CNN has been going hard with the "breaking news" that the U.S. Coast Guard fired shots at a boat on the Potomac River near the Pentagon this morning, possibly while President Barack Obama was at the Defense Department to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The Associated Press, though, just sent out this alert:

Coast Guard: Training conducted in Potomac River moments before Obama motorcade crossed.

Update at 12:15 p.m. ET. Vice Adm. John Currier, the Coast Guard's chief of staff, just told reporters that it was a "routine, normal training exercise."

Currier said "somebody said 'bang bang' on the radio at the appropriate point in the training exercise." The president, he added, "was not in the area."

As for conducting such training on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Currier said the Coast Guard will review that decision — but added that "we're charged with 7-by-24, 365, all-day, every day, all-weather security and safety" in the area.

Here's some of his statement and back-and-forth with reporters:

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Update at 10:50 a.m. ET: Coast Guard spokesman John Edwards tells the AP that "this is routine training for us and we train everyday."

Update at 10:47 a.m. ET. More confirmation that it was a training exercise. The Arlington County (Va.) Office of Emergency Management has sent this e-mail alert:

"Activity on the Potomac involving the U.S. Coast Guard is confirmed to be a training exercise."

Update at 10:44 a.m. ET. From the FBI's public affairs office, Lindsay Godwin just sent this statement to NPR's Dina Temple-Raston:

"I have heard from the FBI's Washington Field Office National Capital Response Squad that the Coast Guard let them know that this was a 'training exercise' and that no shots were fired."

Update at 10:32 a.m. ET. The AP now writes that:

The Coast Guard was conducting a training exercise in the Potomac River moments before President Barack Obama crossed a nearby bridge for a Sept. 11 commemoration.

Coast Guard Chief Keith Moore said Friday no shots were fired as part of the exercise, although media reports suggested shots had been fired in the river. News stations showed video of Coast Guard vessels in the water.