Vegas mass shooting leads Ventura County officials to plan for disaster

The impact of a mass shooting on nearly 800 Ventura County residents who attended a music festival in Las Vegas has prompted local officials to prepare, should another tragedy hit closer to home.

Part of that effort will include forums later this month.

While Ventura County law enforcement agencies continue to train and integrate new strategies in their response to such incidents, recent conversations have been centered on emergency plans to mobilize mental health resources and other support services for those affected by large-scale tragedies. 

There were 58 people killed, including five with local ties, and hundreds injured when a man gunned down concertgoers on Oct. 1 at the Route 91 Harvest music festival from an upstairs window of nearby Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. 

Based on figures from Ticketmaster, 798 festival tickets were sold to Ventura County residents. 

After the shooting, victims from Ventura County and elsewhere were directed to go to the Family Assistance Center at the Las Vegas Convention Center to get information about how to get home and how to get their belongings back. 

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It’s that type of roll-out of resources and information that the county is starting to have meetings about, said Rachael Watkins, supervisor of the crime victims’ assistance program in the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. 

“These tragedies are unfortunately so common now we want to be ahead of the game as much as we can. To be able to have some agreements in place, point of contacts, what we’re able to do. ... It’s definitely in everybody’s forefront,” Watkins said. 

It’s also the “magnitude” of the incident that has caused local officials to have this realization, she said. 

As of December, 104 of the local residents who had tickets for the festival have been documented as clients of the program, Watkins said. 

Of the 24 victim advocates who work in the district attorney’s program, seven have formed a team to field calls from local survivors and link them to necessary resources. 

As the homicide victims’ names were released to officials, local victim advocates began reaching out. They also attended vigils and sent out news releases so they could let those affected by the tragedy know about compensation available to them that could pay for medical bills, funeral costs and counseling.  

Watkins said that so far, the advocates have referred 39 of the nearly 800 who bought tickets to get a refund from Ticketmaster. 

There have also been 179 referrals for therapy. Those numbers include multiple agencies for the counseling as well as referrals for family members of local survivors, Watkins said. 

An additional 59 referrals have been made to either the American Red Cross or National Compassion Fund to submit applications for compensation. And 71 “victim of crime” applications have also come in that could help survivors seek compensation, Watkins said. 

The application was streamlined for California residents, since the state allows victims to receive benefits from both the Nevada Victims of Crime Program and California Victim Compensation Board. 

Forum in the works

A series of forums from the California board and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime is being planned in Ventura County for the end of January so survivors in California can talk about what resources they still may need. There will also be forums for those who provide resources; it’s an effort to gauge their experience and figure out what they may need, Watkins said. 

These forums were initially supposed to be held Dec. 7 but were canceled due to the Thomas Fire, Watkins said. Those who previously RSVP’d to attend will be contacted with the new dates and times, Watkins said. 

The events will also help local officials plan for the future, she said. 

However, some of the most valuable insight into these preparations has come from three Ventura County victim advocates who were sent to the Family Assistance Center in Las Vegas to help out once local resources were tapped. 

Soon after the District Attorney’s Office got the call for help from the California Office of Emergency Services, Sandra Avila, Kelly Muklevicz and Marie Villa jumped in a car and headed to Vegas. They left Oct. 15 and returned Oct. 21. 

They had no idea what they were in for. 

Once they arrived, they went straight to the center and started working with the victims. 

“At its core, what they had hoped to build and what they had built was a physical space where they could walk in the doors and describe what they needed and they would get assigned to one of us,” Villa said. 

They were called companions. 

There were a number of stations with organizations that met a certain need. They ranged from the American Red Cross to mental health services and the FBI. 

“It’s totally different than what we do on a daily basis because we went and saw clients, victims, survivors after this happened,” Avila said. “Here, we’re dealing with people more like on a phone basis unless they’re coming in to complete the applications or going over paperwork with you.” 

Another challenge, Avila said, was that advocates usually know what’s going on with a prospective client, whether it be a victim of domestic violence or homicide. 

So in order to help, much of what they did was listen.

The vast majority of the people they spoke to were either people from the Las Vegas area people getting out of the hospital or people who worked at the event. 

Many people did not know why they were at the center or what resources were offered, but within themselves or through a loved one or employer, they had identified trauma.

Most told the companions what happened during the shooting. Villa said it may have been done in an effort to process the incident and to seek some kind of validation of the horrific night they endured. 

Others felt silly for wanting to visit the FBI table to pick up what they left behind, Avila said. The people who were not physically hurt or did not lose someone in the shooting at first felt like they were taking resources from those who needed them, Muklevicz said. 

“But I can say with confidence that most, if not all, the people I helped left there feeling like they had somewhat of a burden lifted off their shoulders, and they left with valuable resources and information,” Muklevicz said. 

A lot of these hangups or questions were the same that Ventura County survivors had. 

The trio each saw up to 10 clients a day, whether an individual or family, and each client would be at the center from 20 minutes to five hours, based on their needs. The companions worked from 8 a.m. and most nights would continue until after closing at 10 p.m. because of the influx of clients, Villa said. 

It was a work assignment and a life experience that left each of them changed and “emotionally, physically and psychologically exhausted,” Villa said.  

“We really relied on each other and the other companions as our debriefing and our support,” Villa said. 

They said it’s tough not having any further contact with the people they helped so they can check up on them. But they continue to offer their services to the 104 people in the county and encourage others to come forward. 

“As advocates, we know this never goes away,” Watkins said. 

The services are only offered and not pushed. and each advocate will work at whatever pace the survivor requires. 

In the meantime, they advised local survivors that they are not in this alone. They also said that signs of trauma include nightmares, eating too much or not enough, sleeping too much or not enough and feeling agitated or stressed out all of a sudden.

These symptoms are normal after such an experience, Watkins said. 

Who to contact

• The victims’ assistance program: 654-3622. Mention the incident in Las Vegas to be directed to the special team. 
• The Vegas Strong Resiliency Center: 702-455-2433 or 833-299-2433. 
• Upcoming Survivor Forums: anita.ahuja@victims.ca.gov.