Phone system failed in Los Angeles airport shooting

Published February 27, 2014 5:00am ET



LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles International Airport police dispatcher who received a call seconds after a gunman opened fire last year didn’t know where to send officers because no one was on the line and the airport communications system didn’t identify that the call was coming from a security checkpoint emergency phone, two officials told the Associated Press.

A screening supervisor in the sprawling airport’s Terminal 3 picked up the phone but fled before responding to a dispatcher’s questions because the gunman was approaching with a high-powered rifle and spraying bullets, according to two officials briefed on preliminary findings of a review of the emergency response to the Nov. 1 incident. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because the final report won’t be released until next month.

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