Lawmakers to hold hearing on response to terror attack

State lawmakers want to see if lessons can be learned from the way first-responders reacted to the San Bernardino terror attack that killed 14 people last year.

Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez, who chairs a joint legislative committee on emergency management, has called a hearing for Friday to learn what worked in the moments after a husband-and-wife couple inspired by Muslim extremists opened fire on a Dec. 2 luncheon for county health inspectors.

A similar hearing after the 2013 shooting death of a Transportation Security Administration worker at Los Angeles International Airport prodded state lawmakers to pass legislation requiring agencies to cooperate on active shooter training, he said.

"It goes back to what can we do better, if this were to happen again," Rodriguez said.
Sheriff's officials and emergency room doctor Michael Neeki are expected to testify at the informational hearing in San Bernardino.

Since the attack, law enforcement agents and medical personnel have been evaluating how they responded in the moments after Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire on a luncheon for Farook's colleagues at the county's public health department, killing 14 and wounding 22 others.

Farook and Malik died hours later in a shootout with police on a busy street in the largely suburban community east of Los Angeles.

It was the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
In recent weeks, police and sheriff's officials and federal agents have been commended for their quick, coordinated response to the onslaught.

Neeki, who works at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, has questioned whether patients could have been transferred more quickly to his emergency room for treatment.

It took 50 minutes for the first patient to arrive at the center located about five miles from the attack site, Neeki, a volunteer doctor with the Inland Valley SWAT team, has told the Los Angeles Times.

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