FBI agents raided the wrong hotel room and detained a civilian during a training exercise in Boston on Tuesday.
They reportedly handcuffed the wrong man and interrogated him for almost an hour before realizing their error. The incident occurred at the Revere Hotel Boston Common.
“Somebody could have gotten shot, killed,” hotel guest Steve Riddle told local Boston news outlet WBZ-TV.
Riddle was staying with his wife and kids two floors above where the debacle happened.
“It just makes you kind of wonder a little bit about the FBI and their outreach and what they can do to folks and you have no control over it,” he said. “It’s kind of creepy.”
The FBI Boston Division was assisting the Department of Defense (DOD) with “essential military training” with members of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC).
“First and foremost, we’d like to extend our deepest apologies to the individual who was affected by the training exercise,” Lieutenant Colonel Mike Burns of the USASOC told CNN.
“The training was meant to enhance soldiers’ skills to operate in realistic and unfamiliar environments,” he said, per NPR. “The training team, unfortunately, entered the wrong room and detained an individual unaffiliated with the exercise.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Press Office sent a statement to The Dallas Express explaining the situation.
“Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player,” the statement read, adding that “nobody was injured.”
“The Boston Police Department was called and responded to the scene to confirm that this was indeed a training exercise,” the statement continued. “The [FBI] Boston Division is reviewing the incident with DOD for further action as deemed appropriate.”
The agency said that “safety is always a priority,” and it takes “these incidents very seriously.”
However, former 25-year FBI veteran Vic Hartman said this training exercise does not add up, per WBZ-TV.
“Night arrests are unusual so why would you train for a night arrest at 10 p.m.,” he said. “It’s unusual. There could be a justification for it, [but] it’s just not apparent to me on the surface.”
The victim of the FBI’s mistake was reportedly a Delta Air Lines pilot in his 30s.
Delta issued a statement saying the company is “looking into reports” of the “alleged incident” but said it has “nothing further to share at this time.”