Hawthorn Center active shooter drill was poor judgment — but no rules broken, review shows

No policies or work rules were violated when a state youth psychiatric hospital held an unannounced active intruder drill four days before Christmas, terrifying many patients and staff and bringing police to the Northville Township site with guns drawn, according to an internal review of the incident.

That’s according to a March 22 memorandum from Rashanna Davis, a State Hospital Administration investigator who reviewed the Dec. 21 unannounced drill at Hawthorn Center. The examination found that the drill was conducted hastily — just a day after the decision was made to have it, with poor communication and inadequate staffing for the circumstances.

Davis’ memorandum was to the Hawthorn Center director, Dr. Victoria Petti, and was among hundreds of emails and documents obtained by the Free Press through a Freedom of Information Act request with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

“Based on the above findings, there is not enough evidence to indicate any work rule or other policy violations on the part of any Hawthorn Center staff members. The hospital emergency operations manual and the safety committee dictate when and what types of drills are to be held. However, there are no specific instructions about how the drills are to be run,” according to the conclusion in the memorandum.

A surprise find in an employee's vehicle

The documents offer more insight on what happened that day and how the situation came about, along with comments from state employees about the drill and the lawsuits that followed, including how an intern in the building called someone "in a panic," and speculation about "how much this will cost us taxpayers."

The documents showed that responding officers found a semi-automatic rifle in an employee's vehicle parked on the center's property — which was a work rule violation.

Michigan State Police were investigating, and a separate internal investigation by Davis found two violations against that employee, who said the weapon was in a plastic case, was unloaded and was put there by his nephew after he went to his nephew’s house to shoot on the property the previous week, according to the documents.

In regard to the unannounced drill, the memorandum and other documents state that Derek Leppek, the center’s safety officer, decided to conduct the exercise, discussing it with members of a safety committee in a meeting the day before it took place.

'I’m going to be doing an active shooter drill sometime this morning'

“He indicated that while he did not announce the drill to the building, he had discussed it with the members of the safety committee in a meeting the day before,” according to the conclusion in the memorandum. “It appears that not all of the participants of the safety committee meeting that was held on 12/20/2022 left being aware that an active intruder or any other similar drill was to be held in the upcoming days. It seems that because of this, there were not enough staff that were aware of the drill to spread that information to other staff in the building.”

State Police reports within the FOIA show that Leppek texted Petti at 9:52 a.m. the day of the drill stating: “I’m going to be doing an active shooter drill sometime this morning I’m just giving you a heads up.” Petti gave a reply “thumbs up” on the text message. The active intruder drill began at 10:29 a.m., per the state police report.

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“Several staff members who thought there was a real active shooter in the building, called 911,” per the conclusion in the memorandum, later stating: “Based on the timing of the incident seen on video, and the time listed on the police reports, it appears that the individuals who called the police, did so almost immediately after hearing the announcement of an active shooter in the building.”

The memorandum states Leppek said he used two center workers to role-play as the shooters. They walked the building with paper and a pen to write down the names of anyone they encountered. Those two workers were detained by responding officers and released after police confirmed the situation was a drill.

One of the role-playing workers, Brandon Woodruff, as well a half-dozen other employees and two sets of parents of children at the center that day, have filed lawsuits against the state health department, Petti, Leppek and two other center officials. Attorneys previously said at least a dozen other employees had reached out to them as well about the drill.

Emergency exercises are required; process will change

“The Joint Commission requires state hospitals plan and conduct exercises to test emergency operations plan and response procedures. Active intruder drills are one of several exercises completed under the emergency operations plan,” according to the conclusion in Davis’ memorandum. The Joint Commission is a powerful health care accreditation organization.

“Dr. Petti and Mr. Leppek report plans to update policy on how emergency drills will be conducted to ensure that proper notifications be made to staff and local emergency responders when necessary. Leadership has already met with Northville Township Police Department to begin the process of updating policy.”

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In the memorandum, Davis wrote that video clips from the building on Dec. 21 were reviewed and 10 people were interviewed, including Leppek and Petti. Davis reviewed reports from state police and Northville Township Police as well as the center’s active intruder alert procedure.

Internal discussion about an active shooter drill

Davis also reviewed Joint Commission documents and the minutes from the center’s Dec. 20 safety committee meeting, at which Leppek said the center was on the schedule to conduct an “Emergency Operations & Disaster Preparedness event before the end of the year.”

“He stated we have not held an Active Intruder drill in a while and should consider this for the scenario for this upcoming event. Mr. Leppek stated that with the weather being nicer this week than what is being predicted for next week, we should think about holding an Unannounced Active Intruder drill this week,” according to the minutes included in the memorandum. “Mr. Leppek has asked to conduct the Active Intruder drills more frequently / quarterly. He added we cannot conduct disaster drills within four (4) months of the previous drill. The last disaster drill was held on June 18, 2022, which involved an actual power outage to the entire hospital.”

Another person at the meeting asked whether they could potentially do a disaster drill with a snow event because a storm was in the forecast. Leppek said it "may not be bad idea with the weather coming" and that a weather event has been done in the past, “however there was no further scenario discussed.”

Other documents show minutes from a Nov. 29 safety meeting that state: “Leppek stated an Emergency Operations & Disaster Preparedness event will need to be scheduled before the end of the year. An unannounced active intruder drill will possibly be the scenario for this event. Mr. Leppek stated we should consider conducting an active intruder drill every quarter.”

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'Announcement was lifelike and alarming with racial overtones'

Among the documents in the FOIA was an email from Dr. George Mellos, senior deputy director of the State Hospital Administration for the state health department, sent the afternoon of Dec. 21 to Director Elizabeth Hertel and other officials about the drill. He wrote that he was “on site working this morning and did not know this drill was planned.”

“These ‘drills’ are done at all the facilities per Emergency Operations Plans (Joint Commission Emergency Operations Chapter). These drills are managed through both the security and physical plant departments. When and how they are done should be coordinated through the facility safety and administrative structure. There were process irregularities at HC today. These are in review.

“The drill frightened staff and patients. The scripted announcement was lifelike and alarming with racial overtones. Several 911 calls were placed. Northville Township and Michigan State Police responded. Several maintenance staff were taken down by the police, 2 were handcuffed. These individuals were either on campus or in the lobby.”

One of the employees asked to walk through the center is Black, and the announcement that an active shooter was in the building said one person was Black.

'SWAT teams on their way'

Mellos added: “This event supports centralizing HR emergency operations and training protocols.”

In a separate email, Mellos said he “suspected this was a drill and immediately went out to the lobby, clarified the matter, and asked that those ‘leading’ get back on the overhead speaker system and explain that this was a drill. It was too late, however. Staff and patients were terrified, calls placed to 911, SWAT teams on their way …”

The lawsuits allege that some employees thought the drill was real and called 911 or texted loves ones. One woman whispered during her 911 call, asking a dispatcher, “Are the police here?” When the dispatcher said officers were checking things out, the caller said, “Please, please, please, help me.” The dispatcher told her to stay calm and that he was there with her.

“I’m so scared,” she whispered.

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Workers and patients 'thought they were going to die'

Several employees called a union representative “terrified,” according to the memorandum.

A union representative Davis interviewed said she knew of many staff members who were “very traumatized as a result of belief there was an actual active shooter in the building.” Another employee interviewed said Leppek told her earlier that morning that there would be a drill “ ’today or tomorrow’ and then it happened.”

A Dec. 22 email to Petti and others stated the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 129 executive board was “very disappointed” in the drill being called and “failed to inform” departments, including nursing, food services and housekeeping.

“AFSCME members and patients thought they were going to die,” according to the email, which requested a full investigation and for union members who went home a day earlier to be paid for the day. The email indicated a grievance also would be filed.

Another employee emailed Petti on Dec. 21 saying: “It is important to do drills for active shooters, but it’s unconscionable that a drill leader wouldn’t tell their team and children that this is a drill. Children should always feel safe here and I know you feel the same way. This frustration is not aimed at you at all but I don’t know who was in charge of the drill. The only silver lining is that the response of the staff toward each other has been incredibly gentle and compassionate.

“This seems to be a challenge throughout the country. … You may already know it but I feel strongly that this type of drill has many more negative ramifications than positive.”

'Deeply sorry,' hospital director apologizes to employees

Petti sent out an email more than six hours after the drill.

“This morning an active intruder alert was announced on the overhead system. Although this was a drill it was not announced as such. Understandably, many in the building became frightened and some contacted 911. A tactical team responded to these calls and arrived armed and in full gear. I want to convey how deeply sorry I am that this occurred and for the stress it’s caused. I spoke with many of you today and hope to reach others in the next few days. I know this has touched you all in different ways. The Traumatic Incident Stress Management team (TISM) was called in immediately and held initial educational sessions to discuss crisis reactions and stress management.”

She wrote that the stress management packet contained the phone number to contact for support and to talk about what happened. The team was to be at the center the next day to hold small group meetings “to process events" and be available on an individual basis.

“I want to commend our staff for providing excellent care and safety to our patients and for the many kindnesses I observed in the support of one another,” per Petti’s email.

'Poor judgment with good intentions'

In a Dec. 22 email to Mellos, Petti wrote that center leaders had discussions with police and fire departments in regard to safety practices in the past, but not recently, but that representatives from those departments stated that they have updated practices.

“In the past we were reportedly told that we did not need to inform these entities ahead of time if conducting an internal drill. This also has changed and is not presented as an excuse of how the drill was conducted. I have spoken at length with Derek who expresses a great deal of remorse and that his intention has always been the support of the hospital. Considering this, I do not see that we have a case of wonton negligence but rather poor judgment with good intentions,” per Petti’s email.

Another email from Petti on Dec. 22 indicated that nursing administrators were not a part of the planning of the drill and that Northville Police would advise the center leaders on safety planning and meet with them after holidays.

In a Dec. 27 email, Petti wrote to another employee about the drill with police and fire response, calling it a “chaotic situation.” She said she asked investigators to conduct an investigation to review work rules and any possible violations.

“Should this be determined to be a situation of neglect, I would certainly assume responsibility as the hospital director,” per her email.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hawthorn Center active shooter drill didn't break rules, review shows