TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In South Tucson, late-night military training at an abandoned building on Tuesday has left many neighbors in the area upset and looking for answers as to why they were not notified.
MORE COVERAGE |Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is apologizing for his department's failure to notify the South Tucson community.
KGUN 9 received phone calls Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from South Tucsonans concerned about what happened.
Helicopters, loud booms, and no notice. Neighbors tell me they are still shaken up about what happened Tuesday night, describing it as a triggering situation.
“It's concerning. You know, it's just that threat and intimidation that we feel, it's just very concerning that we didn't know about it," said Grace Beltran, a South Tucson resident.
Beltran says she knew something was not right when she heard the first boom Tuesday night.
“The first thought that we had, and our neighbors had, was we hear helicopters, we hear a big boom. It’s a bomb. We're being bombed. We're being attacked," Beltran described.
Beltran is an Air Force Reserves veteran who tells me she was trained to identify the sound of bombs. I asked her if she truly thought her life was in danger.
“We did, yes, we did. I did," said Beltran.
Beltran tells me that her phone immediately started buzzing from all the calls and text messages coming in from her tight-knit neighborhood. She looked out her window to see nothing but thick smoke. Quickly, she got in her car and drove around the neighborhood.
“We thought it was smoke, but apparently they're saying it was dirt. We don't know; we thought it was both," Beltran described. "Driving back home, we couldn't even see in front of us. It was that thick.”
Beltran says what happened last night affected neighbors with PTSD and children. She tells me that families encountered men in uniform knocking on doors and asking questions.
“We feel anger, we feel blatantly disrespected," said Beltran. "This was a threat and intimidation, and we feel that our neighborhood was not advised.”
Another South Tucson neighbor, Tommie Wasserberg, tells me they were not fearful, but concerned about the lack of communication. Like many others in the neighborhood, Wasserberg reported what they heard.
“I called 311 because I didn't want to disturb the emergency service, and they put it over to 911, I guess because there were so many calls," Wasserberg described.
Those neighbors are now getting answers and hoping for better communication from authorities moving forward.
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Jacqueline Aguilar is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ., she is no stranger to the unforgiving Arizona heat. Now this U of A wildcat is excited to be back in Tucson and is looking forward to involving herself in the community. Share your story ideas with Jacqueline by emailing jacqueline.aguilar@kgun9.com or connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
