San Diego response to reports of an active shooter. Educators visit the ABCs of the SATs and Sendak considers getting a transportation tax on the ballots. What will it pay for? I am Tom fudge and you're looking to midday addition. Our top story on midday. This morning a person said he heard shots fired at the Navy medical Center in Balboa Park. It caused a tremendous start but it turns out to have been nothing. The Navy officials spoke to the assembled media as at the reports were unfounded. Naval base San Diego commander Curt Jones met with reporters just before 7:00. It was then he made the first official confirmation that there was no threat. Inside the Navy medical Center complex. I can tell you the person who reported gunshots was in the building at that time and reported that they thought they heard three gunshots. That they were in the building and the hurtful shots that were hurt gunshots that were reported. We have been clearing, we are having clearing the building we have done the initial sweep and again have found nothing. We are on a secondary sweep and we are now extracting people out of the building. In a safe and orderly fashion. José Acosta is the commander of the naval of the Naval Medical Ctr., San Diego. He said the staff trained for this sort of situation a few months ago. He was pleased with the response once heard of the potential threat Out. I think we have done very well. I think we were ready for this situation. Is never perfect but I think we did very well. We are doing well. That what they a cost up with the U.S. Navy. Steve Large to the reporter for KPBS and he covered the press conference. He was on the scene at the Naval medical Center. He joined the in studio. Thank you for being here. Steve tell us the back story. How and when did this whole thing start? Right around 8:00 this morning as you mentioned. After a woman reported she heard shots fired in building 26 which is a building that houses -- a space where wounded warriors go. She reported that she had heard the shots fired. That is what brought everything -- brought the crisis plan and supports. The whole place went into lockdown and he started calling backup from agencies around San Diego. The person who heard the shots was a Department of Defense employee according to Captain. Curt Jones. Aside from this one witness that anybody else hear them? Now -- there were not any gunshots. Did anyone -- report a sound that sounded like gunshots? Note just the one woman. I asked is this something that because it turned out to be false that she is going to be in trouble. They said no at the time they just reiterated in the second conference no action will be taken against the person. They want people to see -- report suspicious activity. Even though it causes this type of consternation -- the whole center in lockdown -- this is a plan that in the end worked well. By the way, Mayor Cameron Faulkner also held a press conference following the event. Here is some of what he said. That is what we trained for. I can't say enough about the partnership obviously with the United States Navy response from our --.pdf from everybody involved here today. We do want people, if they hear anything to report it. We trained so that we are prepared. That is San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulkner. This was the first test. I think you mentioned this earlier that in December they trained for this. This new notion of how you handle active shooters. People were told to either run, hide or fight. The plan went to into place and that sweet went out to people in the center and they hunkered down where they were. So the medical -- the naval commanders at the press conference thinks the response was appropriate obviously. I assume San Bernardino was fresh in the minds of everybody when this happened. Definitely. Including us. The collection of media that showed up was fast and we started getting national interest immediately that there might be an active shooter at the Navy medical Center. Aside from the Midshipman -- media in terms of the people that were there any of the people you talk to what was the mood of the crowd? People were caught outside -- I think Matt has to take on this. There were people caught outside there were tweeting back and forth for testing -- texting with their loved ones locked inside the center. Funny you should mention that bowler -- he is also a reporter with KPBS and he joins us here to. He was also on the same. Matt there were three schools that were lockdown as a result of this shooting. Can you talk about that? San Diego high Garfield high And Roosevelt middle all went into lockdown immediately following the initial alert that went out this morning. They went into lockdown for about an hour. Then they went into shelter in place for about an hour which is slightly less restrictive. Students can be escorted places. Then they were given the all clear. San Diego unified that an officer at the command center at the naval station were at that Navy medical Center facilitating communication to make sure that they knew what was going on. San Diego high and Garfield high and Roosevelt middle are all in close proximity. Matt you were speaking -- this is something that Steve brought up. With some of the people that were there. I think one of them for instance had brought a daughter to an employment? His daughter was there with his grandson. Because his daughter's former Navy and they get medical treatment at the hospital. His grandson was getting Caesar medication. When they went, initially he was of course alarmed. You will hear it in the clip. He spoke of his daughter and text messages were immediately flying back and forth. I don't think she actually made it to the appointment. Because she told me they told her to run and hide. My grandson is in their. My grandson is eight or It sounds like this was an interview you did before they got the all clear. They still thought maybe -- people were standing outside sending text messages back and forth. You could see down in some areas where there were rest areas and little outdoor break areas where sailors and marines and civilian employees were sitting and waiting to be told they can go back to work or leads. I think you also spoke with a woman who was there -- I think she sells medical devices. She is a medical device Representative. They usually work in theater with doctors in case they have a question. This way they can immediately asked the question. That Elder -- the LB GYN department. And elder civilian employee was definitely shaken up. From the little texting I had I think everyone is pretty nervous. A lot of them are military so obviously they are trained in this kind of thing. There are also a lot of civilians. Not everybody is trained so that when you see a text from the Navy saying hide run or fight, it's like -- I live in South Park and I don't see that kind of stuff. While you are not in South Park anymore. One thing I have heard a couple of times during the conversation -- your source here said it, is run, hide or fight. I know you did a story recently on this change in the way people are being told to react to active shooters. San Diego city College the training in conjunction with the police department, a Marshall's Representative was there -- a huge multi agency training. They used what was called the Alice method. Alert, lockdown, informed, counter and then evacuate. To what they were doing is teaching employees of the San Diego community college district how to secure their offices or classrooms whether it means blocking the doors, locking the doors -- and then how to fight back and what to use to fight back against somebody who was coming in. And then how to run away as quickly as you can. But confronting the shooter is something that we did not necessarily tell people to do. They are not seen confront the shooter but if the shooter comes at -- is in your proximity, and you can't run away you are better off fighting back then doing nothing. That is the angle. Both of you responded to an incident this morning and the table center in San Diego's Balboa Park were somebody reported an active shooter. It turned out there was not one. Thank you very much for coming in.
Authorities found no gunman or signs of a shooting on Tuesday after receiving a report from a Department of Defense employee that shots had been heard at one of the nation's largest Naval medical facilities.
The report grabbed attention across the nation and led to the shutdown of Naval Medical Center San Diego in Balboa Park, near the San Diego Zoo, and three nearby schools.
Fears were heightened when the medical center posted on its Facebook page that, "An active shooter has just been reported in building #26 at Naval Medical Center San Diego. All occupants are advised to run, hide or fight."
The unidentified Department of Defense employee who made the report said the gunshots were heard just before 8 a.m. on the sprawling 78-acre campus, where Building 26 houses administrative offices, a gymnasium and dormitories for combat-wounded veterans in long-term care. As many as 800 people work in the building.
All non-emergency personnel were asked to stay away from the area and traffic backed up around the facility during the morning rush hour.
Military personnel searched the structure for about two hours before saying there were no initial signs of a shooting.
The base remained on lockdown hours later as military police went room to room and led personnel out of the building.
"As of right now we have found absolutely nothing that indicates there were any shots fired," said Capt. Curt Jones, commanding officer of Naval Base San Diego.
Jones said the employee reported in person what they had heard. There was construction going on nearby, but Jones said he did not know if that noise was mistaken for the sound of gunshots.
The Navy took appropriate steps in response to the report by locking down the facility and warning people of a possible shooter, he said. Numerous agencies — including the FBI, Homeland Security and police departments — offered assistance, he added.
"Obviously there's been numerous events throughout the country and truly around the world, so we take this all very, very seriously," he said.
"I think it's a new reality for the entire country. We're neighbors and we're partners and we have to train and be ready," said Capt. Jose Acosta of Naval Medical Center San Diego. "It's not only a new reality for us in the military but for the whole country."
After the initial search, TV images showed uniformed Navy personnel walking outside the medical facility. Their hands were in the air and they were being patted down by base police as a precaution.
More than 6,500 military, civilian, contractor and volunteer personnel work at the 272-bed, multispecialty hospital and ambulatory complex.
Sharie Jarsulic, a teacher at the base child care center, waited in her car outside the main gate after being denied entry. Her work day begins after employees drop off about 200 children.
The response was justified, she said, pointing out that the hospital treats mentally ill people and military members traumatized by war.
"They acted the right way," she said while waiting for the gate to reopen. "It could be someone inside or in the barrack and they could have just went off."
The facility is affiliated with 19 civilian nursing schools, training more than 400 students per year in clinical rotations. It is a leading center for medical research and has treated numerous combat veterans and Afghan and Iraqi civilians from the recent conflicts.
