risk assessment

77-Year Old Man in a Senior Care Retirement Home Fatally Shoots One Firefighter and Injures Another in Long Beach, California

Posted on June 27, 2018 4:04 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

RISKAlert Report # 1149 Updated: June 27, 2017 Long Beach, California

A 77-year-old retirement home resident identified as Thomas Kim, has been accused of intentionally setting a fire Monday morning to lure first responders to the facility. After the firefighters entered the Home and
put out the fire, Kim fired on the men, killing one firefighter and wounding another.

“It’s the first time we have seen anything like this said, Mike Duree, Long Beach Fire Chief..

Around 4 a.m. Monday morning, firefighters Capt. Dave Rosa and Ernesto Torres responded to reports of a fire, followed by an explosion and the smell of gasoline, at the Covenant Manor senior care facility, Duree said. As they approached the high-rise building, the firefighters noticed that the windows of one unit had been blown out and that the sprinklers were on.

After extinguishing the fire, Rosa and Torres remained inside the building to investigate the gas smell and explosion, the chief said. Ten minutes later, gunfire erupted and police received reports of an active shooter. Rosa, a 45-year-old veteran of the Long Beach Fire Department, was killed in the attack. Torres and another man, a civilian resident of Covenant Manor, were injured and taken to a local hospital.

Long Beach Police arrested 77-year-old Thomas Kim, who lived in the facility, in connection with the fire and the shooting.

They booked Kim on suspicion of murder, as well as two counts of attempted murder and arson, and is being held on $2 million bail. It is not known about where he got his weapon and how he started the high-rise fire.

Not much was immediately known about Kim, police said he was arrested years ago for auto theft and that detectives are looking into reports of erratic past behavior. His family said that they were stunned to find out the suspect was alive, living in Long Beach, and was a suspect in the murder and arson investigation.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Retirement facilities should institute a No-Weapons Policy for Residents.
Firefighters place themselves in danger every day, but didn’t expect to encounter
a killer in the retirement home!

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ATTORNEY SHOOTS HIS TWO FELLOW ATTORNEYS AT PROMINENT LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA LAW FIRM’S HOLIDAY PARTY Updated: Jan. 8, 2018

Posted on January 10, 2018 10:15 am by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

ATTORNEY SHOOTING IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA – SHOOTER HITS TWO FELLOW
ATTORNEYS AT PROMINENT CELEBRITY LAW FIRM’S HOLIDAY PARTY

Updated: Jan. 9, 2018

The Long Beach, Calif. Police Department named John Alexander Mendoza, 58, of Redondo Beach, Calif., as the man who shot his two colleagues, one died at the scene, and other was injured at the scene, on Friday afternoon, January 5, 2018.

Attorneys at the Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin, Mendoza and Harrison firm in the Long Beach neighborhood of Bixby Knolls, were attending the firm’s holiday party, when Mendoza entered the offices shooting.

Major A. Langer, the firm’s Managing Partner, 75, was killed and Ronald Beck, 64, was wounded in what police called a workplace violence incident. After shooting Langer and Beck, Mendoza turned the gun on himself. The shooting occurred during a holiday party at the firm when others were present.

Mendoza had apparently been fired earlier in the day, but returned to the firm’s party. On a report of an active shooter, Long Beach police officers swarmed to the office building. Believing an active shooter was still at work, police formed a small team and quickly went into the office looking for the gunman and any victims, according to a police source briefed on the incident. As they scoured the building, police reportedly came upon multiple groups of screaming and crying workers still hiding or trying to flee, but eventually confirmed the gunman was dead.

The firm has eleven offices in southern California and represented clients including Motley Crue, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

Mendoza had worked at Perona Langer Beck for 10 years, said Michael Waks, a lawyer who also has offices in the same building where Perona Langer Beck is located in Long Beach. Mendoza specialized in workers compensation cases.

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Sutherland Springs Church Shooter Practiced by Shooting Dogs, Fracturing Baby’s Skull- Could it happen at your Church?

Posted on November 12, 2017 12:11 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Every day more information comes out about the terrible murders by the Active Shooter at the Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Since my mother was from Texas, and my father taught Adult Baptist Sunday School for 36 years, this one was personal.

This is a classic case of how the risk of an active shooter is everywhere these days. With so many recent shooting incidents, because it was done in a church, it makes it worse and should encourage all churches to hold active shooter training classes for their congregations.

No question that the shooter was a monster. After uncovering his record for domestic violence and even fracturing his infant’s skull, it turned out he practiced his shooting skills on pet dogs. He bought dogs on Craigslist, or took dogs promising to give them good homes, and then practiced shooting and killing them.

Houses of worship have been adverse to putting in stricter security, because they obviously want to be open and welcoming, but that
doesn’t seem to be possible these days.

A is all about Access Control. Most churches have some kind of vestibule, a sort of anteroom before you actually enter the church. Instead of haphazardly asking people to bring in their guns, maybe it’s time to have a “watcher” in the vestibule, keeping an eye out on who’s entering the church or synagogue.

Most shooters enter their chosen site with guns blazing, not hidden.
Getting back to basics, have some kind of access control is the first step. So keeping them out in the first place is the best option.

Another option might be a few cameras with monitoring station in the church office and someone there to watch before the services to catch someone taking their guns out of their car before they even reach the church or synagogue. This would be a simple solution because it would only need to be manned before, during and immediately after the services.

Another favorite control, panic alarms can be very expensive and useful for a group shooting situation. It gives the instant ability to ‘sound the alarm’ and get people down, or even better, out the side door and also gives advance notice to the potential victims.

Assuming we’re not profiling the entire group in advance, the best protection is doing quarterly security facility risk assessments. These assessments give you a quantitative measure of your risk, including not only looking at the threat level (the threat assessment part of the total assessment), but also reviewing a list of the 50 controls we’ve identified that will enhance security, and looking at the interaction between the highest potential risk, balanced by the offsetting, or preventive controls.

Every terrible incident like the shooting at the Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs should be an opportunity for building a foundation of security awareness in your community or congregation.

TO FIND OUT ABOUT AN ACTIVE SHOOTER PROGRAM FOR YOUR CHURCH
Contact me : caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com or info@riskandsecurityllc.com

Paris Attacks are opening shot in plan to exterminate Western Civilization

Posted on November 14, 2015 9:46 am by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

The six simultaneous attacks on Paris last night were the opening salvo in a long-planned event designed
to exterminate Western Civilization as we know it.

This is not the teenage shooter with acne and an AK15, these were trained killers, who, according to witness
statements, were professional, controlled and had no interest or compassion for their victims. They could have
been shooting at a beer can instead of a young girl. This is different from other terrorists attacks because it is

carried out without emotion. These terrorists are not killing PEOPLE, they are exterminating western culture, along with the people. We saw this in Palmyra where treasured antiquities were destroyed, and ISIS plans to exterminate every vestige of
our western culture.

Security measures that may have worked for individual shooters, or small splinter group will not defeat ISIS.
We have been directly targeted and need to take drastic measures and take them immediately. This assault
has no room left for political correctness, for ‘measured response”, or anything else. We need to exterminate
this threat quickly and completely to maintain our quality of life.

Everything is at stake now, our paintings, our music, our art, our designer jeans, our freedom of expression,
our families and, ultimately, our lives. As western leaders meet today, I hope they plan to present an overwhelming
attack aimed precisely at ISIS, with a show of force designed to blow them off the face of the earth.

DOD moves military bases to a higher alert status

Posted on May 8, 2015 6:37 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

In an unusual move today, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) raised the security level at
U.S. military bases because of the increasing concerns about possible attacks by ISIS (ISIL).

While the DOD cited no specific threat, they did refer to the recent attack in Garland, Texas,
(last Tuesday), after ISIS claimed responsibility for the Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest
featuring cartoons about “the Prophet”.

The threat level was raised to ‘Bravo’ level, and it’s worth noting that it’s the first time the
threat level has been that high since the anniversary of the 911 attacks on September 11,
2011, which was the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

A higher threat level could mean 100% ID checks at the entrance to all military bases, including
air force bases, army bases, navy and marine bases. It also puts base military police on alert
to be highly situationally aware, including investigating anything they see that might be
terms “suspicious”. The FBI will also increase surveillance of suspected pro-ISIS individuals.

Persistent stories have been focusing on the Texas border, which may be harboring an
ISIS camp, and the right wing media has reported that an ISIS camp may be sending their
soldiers into the US on specific missions. Although this has been widely discredited by
officials, some circles are reporting a link to the Army’s Operation Jade Helm, a massive
military drill across nine states, which is slated for July 15th, to September 15th, 2015.

We encourage individuals to be situationally alert AT ALL TIMES, and a increase
in military alert levels would certainly be something to note.

Doctor Shot and Killed in Grudge Shooting Over “Mom”

Posted on January 25, 2015 9:53 am by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

RISKAlert- Active Shooter No. 625, January 21, 2015, Boston, Mass.

Middle-Aged Shooter kills Cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and then Kills
Himself, in an apparent Grudge Shooting Because the Doctor had Operated on his Mother.

On Tuesday morning on Jan. 21, at 11 am, Stephen Pasceri, 55, walked into the Shapiro Center
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and asked to see cardiologist, Dr. Michael J. Davidson. When
he saw Dr. Davidson, outside of an exam, he shot him twice, critically injuring him.

Dr. Davidson later died from his injuries. Pasceri then went to the 2^nd floor and killed himself with a gunshot
to the head. Later, it was discovered that Dr. Davidson had operated on Pasceri’s mother, Marguerite, and
she had died on November 15, 2014. Pasceri’s sister was quoted as saying, “He loved his mom, and he
loved her very much. He appeared to be handling her death well,” the sister said of her brother.

“Everything seemed to be going really well. I have no idea why he snapped like this.
He was a great guy. He took care of his family, he had a beautiful house and he has four
beautiful children. He was an upstanding citizen.”

The hospital locked down and rushed Dr. Davidson into surgery, but he died during the night from his injuries.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s COO said the hospital was one of the first to institute an active shooter
training program. The hospital does not use metal detectors.

Lessons Learned : “A is for Access Control”

1. Metal Detectors can be are a reliable tool to Prevent In-Hospital Shootings.

2. Active Shooter Drills are NOT ENOUGH as these incidents unfold in just a few minutes.

3. Installing ‘NO WEAPONS’ Signage at Entrances can be a deterrent to these first time shooters.

Despite having a good job, family, and a beautiful home, when confronted with a mid-life crisis, his mother’s
death, another middle-aged shooter goes to a hospital and shoots the doctor, in a scenario that resembles
the Johns Hopkins shooting in 2010. To protect staff and patients, hospitals will have to increase their
security protective measures, including use of metal detectors, no weapons signage and
situational awareness of the staff.

RISKAlerts is a publication of Risk & Security LLC.
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RISKAlert November, 2014 Updated Incident Planning for Healthcare Facilities

Posted on December 16, 2014 6:34 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Incorporating Active Shooter Incident Planning into Health Care Facility Emergency Operations Plans

National preparedness efforts, including planning, are based on U.S. Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8: Preparedness, which was signed by the President in March 2011. This updated directive represents an “evolution” in understanding of national preparedness based on lessons learned from rom natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy, terrorist acts like the Boston Bombing and active shooter and other violent incidents.

Preparedness is centered in five areas: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery. These concepts are applied to Health Care Facility (HCFs) Planning for active shooters and other violent incidents.

Emergency Operations Plans for Health Care Facilities (EOPs) should be living documents that are routinely reviewed and consider all types of hazards, including the possibility of an active shooter or terrorist incident. As law enforcement continues to draw lessons learned from actual emergencies, HCFs should incorporate those lessons learned into existing emergency plans or in newly created EOPs.

It advises a whole community approach that includes staff, patients, and visitors as well as individuals with access and functional needs. Examples of these populations include children, older adults, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, etc.

The key concepts include not only familiar concepts like “Run-Hide-Fight” but also concepts on addressing a wider range of risks (threats), how to do drills, improvement of situational awareness activities, expanding the definitions of risks, how to do Psychological First Aid (PFA), and how to integrate these with HIPAA guidelines and Rules and the importance and role of Security in Emergency Operations Planning (EOPs).

Lesson Learned : Don’t Wait to Respond!

A 2005 investigation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology into the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, found that people close to the floors impacted waited longer to start evacuating than those on unaffected floors. Similarly, during the Virginia Tech shooting, individuals on campus responded to the shooting with varying degrees of urgency. (ref: Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster: Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications.)

Frequent Security Situational Awareness Training, and Active Shooter –
Disaster Drills can prevent this “frozen” phenomena and save lives in
a violent incident , a terrorist attack, or a disaster scenario.

RISKAlerts are publications of Risk & Security LLC

White House Security Breach -WHO DIDN’T LET THE DOGS OUT!]

Posted on September 22, 2014 1:18 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

**RISK Alert Alert #590 – White House Security BREACHED**

UPDATED Dateline: Sept 23, 2014

White House Attacker had been ARRESTED TWICE BEFORE, INCLUDING ON
AT THE WHITE HOUSE, CARRYING A MACHETE!

In Federal court, prosecutors said the Gonzalez car contained 500 rounds of ammo,
guns, assault rifles, a hatchet and a machete!

AND HE HAD BEEN ARRESTED TWICE BEFORE, including in August 2014, carrying a
hatchet on the White House Lawn. And on July 19, after being spotted driving recklessly
in a gray Ford Bronco, Gonzalez was charged in Wythe County, Virginia, with evading arrest
and possession of a weapon after he was found in possession of 11 weapons, including a
sawed-off shotgun, assault rifles and knives, and map — with the White House circled!

The Nation Was Shocked on Sept. 19 when an intruder not only jumped the fence,
but was ABLE TO ENTER THE FRONT DOOR of the White House. Controls that should
have been in place were apparently not ready for an actual security incident.

When even elementary schools have access control and card key systems, it is really hard
to believe that there is NO CARD KEY SYSTEM for the White House.

SECURITY IS A PROCESS, and that’s why Security Plan, Security Policies, and Security

Procedures are in place for every U.S. Federal Building. Obviously, at the White House, the
process is broken, or agents are willfully ignoring the security controls which should be in place
100% of the time. Every government building should have strong access control systems in place.

The intruder, Omar Gonzalez did the unthinkable, according to the
Washington Post. They reported that the 42-year-old ex-veteran from
Texas climbed over the north fence line along Pennsylvania Avenue,
toward the eastern side of the house’s circular driveway. His breach
set off the standard security alarm across the compound. Officers
rushed to the North Lawn but were unable to reach him on foot as
he ran, arms pumping, threading the needle between the fountain
and a security guard booth and ignoring their commands that he stop.
Gonzalez actually entered the White House because the door was UNLOCKED!

What We Learned:

Security Procedures and Policies MUST BE FOLLOWED 100% of the Time
for Security to be Effective. In this incident, the major problems included:

Front Doors MUST BE LOCKED to keep intruders out.
Canine that was on the job should have been released.
Active Monitoring of cameras was not effective. Was the intruder missed?
The perimeter fence is obviously not up to the job. In fact, a 2^nd jumper
breached the fence again on the same day,RISKAlertis a publication of Risk & Security LLC

RISKAlertis a publication of Risk & Security LLC

Former Nurse Commits Suicide in Hospital Bathroom at Valley View Hospital

Posted on August 7, 2014 12:45 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

RISKALERT INCIDENT REPORT # 574 – Suicide in the Hospital Bathroom

August 6, 2014

Former Nurse Commits Suicide, Fires A Single Shot to the Head, Locked in a Public Restroom at Valley View Hospital, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

A hospital staff member reported Eric Knurr dead in a bathroom stall a round 11:30 a.m. Monday, morning, August 4, after maintenance had to be called to unlock the door to the men’s restroom off the emergency department. The former male nurse had been formally admonished by state regulators for brushing a patient’s teeth until they bled, and also slapping the patient, who was in restraints at the time of the incident in 2005. He had applied for a job at Valley View Hospital in 2012, but was not hired. In similar incidents:

In January, 2014, a man locked himself in the hospital bathroom at Cherokee Medical Center in Iowa, and committed suicide.
In August, 2013, 62-year-old man committed suicide in a public bathroom at the Veterans Affairs hospital campus at Fort Harrison, Montana, after locking the bathroom door and killing himself with a single shot.
In August, 2012, a similar incident happened at an Oklahoma hospital when a Oklahoma State University employee committed suicide in a public restroom off the emergency room.

LESSONS LEARNED

(1.) Hospital staff should IMMEDIATELY report any locked bathroom door in a public restroom. In several of the incidents, housekeeping “didn’t want to bother security” when they found the bathroom door locked, so they waited another two hours before reporting the problem, and by then it was too late.

(2.) Not having any form of metal detection allows people to bring guns into hospitals, lock themselves in bathroom, and commit suicide. Metal detectors or wand detectors can prevent a tragedy.

CHECK OUT: In December, 2010, The Joint Commission Issued a Sentinel Event Alert on Suicide Risk Outside Psych Units in Hospitals, including medical units, surgical units, and emergency departments. (http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/SEA_46.pdf).

“It is noteworthy that many patients who kill themselves in general hospital inpatient units do not have a psychiatric history or a history of suicide attempt – they are “unknown at risk” for suicide. Compared to the psychiatric hospital and unit, the general hospital setting also presents more access to items that can be used to attempt suicide – items that are either already in or may be brought into the facility – and more opportunities for the patient to be alone to attempt or re-attempt suicide.

“This Alert presents strategies that can be used and suggested actions that can be taken by general hospitals to help better prepare their staffs and their facilities for suicidal patients and to care for both their physical and mental needs. Suicide has ranked in the top five most frequently reported events to The Joint Commission since 1995. The Sentinel Event Database includes 827 reports of inpatient suicides. Of these events, 14.25 percent occurred in the non-behavioral health units of general hospitals (e.g., medical or surgical units, ICU, oncology, telemetry), 8.02 percent occurred in the emergency department of general hospitals and 2.45 percent occurred in other non-psychiatric settings.”

Stay Alert and Encourage Hospital Employee Awareness!

RISKAlert® is a publication of Risk & Security LLC at www.riskandsecurity.com

Aventura Hospital Patient Strangled in his Room on July 1st,, 2014

Posted on July 2, 2014 4:09 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

RiskAlert INCIDENT REPORT 565 –

Patient Strangled in Aventura Hospital, Florida

32-year old Behavioral Health Patient found Strangled to Death
in his Hospital Room

32-year old Alex Paloumbis diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia at a
young age, had been in the hospital for two weeks. He was on the fourth-floor psychiatric
ward when he was attacked by the patient in the next bed.

The other patient in the room, identified by police as Alexander T. Jackson, 31, was
charged with first-degree murder and remained in Miami-Dade County Jail on Monday
with no bond. Jackson, who is homeless, was admitted to the hospital around 10 a.m
Thursday, the day of the murder, which occurred about 3 p.m. the same day. He was
put in the same room with Rios, according to the arrest report.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Behavioral health patients require extra controls including
live, continual camera monitoring, use of appropriate
medication and possible use of restraints.

Patients may pose a danger to others, as they did in this tragedy,
and should be under continuous supervision.

Rios was last seen alive at about 2:45 p.m. Thursday. At 3:36., a hospital
housekeeper found him face down on the floor. “The defendant admitted
to killing the victim by strangling him with his hands and a bedsheet,”
according to the report.

While administrators declined to comment on the security procedures at the
hospital, IAHSS (the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety)
President Marilyn Hollier said psychiatric floors generally have lock-down
procedures, metal detectors, seclusion rooms and cameras at the access
points. It is not known whether any of these security controls existed at the
hospital. Hollier also stressed that security officers need specialized
training to deal with behavioral health patients.

Aventura Hospital, located near I-95 north of Miami, Florida, has a large
behavioral health unit with 46 beds. The victim’s mother said her son was
never violent. “He never, never, never raised his voice,” Paloumbis said.
The mother was summoned to the hospital Thursday. She was told come
quickly and then was ushered into a room where police officers and detectives
were waiting. Though she had limited English skills, she understood that
her son was dead and initially thought that he may have died from a heart attack
or other natural causes.

Stay Situationally Aware and Continuously Monitor Behavioral Health Patients!

RISKAlert® is a publication of Risk & Security LLC at www.riskandsecurity.com

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