Dear Jon: Presidio ‘active shooter’ drill follow up

The Presidio of Monterey is on the cutting edge of emergency preparedness, but the exercise slated for August 8, 2014 took a turn that warranted a real world investigation by allied agencies already on scene for the drill.

We did follow up on this story summer, but what we didn’t report at the time was divulged to the media until I asked about it this past week.

This incident boils down to a very simple truth, be careful what you say on a U.S Army installation. “You need to pay attention to what you say, when we’re conducting an exercise,” says Presidio Director of Emergency Services Shawn Marshall.

In response to a number of active shooter incidents in the U.S., the Presidio and its allied agencies came to together at the installation to conduct an active shooter exercise in front of Taylor Hall last summer. “All our mutual aid partners Monterey fire, Monterey police department, county sheriff, Monterey county bomb squad potentially, federal bureau of investigations FBI are all involved and all the local organizations and tenants here on the installation. Our police department, our fire department, all are emergency responders are all involved in an incident like that, because obviously it could transition into a mass casualty incident like that and there are a lot agencies involved in an incident like that.”

Marshall says the intent of any of their full scale exercises is to make them as real as they possibly can. Says Marshall, “In the Army, we train as we fight.”

As the drill got underway in front of Taylor Hall, Marshall says. “In preparation for the active shooter exercise, there was a Defense Language Institute instructor that made comments that some students perceived to be threatening to the exercise and they called it in. The instructor’s vehicle was observed in the vicinity of the exercise site, certainly this posed some serious concerns. We take threats and the safety of this installation extremely serious. The incident commander made the determination with consultation with the installation leadership to immediately terminate the exercise and evacuate the immediate area.”

Some 500 students and staff were evacuated.

The FBI and the Monterey County Bomb Squad were already on scene for the drill and shifted their focus to a real world investigate into the threats.

So what were the threats that were so concerning?

“An Arab comic was making comments on an HBO series, they were something similar to those comments and repeating those comments. I can’t tell you specifically what they were.”

The instructor’s car was investigated for potential explosive devices and weapons by FBI and bomb squad, eventually the all clear was given.

“Ultimately it was determined that there was no credible threat. Anywhere around this installation you make comments like that, we take them very seriously and then they’re investigated and there’s consequences,” says Marshall.

Those consequences resulted in the firing of the DLI instructor who made the comments. No criminal charges were filed. The investigation was completed the day of the exercise.

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