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Issue link: https://emsworld.epubxp.com/i/697542
By John Erich, Senior Editor Among the Targets At the San Bernardino mass shooting response, an IED and Twitter threats menaced emergency personnel IvanMiladinovic / iStock / Thinkstock 18 JULY 2016 | EMSWORLD.com "A large number of law enforcement officers started walking toward the triage area, and they said we had to move because they'd found an explosive device. They also said they didn't know where the shooter was at that point. So I went from functioning in an oversight capacity and monitoring operations to worry- ing about the personnel who were on scene. We didn't know where the shooter was, and the officer said there was an explosive, and we didn't know what that meant—how many or how big. All he said was we had to move." —Dave Molloy I n last December's terrorist attack at San Bernardino's Inland Regional Center, shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 and wounded more than 20 at a workplace training event-slash-holiday gathering. Answering such a call, with shooters still on the loose, is unnerving enough for responders. In this case their anxiety was magnified by an explosive device found inside afterward and threats sent to emer- gency personnel. Radicalized Muslims without known connections to terror groups, Farook and Malik were quickly killed in a shootout with police. Farook, a county health inspector, had initially attended the event at the IRC, then left following an argument before the pair returned in ski masks and tactical gear and opened fire. Their attack took less than four minutes. Left behind was a bag containing three crude linked explosive devices rigged for remote detonation. This could have been meant to be exploded first and create easy targets as people ran from the building, a la Columbine—or could have been meant for responders. As they fled after the shooting, Farook and Malik drove back near the IRC and may have tried to detonate the bomb. An earlier unrealized plot, according to a criminal complaint against their associate Enrique Marquez, also would have targeted emergency personnel. 1 The IRC IED didn't work and was neu- tralized by police. But whether emergency personnel were targets of preference or just convenience, this was a case where many could have died. "That was one of the things that plagued me in the weeks after and I had to work through," says Carly Crews, RN, BSN, MICN, EMS coordinator for the San Bernardino City Fire Department. "I had employees in that building and many other people I cared about around there. It was terrifying. It was hard to face that we could Editor's note: As we were preparing to send this issue to press, the tragic events unfolded in Orlando, FL, on June 12. Our thoughts go out to all the victims' families and the EMS, fire and law enforcement personnel who responded. We will cover the event in detail in a future issue.