Los Angeles International Airport was ill prepared for a crisis when a gunman ambushed security officers last year, and the emergency response was hindered by communication problems and poor coordination, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The report looked at flaws in various divisions of the airport and systems that were in place but did not single out individuals responsible for problems, the LA Times reported. The report was highly critical of the Los Angeles World Airports emergency management program, which it said was "not well-defined or widely understood across the agency, or perhaps even respected."
The report also detailed lapses in technology and coordination and included some 50 recommendations and a list of lessons learned from the shooting, according to the LA Times.
"Had the attacker not been highly selective in his targets, and/or had there been multiple attackers with weapons of greater lethality, the outcome might have been far different," the report said, the LA Times reported.
Various agencies were hampered by poor communication, according to the LA Times. Airport police had previously upgraded to a $5.4 million high-tech radio system but often couldn't communicate with the 20-plus agencies that responded to the shooting.
Senior police and fire commanders had no idea where to go or what the others were doing, and they didn't unify multiple command posts for 45 minutes, the LA Times reported. Commanders didn't meet until about 90 minutes after the shooting. In addition, there was nearly no communication between command post officials and the airport's emergency operations center.
Fire officials concerned about gunfire set up their command post away from Terminal 3, which made it harder to coordinate with police and delayed rescuing victims, according to the LA Times.
Technical malfunctions were discovered at the Terminal 3 checkpoint and an airport-wide audit later found some red phones and panic buttons weren't working properly, the LA Times reported. The report called for updating the airport's emergency phones, how dispatchers receive 911 calls as well as improving security cameras.
The report recommended that airport police look for flaws in security deployments because the gunman wasn't deterred by or stopped at an airport police checkpoint, according to the LA Times.
