(MINNEAPOLIS) — The Minneapolis Police Department’s response to Wednesday’s deadly church shooting showed significant improvements in how law enforcement handles mass casualty events, according to a former police chief who managed a similar crisis.
Jarrod Burguan, who led the response to the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack, praised Minneapolis authorities for their clear communication and fast response to the Annunciation Catholic School shooting that killed two children — an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old — and left 18 others injured.
“Minneapolis PD has done a very good job in this case,” Burguan told ABC News on Thursday. “Chief O’Hara was tremendous. He was very clear in his press conferences and gave very good information. For the most part, this has not been an incident that had a lot of false information getting out there.”
The FBI is investigating the attack as potential domestic terrorism and a possible hate crime after the shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, opened fire through church windows during a Mass marking the first week of school. Westman died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Burguan told ABC News that the coordinated response between local police and federal authorities reflects improvements made since previous mass shootings.
“We are better today than we were three years ago, five years ago, 20 years ago,” he said, while acknowledging the tragic reality that schools now require enhanced security measures.
Drawing on his experience in the December 2015 San Bernardino attack, in which 14 people were killed and 22 were injured, Burguan explained how federal and local agencies cooperate in such investigations.
“The reality is, on the ground, the FBI agents and the leadership in Minneapolis, as well as Minneapolis PD and the surrounding agencies… they really work well together,” he said.
However, Burguan expressed concern about potential warning signs that may have preceded the attack.
“For somebody to have been living that life, people in and around that suspect had to have known something was off,” he said, noting the suspect’s “hatred of institutions in this country, whether it was the church.”
Burguan warned that extensive coverage of mass shootings could motivate copycats who glorify such violence.
“You hear a story of somebody like this that somehow seemed to idolize people that perform this act,” he said. “That is very, very disturbing to think that even in light of coverage like this and the anger and the community frustration that happens, somebody might be sitting back going, ‘Well, this was a good thing.’ That’s frightening.”
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