KMOV –

“It’s strange and it doesn’t make it feel like home,” said Theresa Lear, who lives just one block away.

Another woman posted photos on Twitter of National Guard trucks and tactical gear, saying it made her rush home, concerned an announcement about the Grand Jury was about to be made.

News 4 learned it was all just a drill, a drill that had nothing to do with Ferguson or the grand jury decision.

Mike O’Connell, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Public Safety said the 7th Civil Support Team of the Missouri National Guard was conducting an exercise for a hazardous situation. O’Connell said it was planned nine months ago.

“The people from the exercise were proceeding without thinking what was going on,” said O’Connell.

The exercise was a part of federal training requirements ordered by the US Army, but O’Connell said the decision on the location was made at a “lower level” and when those higher up at the National Guard heard about the drill they told the civil support team to immediately end the exercise and leave the neighborhood.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/National-Guard-drill-at-south-St-Louis-gas-station-startles-some-residents-283139321.html