Some employees walked quickly while most sheltered in place during NAVAIR’s first active shooter exercise April 23 in the Rear Adm. William A. Moffett Building.
Notified of the upcoming exercise, employees were instructed to prepare by watching the “Run. Hide. Fight.” training video that emphasizes the appropriate responses to an active shooter incident in an office environment.
“The exercise met our objectives to train and evaluate the workforce response and host installation emergency responders’ preparedness for an active shooter incident,” said Jerry Carrubba, NAVAIR’s anti-terrorism officer (ATO).
Vice Adm. David Dunaway, NAVAIR commander, authorized the exercise.
“I appreciate all the planning that went into this successful training evolution and am proud of our NAVAIR employees who reacted professionally by either evacuating or sheltering in place,” Dunaway said.
“While none of us wants to think about this type of workplace violence, we’ve seen it happen too many times, at schools, malls and to our friends and colleagues at NAVSEA,” he said referring to the Naval Sea Systems Command incident at the Navy Yard last September.
Inside the NAVAIR headquarters building, the scenario-driven exercise simulated an employee’s violent reaction to losing his job.
The active shooter actor fired seven blank rounds that reverberated throughout the building. Six other Sailors acted as victims complete with simulated gunshot wounds to enable the Naval Air Station Patuxent River first responders to train.
Heard throughout the interior offices, the gunshots caused many employees to contemplate their reaction. “What if this were a real incident?” said one woman. “The sound of the gunshots gave me a chill.”
The exercise lasted about an hour and provided valuable training and lessons learned, said Carrubba.
