Body cam footage released during the 2018 Borderline Bar and Grill massacre in Ventura County – Orange County Register

By BRIAN MELLEY and CHRISTOPHER WEBER | Related press

Video from cameras worn by delegates reacting to a mass shooting at a Southern California Bar in 2018 and call for help recordings released on Tuesday captured the chaos, horror and bewilderment of the massacre that left dozens dead.

Frightened patrons hiding from a gunman still stalking victims have whispered reports of the shooting to dispatchers, while others sobbed from the trauma of an event still unfolding. . Officers encountered patrons running for their lives and a bleeding man in a parking lot while friends tried to save him.

Footage and audio from the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting were released Tuesday by the Ventura County sheriff after a court battle by the Associated Press and other news outlets, who sought evidence under the law. public profile.

While the evidence was captured in a more than 400-page report on the shooting published in July, this is the first time the call and video recordings have been released.

Investigators concluded that 28-year-old Ian David Long, a former Marine in Afghanistan, felt college students looked down on veterans and targeted country bar Thousand Oaks because it was night. student. Long took his own life when police surrounded the building on November 7, 2018.

When the line at the sheriff’s call center rang, a woman reporting the shooting whispered, “We’re hiding. The guy is probably still here. ”

When a dispatcher asked another woman if she had seen the shooting, she replied, “It’s still happening!”

Patrons were still running for cover when the first officers arrived.

Videos from the perspective of a dozen officers show how they were left in the dark about what happened after one of them, Sgt. Ronald Helus, entering the building after the broadcast: “We have a lot of people down. We need a lot of ambulances.”

Surveillance footage shows Helus and CHP Officer Todd Barrett slowly entering the bar with guns raised and Helus with a flashlight on the barrel of a rifle scanning the darkness. Long, who was hiding in the office by the entrance, ambushed the men from there and began firing from his .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Barrett ran outside and started shooting back. Helus staggered as he retreated. When he got up, he was hit by a Barrett bullet that hit Long in the body.

Helus managed to roll over on his back and fired multiple shots when Long shot him five times as he was collapsing. However, the medical examiner concluded that it was Barrett’s unintentional shot that killed the veteran officer.

Several body cameras captured sporadic gunfire erupting at the bar’s entrance.

The other cameras were either not turned on at the time the photo was taken or were on the officers who arrived later.

In the silence after the gunfight, Sgt. Laura Natoli, standing behind bushes near the bar, noted the smoke she could see inside the bar and told a deputy: “I wonder if he went out on his own.”

Just then, a man in a plaid shirt and cap from a bar appeared from the shadows behind a trash can and startled Natoli.

“God, what are you doing?” she speaks.

The man said he was in the army and wanted to help. He said at least one, possibly two, officers had been fired.

“I followed him,” he said. “At the front door.”

Deputy Charles Gallagher, who was with Natoli, cursed.

“We have no other communication from the people inside, that’s what worries me,” Natoli said.

Meanwhile, behind a patrol car where Deputy Matthew Kahn had hid with another officer, a shot victim was lying on the ground and sounded as if he were in a trance as the men His companion applies pressure to stop the bleeding.

“Take me to the hospital,” the man said.

One woman reassured him: “They’re on their way.”

Another officer came to tell them they needed to carry him to a staging area where the ambulance was coming.

“He won’t let it sit here,” said the officer.

The man was taken to a safe place. He’s the sole survivor, Cmdr. Jeff Miller said.

At some point, Kahn, who spoke with Barrett, could hear that Helus had been shot. But his call was not retransmitted, according to reports.

Miller said news of Helus’ shooting was not widely circulated.

“Lack of knowledge about Sgt. Helus was shot and knocked down over a pretty long period of time,” Miller said when asked about the footage and the radio calls.

Most of the newly released footage ended after Natoli sent Deputy Steve Manley and another officer with rifles to the front of the bar to see if they could see any signs of Helus.

Manley’s camera captured the barrel of his rifle as he moved in the dark and ducked behind a low wall and bush in front of the bar.

With his gun trained towards the entrance area, he reported no movement. Then, pops can be heard inside the building.

“I only have one shot,” he said on his radio — a transmission heard on other videos.

Miller said: Long took his own life.

The videos ended there.