Los Angeles

U.S. Attorney's Office to Hold San Bernardino Terror Attack Conference

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles Tuesday will host a conference bringing together first responders and experts offering insights into last year's terrorist attack in San Bernardino, where 14 people were killed and 22 wounded.

The conference -- open to the media for the first 30 minutes only -- will feature discussions on how to better serve victims after a large-scale event like the Dec. 2, 2015, mass shooting carried out by a pair of home-grown terrorists at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

Experts are expected to provide an overview of the initial response to the San Bernardino rampage, lessons learned from the coordinated response by first responders, the variety of issues that the victims will face, the need for victim-support teams, and how victim-support teams can be most effective in their unique roles.

"While we hope to never again experience an event like the San Bernardino attack, there are important lessons we can learn and share about responding to such attacks," said Eileen M. Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. "These lessons can be applied to a variety of incidents that we may face in this district and will help us be more prepared for large-scale events in the future."

Victim-oriented presentations will focus on everything from providing initial medical care to information about court proceedings.

"Our goal is to increase our ability to provide the maximum available assistance to the victims of such an incident, both during the incident and over the longer term," Decker said "The victims of such incidents deserve nothing less."

Along with Decker, speakers at today's event will include San Bernardino Assistant Chief of Police Eric McBride; Dr. Michael Neeki, chief of emergency services at Arrowhead Medical Center; and members of the FBI's Victim Services team who responded to the San Bernardino shootings.

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The attack was carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple living in Redlands. Farook was an American-born U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent who worked for the county's health department. His wife, a new mother, was a native of Pakistan and permanent resident of the United States.

After the attack, the couple -- described by U.S. officials as self-radicalized -- fled in an SUV and were killed by police in a shootout a few hours later.

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