On June 7, 2013, the city of Santa Monica, California, experienced a shooting incident that affected the entire community. Within the span of 13 minutes, John Zawahri shot and killed his father and brother, burned down his family’s home, carjacked a vehicle, and kidnapped the driver. Zawahri then forced the person to drive across town to the Santa Monica College campus where he killed an additional three people.

During this time, he shot at a municipal bus filled with passengers and shot randomly at people on the streets. He also shot at students and employees hiding in rooms in the library building at the Santa Monica College. Law enforcement personnel rapidly responded to the area, found Zawahri in the midst of shooting inside the library, and fatally shot him to stop his attack.

Following this incident, Santa Monica’s Office of Emergency Management took the lead in developing a summary of the incident, which is intended to provide a review of the response to the shooting incident and initial recovery efforts.

The shooting caused people at Santa Monica College to hide in rooms throughout the campus and wait there for hours as law enforcement searched for any additional threats. Residents in affected neighborhoods took shelter in their homes and followed the events by traditional news media as well as through social media outlets.

Thousands of students in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District were on lockdown status in their classrooms, sheltering under their desks. Many students in the school district also were evacuated from their schools to a family assistance center that had been quickly established at the school district’s main offices. 

Hundreds of first responders from several Southern California agencies came to Santa Monica to render assistance in the form of medical response to those injured during the incident, to aid in the search for the assailant (and potentially additional suspects and other hazards), and to assist in the mental health response and recovery efforts.

Santa Monica’s preparation to respond to this type of violence had begun long before June 2013. The comprehensive training, preparation, and coordination that members of the police department, fire department, emergency operations center, college police, Malibu Unified School District, the American Red Cross, and the numerous other agencies and individuals took part in were, in fact, the determining factors in limiting the devastating effects of the shootings. 

The incident had a significant impact on the well-being and sense of security that those who live, work, study, and play in Santa Monica had come to expect. The actions of local first responders and city staff, as well as the actions of the community partners from the Santa Monica Malibu School District, Santa Monica College, local hospitals, and others enabled the city to quickly respond and prevent further loss of life. The city and its community partners worked together after the incident to restore the community’s sense of well-being and its return to normalcy.

The summary provided in the report titled City of Santa Monica June 7, 2013, Shooting Incident is intended to provide a road map for other local governments that may be affected by similar incidents in the future, so that they may be better prepared to respond to and recover from them. The observations generated at the end of the report are grouped into four core areas: 1) Communications and Notifications; 2) Incident Command System Protocols and Training; 3) Response and Recovery Logistics; and 4) Community Recovery Services.

The document is available on the Santa Monica Office of Emergency Management’s web page at www.smgov.net/june7summary.