New details in Allen outlet mall shooting response made public
ALLEN (CBSNewsTexas.com) - Nearly a month after a deadly shooting at an outlet mall cut short the lives of eight victims, Allen fire officials are releasing a minute-by-minute analysis of their response.
The new details in the report offer a comprehensive look at how first responders worked to save as many lives as they could in the moments after a gunman opened fire at the Allen Premium Outlets on the afternoon of May 6. They're being made public for the sake of transparency.
As the 911 calls started coming in, Allen Fire Department Chief Jonathan Boyd said help was close by:
"Most of the command staff, we were at a funeral for a McKinney captain who had passed away and so we were only a couple minutes from the scene."
Boyd said almost all the command staff responded. He called the event an unbelievable tragedy -- one that the department had trained for but hoped they'd never have to respond to in real life.
"We started training for this back in 2018, and joined training with the police department on active attack integrated response," he said.
The 65-page report logs every action taken by medical personnel at the scene, from dispatches to transports and even rescues.
"Because of how chaotic the scene was, we had to look at GPS logs, do interviews, look at our computer dispatch systems to try and figure out when exactly everything happened," said Boyd.
That day, the first dispatch went out at 3:37 p.m. and the first patient was tended to 12 minutes later, according to the analysis. The report credits rescue task forces for getting to as many people as they did.
The report also indicates that it was initially believed there was a second shooter. We now know there wasn't.
While the report offers a look at all that went right according to training, Boyd said it also gives first responders an understanding of what else they need to be prepared for in the event something like this happens again.
"We hadn't trained for such a wide area before, so that was an adjustment," Boyd said. "I think others could learn from how we had to take our protocols and training and adapt it to a wider area."
Boyd said no doubt there were challenges that day, but he is proud of how his team responded:
"The team performed with bravery and heroism because they were going into what they thought was a dangerous situation and there was no hesitation."
The Allen Premium Outlets reopened for the first time since the tragedy a week ago. The mall added security and individual stores have been given the freedom to reopen when they're ready. Outlet management is planning to create a permanent memorial to honor the victims in the coming months.
Read the full report below:
