Washington Navy Yard Shooting Scare Deemed False Alarm - 9-11 Call Appropriate Alert Sent By Concerned Employee

The report of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard turned out to be a false alarm, thankfully, reports militarytimes.com

OUTSIDE THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD, D.C. – Law enforcement have concluded that a shooting scare here at the heart of the nation's capital Thursday morning was a false alarm after sweeps of the area, which focused on the sprawling headquarters building that was the scene of a 2013 mass shooting.

Sweeps of the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters and surrounding buildings found no evidence of shots fired, after a police call that triggered a massive response from area law enforcement and a lockdown that kept employees shut into their work stations or off base.

Law enforcement sounded the all clear around 10 a.m., and some police began leaving the scene afterwards.

At 10:20 a.m., the Navy confirmed that no employees had been injured and there was no evidence of shots fired on the base, saying the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was conducting an investigation.

The response began at 7:29 a.m., when an employee called from a building on the Navy Yard to report possible gun shots, according to a Navy statement Thursday morning.

Police have ruled out a hoax, saying that the 9-11 call was an appropriate alert sent by a concerned employee.

"The person the who made the call heard what she thought may have been gunshots and she made the call, which is what employees here are trained to do," said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier. "We have no concerns that this was a hoax whatsoever."

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/breaking-news/2015/07/02/active-shooter-reported-at-washington-navy-yard/29608899/ 

 

Note: I've been following this story closely, as I spent most of my working life on Navy bases. For more than 37 years of U.S. Navy/Defense Department service I did security work and for my last ten years of service the DoD command where I served as administrative officer was stationed on a Navy base in Philadelphia. I wrote our command's shelter in place, emergency evacuation, continuity of operations, and other security plans. I was pleased to see such a fine and speedy response to this alert.        

12 Confirmed Dead From Washington Navy Yard Shooting

NBC News offers a piece on the deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, although the number of victims have risen to 12 dead since the below was published.

A man brandishing an assault rifle, shotgun and handgun opened fire Monday inside a building at the Washington Navy Yard — killing at least seven people and wounding at least five more, including two police officers, military officials and other authorities said.

SWAT officers swarmed the building, the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command, and a shooter there was killed, sources told NBC News.

The Washington police chief said there could be as many as two other shooters at large, one white and one black, both in military-style uniforms. But there was no confirmation of more than one person firing shots. Federal officials said the information appeared to be based on eyewitness reports and surveillance footage.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/16/20522196-at-least-7-killed-in-rampage-at-washington-navy-yard?lite

Note: I worked on naval and military bases nearly all of my working life, and I was a frequent visitor to the Washington Navy Yard.

As the administrative officer of a Defense Department command on a naval base in Philadelphia, I oversaw security programs and I put together the command's evacuation plan and the shelter-in-place plan.

I'd advise all workplaces to have a good evacuation plan as well as a shelter-in-place plan, as the unthinkable can happen - as it did at the Washington Navy Yard.