Questions grow over Monterey Park shooting information sharing

As police search for a motive in this weekend’s mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, law enforcement experts have expressed concern over information sharing in the hours following the shooting, when the suspect was still on the loose. Nearly five hours passed between the shooting at a ballroom dance hall and when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s publicly stated for the first time that the gunman was at large.

• 10:22 p.m.: Authorities received the first call about the shooting.
• 10:44 p.m.: The gunman arrived at a nearby dance hall. He was confronted in the lobby and chased off by 26-year-old Brandon Tsay.
• 11:53 p.m.: Word came that the shooter was still at large. That information came from a media outlet monitoring police chatter on a scanner.
• 2:49 a.m.: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau issued a news advisory confirming most of the fatalities and adding that the suspect was male.
• 3:30 a.m.: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Andrew Meyer held a news conference to announce “the suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding.”

“Five hours is kind of ridiculous,” Chris Grollnek, an expert on active-shooter tactics, retired police officer and SWAT team member, told The Associated Press. “This is going to be a really good case study. Why five hours?”

Monday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his department was “strategic” when it came to information sharing regarding the Monterey Park shooting. He added that he would review what happened.

“When we started putting out public information, the priority was to get this person into custody,” Luna said. “Ultimately it worked. We will go back and look at it as we always do. Nobody is as critical as ourselves as to what worked and specifically what didn’t work, and evaluate that, and see what the wait was in determining what the public risk was at that time.”