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Active-shooter exercise tests readiness

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Throneberry
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Note: Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst participated in an active shooter exercise. All portions of the annual exercise were simulated. There was no active shooter on the installation.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst personnel participated in an active-shooter exercise Sept. 12, 2013, to evaluate the installation's emergency response procedures here.

The exercise tested the joint base's ability to respond to an active-shooter event, similar to the attack at the Washington Navy Yard Sept. 16, 2013.

An active shooter is, by DOD definition, one or more individuals who participate in a random or systematic shooting spree, demonstrating his or her intent and means to continuously cause serious physical injury or death to others. His or her overriding objective appears to be that of mass murder, rather than some other type of criminal conduct such as robbery.

The date and time of the exercise was released prior to the event in order to prevent unnecessary panic or fear in or around base communities.

"We are in the business of full disclosure and preparedness," said Steve Robertson, 87th Civil Engineer Squadron Emergency Management director. "The operations and exercises go well usually because you prepared ahead of time."

The exercise kicked off at approximately 8:47 a.m. with a simulated 911 call from a bystander who was alerted of an active shooter in the 87th Contracting Squadron.

The exercise scenario set up a simulated series of events during which two jilted civilian contractors coordinated an attack in order to seek vengeance. The civilians' work contract with the joint base was being replaced by another company so they wanted to punish Lt. Col. Jeffrey Gibson, 87th CONS commander, and his employees involved during a meeting. The exercise simulated that the individuals killed and wounded several individuals on their way to the basement where the meeting was being held.

A total of six 87th Security Forces Squadron members gathered at the building within seconds of receiving the call to exercise forming the initial entry party. They entered the building, listening to the screams of individuals acting as wounded victims who directed them to the perpetrator. The team entered the basement and eliminated the first active shooter. The second perpetrator, at that point, had already taken Gibson hostage in a nearby closet.

"Patrol Officer Joseph Donato, did a phenomenal job practicing his negotiation skills as he talked down and negotiating with the active shooter until the actual hostage negotiator arrived," said Master Sgt. Garrett Knight, 87th SFS standards and evaluations noncommissioned officer in charge. "Negotiations went on for about an hour and 15 minutes until the gunman killed Gibson and himself."

An active shooter exercise typically wraps up once the threat has been eliminated. This year's exercise went a step further.

"We had a full after-action investigation complete with a mock crime scene done by the Office of Special Investigation and an FBI member," said Robertson. "We've never been able to exercise the interaction between command and control, and on scene investigators. From a 'lessons learned' perspective, it was very successful."

Joint-base agencies responded immediately to the reported incident and increased threat conditions and force protection levels.

Security forces eliminated the threat and secured the scene, the 87th Medical Group provided lifesaving care to the wounded, EM provided on scene communications for all elements and the Joint Base Fire Department provided command and control at the scene as the overall incident commander.

All Department of Defense installations practice training for similar real-world situations.

"Just because we live and work on military installation does not ensure we are exempt from violence," said Knight. "Shootings like Fort Hood and in D.C. show that base preparedness cannot be overstated."