Flaws in response to deadly 2018 SoCal bar shooting caused delays, report says

LOS ANGELES — A new report examining law enforcement’s response to a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks reveals significant flaws in interagency communications and the tactical approach to the 2018 attack.

Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub commissioned the 86-page report, which also detailed a 911 system that was overloaded by reports of the shooting on Nov. 7, 2018.

The report provides the most detailed account to date of the shooting, the worst in Ventura County history.

Ian Long, a Marine veteran, opened fire on patrons at the crowded bar around 11:20 p.m. The troubled 28-year-old, who was suspected of having post-traumatic stress disorder, fired 61 rounds, killing 11 people and shooting sheriff ’s Sgt. Ron Helus, one of the first officers on scene, multiple times before fatally shooting himself.

The Ventura’s County sheriff’s dispatch center was overwhelmed with 911 calls after the shooting began. Amid the deluge, a supervisor sent an email to alert off-duty dispatchers to come in, but many had already gone to sleep. The chaos was so great that the watch commander was unable to track events in a timely fashion, and call volume led to delays in authorizing units — including SWAT — to be sent to the scene, the report shows.

Helus, a 29-year law enforcement veteran who was slated to retire the following year, rushed to the bar minutes after the initial 911 call came in. He and California Highway Patrol Officer Todd Barrett, who arrived in the parking lot about the same time, stormed through the front door at 11:25 p.m. after hearing a barrage of gunshots from inside.

The pair were immediately ambushed by Long, who had tracked them on the bar’s surveillance cameras. During a gun battle between the two lawmen and the shooter, Long struck Helus five times. But the fatal gunshot came from Barrett’s weapon as he fired back at the bar after he and Helus scrambled for cover, officials said.

A minute later, Barrett — who is not identified in the Sheriff’s Department’s report — called “Officer down! Officer down!” to CHP dispatch. But sheriff’s deputies did not hear the initial call because they were on a different radio frequency, the latest report says.

It was an additional 20 minutes before deputies could rescue Helus from outside the bar. It took more than half an hour for the Sheriff’s Department to make a second entry into the building, a decision that was delayed until a SWAT captain arrived and organized an assault, according to the report.