Sacramento City College officials get failing grade in response to campus shooting

“Human error” and “lack of practice” caused the 40-minute delay in sending an emergency notification to Sacramento City College students, faculty and staff after the on-campus shooting that left one dead and two injured last month, according to an external review commissioned by the Los Rios Community College District.

The report, released October 22, recounts that the delay was caused when City College public information officer Rick Brewer forgot how to log onto the WARN service, the system that LRCCD uses to send emergency notification messages. After multiple failed attempts, Brewer called the Tennessee-based company and dictated the message, which was then sent at 4:40 p.m. Students received it one minute later at 4:41 p.m.

Many students, faculty and staff expressed concern over the delay in the days following the September 3 shooting.

The report, prepared by retired FBI special agent Mike Rayfield, calls the delay “unacceptable,” but states that “the failure to give notice in a timely manner contributed to nothing more than uncertainty relative to this incident.”

The report also points out that some faculty, staff and administrators were unable to secure the doors to various buildings during the lockdown because they either did not have keys or because the doors lock from the outside.

The report recommends that the district address both the WARN system failure and that instructors and building administrators are provided keys to the classrooms they utilize—but says that overall, the district's response to the shooting was “more than acceptable.”

“We look forward to reviewing the recommendations as a District to determine what ways we might improve our preparations and response in the future,” Los Rios Chancellor Brian King said in a release.