Meanwhile, property manager Keith Wheatley, who works near the recruiting center that was hit by a barrage of shots, said Friday the parking lot was full of flowers and flags and mementos.
Advertisement
Recruiters, he said, should be armed, and the stations should at least have surveillance cameras, like those around sheriff’s offices and county jails.
An Air Force recruiter told him he was standing in his office when a TV just to his right exploded and the wall just to his left ripped open.
“It’s the weekend so no one is there this weekend, but Monday morning we will talk to them, give them extra patrol”, he said.
While many installations are fenced and have security guards, other facilities are not guarded and those serving there receive additional training from security forces, Ashcroft said.
RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) – 10 On Your Side reached out to the Richmond U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion to find out if it is changing or increasing security measures in light of the deadly shootings Thursday at two recruiting facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“They should have a sidearm there available to defend themselves”, said local security expert Timothy Shaw, a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and former recruiter for the Marine Corps. Investigators say that Abdulazeez fired more than 30 rounds into the first facility in Chattanooga and no one was harmed, but then he drove to a second location where he shot and killed four Marines on site, with a fifth later dying in the hospital. “Unfortunately we have to train for those things in our country and city, but times have changed and we need to be proactive rather than reactive”.
“We go through scenarios”, said Arbogast.
I mean honestly yes, anybody could walk.
By design, recruitment offices are open to the public, located on Main Street, in shopping centers and in strip malls.
Odierno said there are legal issues involved in allowing troops at the centers to carry guns.
General Ray Odierno, Chief of Staff of the Army, told reporters Friday that arming troops in those offices could cause more problems than it might solve. “They should be allow to carry a firearm”.
“We’re always going to be somewhat vulnerable to a lone wolf, or whatever you want to call it, a surprise shooter, because we are out there with the population and that’s where we have to be”, said Odierno, according to an Associated Press story published by U.S. News & World Report.
Advertisement
“Me, my colleagues and my boss, man, we would probably prefer being armed just for our own protection”, said Solis, adding that recruiters were on high alert and working in pairs for added protection. “In the past several years, it’s been made a matter of convenience”. “And I’m pretty sure it’s here to stay”. “They’ve been sporadic, all over the country, so they’re hard to predict”.
