KVSP Defense Department, FBI detain innocent person in hotel in training exercise gone wrong
Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on April 5, 2023
(BOSTON) — A Defense Department training exercise in Boston went wrong when federal personnel incorrectly detained a person in a hotel who was not a part of the exercise, according to an FBI spokesperson.
Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, FBI agents helped Department of Defense officials with a training exercise “to simulate a situation their personnel might encounter in a deployed environment,” the FBI said in a statement.
“Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player,” the FBI said.
Nobody was injured, the FBI said.
The person who was incorrectly detained has not been identified.
“Safety is always a priority of the FBI, and our law enforcement partners, and we take these incidents very seriously,” the FBI added. “The Boston Division is reviewing the incident with DOD for further action as deemed appropriate.”
A Defense Department spokesman referred ABC News to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command public affairs office for information on the incident.
A spokesperson for U.S. Army Special Operations Command said members of the command were conducting “essential military training” with assistance from the FBI-Boston Division at the time.
“The training was meant to enhance soldiers’ skills to operate in realistic and unfamiliar environments. The training team, unfortunately, entered the wrong room and detained an individual unaffiliated with the exercise,” the spokesperson, Lt. Col. Mike Burns, said in a statement. “The Boston Police Department responded to the scene and confirmed that this was indeed a training exercise.”
Burns said they are reviewing this “serious incident” with their partners.
“First and foremost, we’d like to extend our deepest apologies to the individual who was affected by the training exercise,” Burns said. “The safety of civilians in vicinity of our training is always our number one concern.”
ABC News Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
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