Members of the FBI and the US Army Special Operations Command who were conducting a training exercise in downtown Boston raided the wrong hotel room and detained the person inside before realizing their mistake, the FBI said in a statement to CNN.
The FBI said its Boston division was helping the military with a training exercise around 10 p.m. Tuesday “to simulate a situation their personnel might encounter in a deployed environment.”
“Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player,” the FBI said.
“First and foremost, we’d like to extend our deepest apologies to the individual who was affected by the training exercise,” USASOC Lt. Col. Mike Burns told CNN.
The exercise was meant to “enhance soldiers’ skills to operate in realistic and unfamiliar environments,” Burns said.
No one was injured, the FBI said.
The incident took place at the Revere Hotel Boston Common, according to the Boston Police Department. CNN has reached out to the hotel for comment.
A Boston police incident report said officers were called to the hotel around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, and were met by law enforcement agents conducting a training exercise.
Local news reports said the person who was in the hotel room and detained by federal law enforcement is a Delta Air Lines employee.
The Atlanta-based airline told CNN it is looking into the “alleged incident in Boston that may involve Delta people.”
An officer with the US Army Special Operations will lead the investigation into the incident, Burns told CNN Friday. The investigation will be an administrative fact-finding inquiry, but it can result in recommendations that could lead to judicial proceedings under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.