CLALLAM BAY – Officials at Clallam Bay Correction Center are investigating how one of their a tactical submachine guns was left at a gun range near Forks last week for three days until it was recovered Saturday.
Members of the Port Angeles Reserve Officers program visited the closed gun range, owned by the Forks police department for training on Saturday.
One of the officers found an Heckler & Koch MP5 semi-automatic submachine gun with a noise suppresser on the barrel.
A stamp on the gun said it was the property of the state Department of Corrections.
The officers called the Clallam Bay Correction center, then the Forks Police Department, said Terry Gallagher, acting Port Angeles Police Chief.
“We’re investigating the whole process,” said Clallam Bay spokeswoman LeAnne Fletcher.
The Clallam Bay Special Emergency Response Team, known as SERT, is similar to a SWAT team.
It was training for the first time at the gun range Wednesday, April 25.
The team was using a HK MP5 submachine gun, a weapon widely used by armed forces and counter-terrorism teams, acceding to the manufacturer’s Web site.
Weapons used by the team are checked out and checked in each day, rather than issued to a specific team member, she said.
“We’re in the process of right now interviewing all 14 members of the SERT team as to where the failure was in the process, as well as reviewing out policies,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher said the weapon was unloaded and no ammunition was left behind with it.
Submachine guns are automatic or semi-automatic weapons built on a basic pistol body, rather than a rifle body.
Fletcher said the weapon cannot be modified to be fully-automatic.
