Shots Fired On The Potomac River

[Gerard]

Oh sorry everyone, it was only a training exercise!!
WTF are you kidding me? On 9/11 right by the Pentagon where Pres. Obama is delivering a speech?
I turned on CNN and it was breaking news and I'm figuring "oh boy this cant be good"!!!
It was a good 10 minutes or so before sources confirmed it was only training. The initial report was that the
CG approached a suspicious boat and ten shots were fired at them and calls of "SHOTS FIRED" were broadcast
over the radios.
Un-friggin-real!!!!!

[Matt Molnar]

No shots were fired. Sounds like it might have started with an overzealous reporter misinterpreting chatter on his scanner.

[Gerard]

No shots were fired. Sounds like it might have started with an overzealous reporter misinterpreting chatter on his scanner.

What I am hearing is that it was a "radio" exercise and someone listening on a scanner alerted the press.
Still not very smart.

[george]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A security incident Friday on the Potomac River was prompted by a training exercise, two sources in the Washington police department said the Coast Guard told them.

A source in the FBI also told CNN it was a training exercise. The Coast Guard told CNN it was looking into the matter.

The U.S. Coast Guard appeared to be trying to prevent a boat from entering a security zone on the Potomac River not far from the Pentagon, where President Obama had been at an event commemorating the September 11 attacks.

Police scanner traffic said the Coast Guard vessel had fired shots

[Matt Molnar]

Apparently a sailor on the radio said "bang bang bang" which someone interpreted as "shots fired."

Also sounds like the FBI didn't know there was an exercise planned, and they scrambled to figure out what was going on. DCA departures were halted for a short time.

Someone oughta get fired.

[george]

Sounds like CNN should have checked into the story a little better before they reported it.

[Midnight Mike]

Why in the hell would you hold any type of drill like this on a day such as 9/11?

If there was a need to schedule a drill on such a historical day, a press release should have been announced.

[Gerard]

Sounds like CNN should have checked into the story a little better before they reported it.

It wasnt jusl CNN. FoxNews and MSNBC also were reporting it. And if the local PD and FBI were concerned and flights
were delayed out of Reagan then it must have come across in the initial reports as something serious.

[Gerard]

Interesting that the CG refuses to apologize for the flap, accusing the media, especially CNN, for creating the confusion and a White House spokesperson said "checking would be good". But CNN issued a statement saying they contacted TWO sources at CG HQ before going with the story and BOTH had no idea about any training excercise. AND a US Park Police officer also heard the transmissions and called it in to his dispatchers. The the Secret Service and FBI were also not alerted.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... _guar.html (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/09/11/2009-09-11_suspicious_vessel_near_president_obamas_motorca de_is_boat_involved_in_coast_guar.html)