Two active shooter drills in an airbase panicked about a real shot



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A second active fire drill was organized on the basis, unbeknownst to the medical staff, and a second group of people claimed to be injured.

A real victim then arrived at the scene: a person who worked at the medical center was injured while jogging at the ankle and called another employee shouting and crying.

There was an "incredible convergence of stimuli". Thomas Sherman, commander of 88th Air Base Wing, told reporters Wednesday. "Sounds, screams, looks, all those things that really make sense to the senses."

In confusion, a member of the emergency room calls the defense operations center of the base signaling a real active shooter.

"A communication failure resulted in a combined totally uncoordinated and ineffective response that could have resulted in serious injury or property damage," said the Air Force in a report summarizing the results of his investigation into the incident. .

The Beginnings

On August 2, the Inspector General of 88 Wing Air Base organized an exercise at the Kittyhawk Chapel. The actors played the role of victims shot dead. Exercises are held twice a year, in accordance with Air Force policy.

At the same time, the medical group was organizing its hospital exercise and false patients presented themselves urgently.

The after-action report indicates that even though the medical exercise was "socialized" by the Inspector General, it was not noted in the scenario of events.

How did the escalation get accelerated

19659002] After the injured jogger called a colleague to the hospital, they were recovered and taken to the emergency room, where employees claiming to be injured also arrived as part of the mass casualty training exercise.

At the same time, emergency responders on the base rushed to the chapel as part of the second exercise.

There was a lot going on at the same time, Sherman told reporters. "What we had on August 2 on this basis was an extremely difficult and high-risk scenario," he said.

In the confusion, a person from the emergency room called the base's defense operations center reporting a real active shooter, the report said. The hospital issued a "Code Silver" alert on its intercom system to alert hospital staff of the active sniper situation and the hospital was locked up.

When an employee heard the "Silver Code" alert, he called 911 on his cell phone – and the civil order forces rushed to answer – what's wrong? Code 99.

How real shots were fired

Units from the Dayton area and the Ohio State responded en masse.

At the same time, grassroots authorities have called for the creation of a SWAT team. They were unaware of the response provided by code 99.

Soon, there were agents on the ground of the hospital. "We had a sincere effort on behalf of the local community to provide support. (…) They quickly responded to an event that was unfolding and that they believed to be true," Sherman said.

Some of them had problems communicating with the incident. The commander – Sherman said it would be the base fire chief – because the air force and local police systems were not working together. Some never went to see the commander of the incident, the air force said. Some who had trouble identifying the leader on the radio.

Air Force security forces entered the hospital. And when an airman encountered a locked door, five shots were fired.

Other people at the hospital heard these shots and other calls were routed to 911.

Although the incident commander learned quickly that the security of the Air Force had fired the shots, 50 other civilian interveners had not understood the message, the According to the report, "crossed the door of the hospital entrance and entered with unsheathed weapons ".

Officials later ruled that the use of a weapon by the airman was inappropriate and left the discipline to their commander. The Special Investigation Bureau of the Air Force investigation into the incident.

No one was seriously injured, said the colonel.

Air Force Response

The report recommended that the base improve its communications regarding drill drills and interoperability with first responders. state and local communities.

"We are in the process of completely reorganizing our exercise process," Sherman said at the press conference.

He stated that he did not want to guess the person who had called the security base because she thought she was really in danger. [19659002] Although the Base Commander does not want to criticize anyone, he has repeatedly said that events are an opportunity to learn. The goal is always to improve, he said.

"I think it's not specifically about what's good and what's wrong with it. the species, "he told reporters, adding that he found positive reactions in the way the authorities of neighboring agencies responded to calls for mutual aid.

Amanda Watts of CNN contributed to this story

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