By Shira Schoenberg
Concord Monitor
Copyright 2008 Concord Monitor/Sunday Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — Carli Greeson lay on the floor screaming as fake blood stained her shirt around a mock wound on her stomach. “I’m not okay, I’m dying. It hurts! It hurts!” she yelled. A state police SWAT team walked past her, their rifles ready as their eyes scanned the cafeteria. Minutes later, emergency medical technicians from the Concord Fire Department would arrive to evacuate Greeson, a student at the New Hampshire Institute of Technology and other “injured” students.
Yesterday morning, more than a dozen state and city emergency services agencies and 125 emergency professionals responded to a drill that spanned four locations around Concord. The drill, which was paid for by a federal grant, involved a hypothetical situation with two shooters, at least 20 casualties, suspicious packages and a hunter.
“It’s an exercise of command and control,” said Jim Van Dongen, spokesman for the state’s Bureau of Emergency Management. “Any major operation involves a great deal of cooperation, with different procedures, radio frequencies. No one agency has enough people to deal with this sort of thing.”
The incidents began at the State House about 8:15 a.m. when a report came over police officers’ radios:
“This is a drill. Reported gunfire. Security guard down. Three hostages were taken in the governor’s office.”
The radios started crackling as various groups checked in. Minutes later, two women ran out of the State House screaming.
On the State House steps, just outside the front door, State Police Sgt. Scott Sweet lay on the granite with a bright red “gash” near his neck. He held a card with his vital statistics: “Age: 54. Mental status: unresponsive.” A State House security officer kneeled next to him, pretending to call 911 and perform CPR.
Soon, a team of state troopers ran up to the door, rifles in hand, led by a member of a state SWAT team. As they started to drag Sweet to safety, the State House door swung open and two boys fled the building, screaming. The team radioed their description to another unit.
Reinforcements arrived. First, more troopers wearing bright orange vests. Then, a state SWAT team in camouflage, helmets and boots. In tight formation, they ran into the building.
The team took up positions in the Hall of Flags, pointing their guns at the visitors center where hostages remained. “Drop it and come out now!” yelled a SWAT team leader, his voice reverberating in the hall. “Show us your hands now! Open the door slowly and show us your hands! Do it now!” A curtain swung open briefly to show a female hostage waving her hands frantically and jumping up and down.
Eventually, the hostage-taker would surrender. But meanwhile, at Sweeney Hall at NHTI, a second, unrelated gunman ran in the front door and started shooting. By 9:30 a.m., several students lay on the floor in a hallway. In the cafeteria, about 30 students lay on the floor spattered with fake blood, holding cards with their symptoms.
Laurie Sortevik, who in real life works at the State House, stood over Greeson, frantically seeking help.
“Does anyone know first aid? She’s bleeding a lot!” Sortevik cried.
The actors, mostly criminal justice students, moaned and screamed as organizers and evaluators passively waited with clip boards for emergency personnel to arrive.
“They don’t want to help me!” Greeson cried. Once a SWAT team arrived, it quickly tracked down and handcuffed the shooter, a boy in jeans and a gray sweatshirt who had shot himself. Concord Fire and Rescue personnel began treating and evacuating the wounded. There was some confusion over the perpetrator - who organizers said was dead to the state police but alive to the rescue workers.
Eventually, 19 victims were loaded onto a bus and transported to Concord Hospital, where two were listed in critical condition and most were walking wounded. Teams from the hospital emergency room stood by the door to triage patients - quickly registering patients’ names and conditions, filling out paperwork, sorting them by level of seriousness and transporting them to the appropriate place.
Emergency Department Director Leslie Mahoney said that improving communication was the No. 1 goal of the hospital.
“How do we keep each other informed and updated?” she said. “How does the emergency department communicate with the operating room, pull down enough physicians, keep security updated? How many patients to each room? How to get information from the field?”
While the situation was progressing at the hospital, Van Dongen said a bomb squad was called out to NHTI to examine a suspicious package. There was another suspicious package earlier at the State House. And a man with a rifle in the woods prompted a search by boat on the Merrimack River, requiring the state Marine Patrol and Fish and Game. He turned out to be a hunter.
Throughout the day, the emergency personnel were being watched and evaluated by an outside contractor. Most of the actors were student volunteers from New England College and NHTI.
At theof the morning, there was a closed debriefing session. Van Dongen said a report will eventually be issued with detailed feedback to help each agency improve.
Police officials said they valued the training exercise because of the skills it allowed them to develop.
“Any good team needs to practice,” said State Police Capt. Russell Conte. “All agencies work together as a team frequently. This gets us accustomed to seeing each other, bringing our skills together so when something happens that needs teamwork, it makes us that much better able to communicate.”