Wright-Patterson AFB conducting base-wide active shooter response exercise

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Wright-Patterson Air Force Base held an active shooter response exercise Wednesday, according to a base spokesperson.

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The exercise was scheduled on Area B and is expected to be wrapped-up by 3 p.m., the public affairs spokesperson said in a release, published on the base website.

Base members and those near the base could expect to hear the “Giant Voice” loudspeakers and will be notified of lockdowns through phone and other electronic message as part of the drill.

Additionally, base and community members are urged to avoid the area where the exercise is taking place and not call 911, if possible.

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Base members were also told to expect congested gate traffic, road closures, and increased security measures.

Additionally, emergency dispatch centers in surrounding communities were notified the base is conducting a drill.

“All personnel base-wide should follow the guidance received in their active-shooter training,” Roxanne Viney, director of exercises at Wright-Patterson AFB said in the media alert.

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“They should know what to do, and exercising is the best way to test those skills. Wing inspection team members will be scattered across the base observing how personnel react.”

Wednesday’s exercise was the first of two base-wide exercises planned this year, the spokesperson said.

In recent years the base has dealt with two active shooter reports one of which stemmed from an exercise that was reported as a real-world event. Both were found to be non-credible but not before lengthy investigations.

A 2018 active shooter training was reported as real-world and would later prompt three changes after an investigation.

In September 2021, the base was placed on a lengthy lockdown while base personnel investigated an active shooter report at a building that’s part of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).

The investigation into the report later found no threat after two people reported to a security worker hearing a single gunshot at the NASIC facility.

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