the suspect vehicle. The male attempted to flank him and the officer was wounded. An additional officer, on the wounded officer’s rescue team, was also wounded.
Incredible Treatment and Survival Rate
The close proximity of two level-one trauma hospitals allowed 18 of the most seriously wounded to be transported in under 15 minutes to the care that they needed. They all survived.
Madden stressed that we need to prepare, not for if this happens again, but when it happens again. It took the combined efforts of multiple LE agencies, fire departments and EMS and their training to keep a tragedy from being any worse than it was.
A failed IED left behind at the scene meant to detonate when first responders arrived preserved many lives. We cannot always hope for luck, we must prepare.
Madden shared these thoughts, “Although the battle against terrorism is one predominantly fought by federal law enforcement and intelligence resources, the response to attacks on U.S. soil will be the responsibility of municipal law enforcement and first responder entities. We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent or to get lulled into a false sense of security. First responders across the nation must continue to prepare and take note of the lessons learned from prior tragic events. This will help prepare us all to better safeguard the lives of those we are entrusted to protect.
