A lot of confusion downtown as a false alarm active shooter message alerted people inside the City Attorney’s Office in Civic Center Thursday afternoon.
“Thank God, it was false,” said Evon Perryman, a city victims’ services coordinator.
She said at first everyone thought it was real.
“Someone said those two scary words, ‘active shooter’ so I didn't get scared; I remembered the training I had,” Perryman said.
She said they received a message through an internal safety application on their cell phones called ‘Rave.’ After receiving that alert they also heard the emergency sirens go off.
The app also alerted law enforcement and they arrived on scene.
Jim McNeill is the Assistant City Attorney’s for Executive of Operations and he said their department rolled out the Rave App Six months ago. He said someone accidentally sent out the active shooter alert and the entire process lasted about five minutes before everyone was aware it was a false alarm.
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“It was a false alarm, and everybody acted as trained,” said McNeill.
He said it better prepared them for a real active shooter scenario. He said all the employees worked to follow their training procedures.
Not every employee inside the City Attorney’s office has to have the Rave App but they can sign up for alerts and not have the option to send alerts.
