Though a report of gunshots fired in a building at Naval Medical Center San Diego on Jan. 26 turned out to be mistaken, the possibility of another base shooting threw personnel and media into high gear as the situation played out.
Several base shootings in the past two years have hit the service hard, prompting new efforts to train for active shooter situations.
"Essentially, we have to errair on the side of safety," said Capt. Anthony Calandra, Navy Installations Command's director of public safety. "Each one of these situations turns out to be different. They’re all very dynamic."
A witness reported hearing gunshots from the basement medical center building used as a gym, barracks and for administration building on that Tuesday morning, prompting a base lockdown and varied emergency response from Navy and local authorities.
Early reports are that the response was successful, Capt. Anthony Calandra told Navy Times in a Jan. 29 phone interview.
The base's Facebook page posted a lockdown warning advising personnel to "run, hide or fight," guidance that is key to the Navy's active shooter training, according to Calandra.
"One of the things that went right — and I know it doesn't always sound like it went right — was the installation's ability to get the word out in a quick and complete manner," he said.
An initial sweep of the building found no signs of gunfire, and personnel were evacuated as authorities continued with a more thorough inspection, said Naval Base San Diego commanding officer Capt. Curt Jones said during in a press conference after confirming there was no threat.
Officials are still sorting through the lessons learned, Calandra said, but his office has an eye toward a more efficient way to confirm threats and more frequent training for personnel.
Better safe
Only one person reported hearing supposed gunshots in fired from the basement of Building 26, but that wasis enough to set off a shelter-in-place order, Calandra said.
"We need to respond as if it were an actual event," he said. "Until we find out otherwise, we have to err air on the side of safety."
Active shooter training has been a big priority for the Navy in recent years, as the. The shootings at Washington's Navy Yard in 2013, aboard the destroyer Mahan at Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia, in 2014, and at a Navy Operational Support Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 2013 Navy Yard, 2014 destroyer Mahan and 2015 Chattanooga shootings have forced the service to examine and re-examine how it prepares personnel and security forces for danger.
Once a threat is reported, robo-messages go out to office telephones and pop up on computer screens. There are also public address systems inside and outside buildings, Calandra said,
Once everyone is sheltered in place, military and local authorities begin to clear the building, confirming the presence or non-presence of a threat before evacuating personnel.
That part went very well in San Diego, he said.
"Despite the length of time that it took, we actually got through a very large building at a fairly good pace in order to ensure that the scene was safe," Calandra said.
Still, he added, as the Navy has stepped up its kept vigilantce about potential threats, false alarms have also become a problem.
"This is a challenge for us, and this is not the first time that we've had a false alarm that has driven us toward a response like this," Calandra said.
Twice in 2015, false reports of gunfire threw installations into lockdown, at Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Maryland, and at the Washington Navy Yard, where nerves were still deeply raw two years after the deadly attack thereafter from the 2013 shooting.
The Navy is looking into ways to save some of that trouble.
"We are working through better procedures and looking into better ways to determine whether or not we're getting a false alarm," he said.
That includes researching some technology that could help with confirming threats more quickly, and in how personnel are dispatched to the scene, he said, adding that it is too soon in the process to provide details.
Run, hide, fight
The Facebook message that tipped the public to the situation at the medical center included some ominous language:
**!ATTENTION!** An active shooter has just been been reported in building #26 at Naval Medical Center San Diego. All occupants are advised to run, hide or fight. All non-emergency response personnel are asked to stay away from the compound, located at 34800 Bob Wilson Drive, San Diego, CA 92134
Those instructions have been part of DoD-wide training for years, NCIC spokesman Fred Henney confirmed.
In their training, personnel are and told to use their judgment based on their circumstances, Calandra said.
"By running, we say evacuate because that's really what we're after," he said. "When we say hide, that procedure is in places where you don't think that it's safe to run because of where the active shooter is. "
Hiding includes barricading doors to bar access and silencing phones, for instance, to avoid prevent drawing attention.
And when it comes to fighting, Calandra said, that is a worst-case scenario in which for when an assailant has broken their his way into an office, for example.
"It's not always cut and dry," he said. "Sometimes you hide out until you can evacuate. Sometimes you hide out until you have to confront the individual, and that — of course — is the last thing that you would want to do."
There are no set rules, he added, but they train people to use their best judgment. If the shooter is in another building, evacuate. If the shooter is in the building, shelter-in-place. If you're face-to-face, fight.
The personnel at NMCSD had just refreshed their training in December, Jones said at the press conference.
Fleet Forces has ordered a Navy-wide refresher to be completed by March, Calandra said, as well as a tabletop exercise for each command.
"So that's sitting around the table and planning the correct notifications, the correct local response inside the building, and ensuring your people have the right training," he said.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
