Military Responsible for Wednesday Training Exercise

An early morning training exercise that woke and alarmed many Bowie residents with rapid gunfire and explosions Wednesday is now being attributed to the U.S. military. 

"Originally the incident was attributed to an exercise at the Institute for Defense Analyses, which is located at Melford. It was later confirmed that what residents heard was a military exercise being conducted in the woods across the Patuxent River in Anne Arundel County," said City Manager David Deutsch in a statement released late Thursday afternoon. 

Multiple readers contacted Patch on Wednesday, reporting they were woken around 3:30 a.m. by the sounds explosions, rapid gunfire and helicopters flying in the area. 

Police originally reported that the incident was a training exercise conducted by the Institute for Defense Analyses. Further investigation revealed that the incident was actually a military training exercise. 

Deutsch said that the city had no prior knowledge of the incident, which is why residents were not informed in advance. 

"The Bowie Police Department will determine the training agency and will work with them to make sure that future unannounced training incidents are avoided," Deutsch said in his statement.