AP’s U.S. staff has a lot of practice in responding to mass shootings. But two major events in 24 hours tested even the most experienced staff.
They rose to the challenge.
Soon after noon Central time on Saturday, Aug. 3, reports began to surface about an active shooter at an El Paso, Texas, mall.
While it would be several hours before details of the story would become clear, the quick reaction of AP staff around the country and beyond – in the office, at home and even on vacation – ensured the AP was fast, accurate and leading the way on what would become one of the biggest stories of the year.
Initial reports remained sketchy, and a local news station reported without attribution about a half-hour after the initial reports, that 18 people were shot inside a Walmart – a shocking number, but one that would prove well under the final casualty count, which by Monday would rise to 22 dead and two dozen injured.
From left, Melody Stout, Hannah Payan, Aaliyah Alba, Sherie Gramlich and Laura Barrios comfort each other during a vigil for victims of the shooting in El Paso, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019.
AP Photo / John Locher
People comfort each other during a vigil for victims of Saturday’s mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Locher
People attend a vigil for victims of Saturday’s mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Locher
People raise their arms, many holding their lighted smartphones, during a vigil for victims of Saturday's mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Locher
Cathe Hill wipes away tears during a vigil for victims of Saturday’s mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. “There's no such thing as a stranger here in El Paso,” said Hill about the impact the shooting had on the community.
AP Photo / John Locher
Law enforcement personnel block a road at the scene of a mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Locher
Paul Jamrowski wipes away tears as he speaks with the media about the death of his daughter, at University Medical Center of El Paso, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. Jamrowski’s daughter was killed in the mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart. It was later revealed that her husband was also among the 22 killed. The couple reportedly died while shielding their 2-month-old son, who survived, from the gunman.
AP Photo / John Locher
Edie Hallberg cries while speaking to police outside a Walmart store where a mass shooting occurred earlier in the day as she looks for her missing mother Angie Englisbee, who was in the store during the attack in El Paso, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. Englisbee, 86, was among the 22 people killed.
AP Photo / Andres Leighton
Gloria Garces kneels in front of crosses at a makeshift memorial for the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019.
AP Photo / John Locher
Christina Pipkin, right, embraces Alex Briseno, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, at a makeshift memorial at the site of a mass shooting over the weekend at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas. “It’s hard to see it, it’s heartbreaking,” said Pipkin about visiting the memorial.
AP Photo / John Locher
A woman sits next to a sign with a message that reads: “No More Guns! Make Love,” in Juarez, Mexico, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, where people were gathering for a vigil for the three Mexican nationals who were killed in the El Paso shopping complex shooting that left 22 dead.
AP Photo / Christian Chavez
While Dallas staffer Diana Heidgerd and Oklahoma City’s Ken Miller worked to confirm details on the phone and colleagues elsewhere scoured the internet for citizen content (UGC), El Paso staffer Cedar Attanasio rushed to the scene, where he went live with Bambuser to provide the AP’s first live video, and then sent text feeds with updates from law enforcement.
Initial police briefings were vague and frustrating. Washington law enforcement reporter Mike Balsamo, on vacation in Orlando, Florida, was among those who were working their sources, along with Washington colleague Eric Tucker. Their efforts resulted in a AP NewsAlert moving soon after 5 p.m., reporting that at least 15 were dead and naming the suspect. For hours, other news organizations relied on that number as the most trustworthy being reported.
Leta Jamrowski wipes away tears as her parents Misti Jamrowski, left, and Paul Jamrowski speak with the media at University Medical Center of El Paso, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. Leta’s sister was killed in the mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart, and it was later revealed that her sister’s husband was also among the 22 killed. The couple reportedly died while shielding their 2-month-old son, who survived.
AP Photo / John Locher
By the time that alert moved, AP managers throughout the country had already been working for hours to get additional staff to the scene. Among those joining Attanasio in El Paso by that evening and into the next morning were video journalists John Mone of Houston and Mike Householder of Detroit, Las Vegas photographer John Locher and text staffers Astrid Galvan from Phoenix and Morgan Lee from Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Among the standout coverage was an early cross-format interview by Lee the night of the shooting with a woman who told the heartbreaking story of her sister who died while shielding her 2-month-old son. It was a story that other news organizations were still matching three days later.
That story got more than 80,000 pageviews, and the first day’s mainbar upward of 640,000 pageviews – just a small part of the terrific cross-format play for the continuing coverage.
Shoes are piled at the scene of a mass shooting outside Ned Peppers bar in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. Nine people were killed in the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours, and the suspected shooter was also dead, police said.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Bodies are removed from at the scene of a mass shooting in the historic Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mourners gather at a vigil following a nearby mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mourners gather at a vigil following a nearby mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mourners visit a makeshift memorial outside Ned Peppers bar following a vigil at the scene of a mass shooting in the historic Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
At his home in Dayton, Ohio, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, Dion Green holds a cell phone showing a picture of himself and his father, Derrick Fudge, who was killed in Sunday’s mass shooting in Dayton. Green just wanted to have some fun with his family in downtown Dayton after what had been a tough couple of months in the aftermath of damaging tornadoes. But his Saturday night out ended tragically, with his father dying in his arms, their eyes meeting as he took his final breath.
AP Photo / Robert Bumsted
Mourners pause for a prayer as they gather for a vigil at the scene of a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mourners gather for a vigil at the scene of a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. A masked gunman in body armor opened fire early Sunday in Dayton’s popular Oregon entertainment district in Dayton, killing nine people, including his sister, and wounding dozens before he was quickly slain by police, officials said.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mourners gather at a vigil following a nearby mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mourners visit a makeshift memorial outside Ned Peppers bar following a vigil at the scene of a mass shooting in the historic Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
As the Texas team was just catching its breath, reports of another massacre emerged, this time in Ohio. U.S. overnight staffer Mallika Sen in New York pivoted from the El Paso developments, alerting deputy East editor Peter Morgan to reports of a shooting in Dayton. While Morgan mobilized staff to head in from Cincinnati and Columbus and video staff in London began to take in feeds of police activity, Sen worked phones and monitored multiple sources to confirm details.
An initial alert that a hospital was treating 16 shooting victims was followed four minutes later by the alert that a shooter killed nine people, including his own sister, in a matter of seconds before police shot him dead. AP’s alert beat numerous news outlets by nearly 20 minutes.
The Ohio staff – including Dan Sewell, Kantele Franko and Julie Carr Smyth, who jumped in on her birthday – raced to Dayton. Cincinnati photographer John Minchillo scored a jarring frame of shoes piled behind police tape at the shooting scene before he and other media were moved farther away. That image and his compelling visuals from multiple vigils ran on front pages and in large displays inside The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
Minchillo, later joined by video journalists Angie Wang of Cincinnati and Robert Bumsted of New York, ensured that AP beat other agencies on numerous live shots, and East news director Sara Gillesby secured exclusive UGC from the scene. Bumsted shot an incredibly compelling interview with a man who watched his father die in his arms. Many of the same supporting cast already working the El Paso story from afar stepped in on Ohio as well, including Washington reporter Michael Biesecker’s work on a shooter profile, Balsamo, who continued working sources from the Orlando theme park, and White House reporter Jonathan Lemire, who wrote a piece about President Donald Trump’s absence from public view on Sunday morning.
For its quick, nimble response, precise reporting and robust, cross-format content on two highly competitive breaking stories, the U.S. staff is recognized with this week’s Best of the States award.