Following over ten years of active shooter response protocol development and training, when James Holmes attacked a theater full of people in Aurora, Colorado, the response from local and surrounding agencies, not to mention the response of emergency medical personnel, was near picture perfect. The audio tapes that were temporarily released of the law enforcement communications revealed officers who sounded near panic and other officers who sounded like they had responded to a hundred such attacks before; very calm, cool, collected and in control.
No more or less should be expected when a lone gunman walks into a crowded theater, throws OC grenades and then begins shooting with (reportedly) multiple firearms. With a total of 12 people killed and 70 more wounded, Holmes was determined to be the sole assailant. He was arrested after being found in his car behind the theater just a few minutes after the shooting ended. The following day, when a search warrant was served on his apartment, it was discovered to be booby-trapped with improvised explosives that had to be dealt with by the bomb squad before the apartment could be searched. This is yet another example of an attacker using explosives either in combination with weapons to commit the attack OR as a secondary threat to cause more casualties after the initial attack has been completed.
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The remainder of this article is part of the book "Active Killers and the Crimes They Perpetrated," available in print or ebook via Amazon.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
