“Fort Sam Police: June shooting on post reveals security flaws”

Dillon Collier, Reporter; Michael Humphries, Photojournalist; Michael Vela, Producer
Kens 5 - San Antonio  
November 04, 2013 

Dillon Collier’s November 4th story on security flaws at Ft. Sam Houston caused ripple effects from San Antonio all the way to Washington, D.C.

Ft. Sam command staff downplayed a June 10th shooting on post that nearly killed an Army captain, and told the media its civilian police department properly handled the shooting and subsequent manhunt for suspect Alvin Roundtree.

Using in-depth interviews with 11 Ft. Sam police officers as well as several hours of San Antonio police radio records, Dillon was able to prove the San Antonio police department was actually the lead agency during the shooting aftermath, even though its officers were out of their jurisdiction and were not familiar with the layout of the military installation.

Dillon’s investigation also revealed when the shooting happened the Ft. Sam Police Department had not trained for this type of incident and did not have written service agreements in place with the San Antonio Police Department or any other nearby law enforcement agencies.

Since the story aired, Ft. Sam police officials have updated those service agreements and have held multiple “active shooter” exercises on post. Five high-level members of the command staff including the chief of police, chief of training and security forces director have been reassigned or have left the military. The incident is also the focus of multiple congressional inquiries and has drawn the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense, which is currently reviewing security on post.

Dillon set out to tell this story because he felt the tens of thousands of people who live and work at Ft. Sam needed to know the truth. Challenging the military and some of the practices it has in place is not an easy task for a journalist. Dillon faced significant roadblocks to obtain information throughout the newsgathering process and had to go around the Air Force, FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office to get the proper material to even tell this story.

Submitted by Michael Humphries.

LINK to story online

Watch an interview with Dillon Collier on his coverage of this developing story.