MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — An active shooter training exercise at the Murfreesboro VA hospital was mistaken for a real situation as it unfolded last week, Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV reports.
It was a “no-notice” training exercise, but the realism was increased because an actor portraying the shooter entered the facility too soon.
It happened Thursday morning during an executive meeting in a conference room at the Murfreesboro VA, and it left some of those who were there unsettled-- they thought it was a very real threat.
And for good reason: it was a realistic drill, with the actor portraying the shooter even using blank bullets.
Imagine attending a meeting and you hear shots fired outside the conference room, just a few feet from where you are seated. A “fight or flight” instinct kicks into high gear.
“One guy was at the door to keep it closed. Eight or nine people yelled at once to lock the door. People were prepared to hide under the table,” said Jon Maggard, Chief of VA Police Services, who saw it all unfold.
So what went wrong? The actor fired a gun prematurely, before VA police could tell the 40 or so people in the room that it was an exercise.
"We had no intent of people not knowing we were doing an exercise, and we're sorry that people got emotional, upset, angry and frightened. That was never our intent," Maggard said.
VA employees in Nashville were connected to the Murfreesboro conference room via a video call. They saw it all unfold on a television screen.
VA facilities are under a mandate to conduct the drills at least once a year to keep staff prepared for the real thing.
"One of the reasons is to assess the staff preparing for an actual threat, also to assess the ability to move forward in the loss of senior leadership," said Maggard.
Maggard said the drills are necessary and some changes will be made before the next drill is conducted.