(Washington, DC) Director Melissa Hook of the District’s Office of Victim Services (OVS) was on Capitol Hill today to receive an award on behalf of the agency’s Mass Casualty Response Team for its actions after the Navy Yard shooting.

On September 1, 2013, a contract employee at the Navy Yard in Southeast DC went on a shooting rampage there, killing 12 people and injuring eight more. The District’s Crisis Response Team, led by OVS, quickly launched into action to help victims and their families, as well as witnesses of that day’s tragedy.

Today, Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA) and Ted Poe (R-TX), co-founders of the US Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus, presented Director Hook with a plaque in special recognition.

“It is our honor to recognize the extraordinary efforts of the District’s Crisis Response Team… to provide services and comfort to the victims, families and Navy Yard employees,” Rep. Costa said.

Other city agencies that helped provide immediate, short- and long-term support included the Metropolitan Police Department, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Behavioral Health, as well as the Crime Victim Compensation Program of the DC Superior Court.

“I live in the Navy Yard neighborhood, and that morning I saw people rushing past my home talking about an active shooter at the Navy Yard,” Director Hook said. “And when I arrived at the office I found out what was happening was a mass casualty event – and the response team was already assembled. I was amazed at how well all the organizations and agencies, local and federal, worked together late into the night.”