HAWTHORNE -- A very sad day for the military community after a training exercise turned deadly at the Hawthorne Army depot Monday night.

Military officials say marines were conducting live fire and maneuver training when a mortar round exploded killing at least seven Marines and injuring several more . 

“My understanding it was one mortar round in a mortar tube,” said U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Jim Lukeman. “But, let me tell you, the investigation, we'll look into this and find out exactly what happened and I think we're pretty early in that at this point."

The Military says the exercise was part of regular training required to maintain readiness. Local resident Larry Mortensan worked for 40 years at the Depot making ammunition.  He says he hears explosions all the time, which is why residents we spoke to didn’t question the one last night.

“The explosions are not uncommon,” said Mortensan. “So periodically they come, blow up some stuff around here.  And we can also hear noises out here like that, so I didn’t hear any noise. An explosion wouldn’t bother me, because I’ve heard that before.”

“Well, first of all, surprised, but yet not a surprise because you have the training out there all the time,” said Hawthorne resident Dorwin Zurilgen. “And they always use live ammunition all the time, so.”

Even though the names of the victims haven’t been released yet, this tragedy hits home with the Hawthorne community.

“It’s a terrible tragedy we had happen here,” said Mortensan. “The town is very patriotic, and you’re not going to find anyone here who is against the war because we all served.”

The injured were transferred to Renown Medical Center in Reno. The identities of those killed will be released 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified.