By Sadie Gurman
Associated Press
DENVER — Medical personnel responding to the Colorado theater shooting struggled to get to some of the victims due to poor communication about how best to reach them, a report released Wednesday said.
The study of the response to the July 2012 shooting that killed 12 people was commissioned by the Denver suburb of Aurora. City officials ordered the review by an outside company amid questions about why emergency medical personnel didn’t get into the theater until nearly 24 minutes after the attack.
The report says paramedics trying to get to the severely wounded were stopped by moviegoers rushing out of the theater, and first responders lacked a coordinated effort to transport them to hospitals. However, the study concluded that the problems didn’t cause any loss of life and praised quick thinking by first responders amid the chaos.
“Aurora should be proud of its response to the largest civilian shooting in U.S. history,” according to the report, which also makes 80 recommendations for improved response to such mass casualties. “The outcome could not have been better in terms of lives saved and a rapid arrest.”
It says the first police unit arrived at the theater within two minutes of the first 911 call.
James Holmes, whose name is redacted from the 188-page report, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder and is awaiting trial.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press