A lockdown situation at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County has been cleared following reports of an active shooter Thursday morning.
First responders determined there was no threat to the base, Joint Base Andrews confirmed on Twitter. The incident was cleared as of 10:40 a.m.
"All Clear" for the base with the exception of Malcolm Grow medical facility
— Joint Base Andrews (@JBA_NAFW) June 30, 2016
Officials said there were reports of an active shooter incident at the Malcolm Grow Medical Facility at approximately 9 a.m. First responders were on the scene and all personnel were instructed to shelter in place.
"They all said this is not a drill, this an active shooter, this is very real, someone's in the Malcolm Grow Hospital here,” one worker said. “They said this is very, very real, if you're not on base yet turn around and leave, if you're on base, shelter in place, get away from the windows, lock the doors, stay low, it was what appeared to be a very real and dire situation"
Joint Base Andrews tweeted that the base was scheduled to conduct an active shooter exercise Thursday, when reports of a live active shooter situation at the medical facility were "miscommunicated before the exercise was able to begin."
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Col. Brad Hoagland, 11th Wing and Joint Base Andrews commander released the following statement on Twitter:
"Fortunately, this was not a life-threatening situation. We take all threats seriously and reacted to ensure the security of those on the base. I applaud the quick reaction of our first responders in keeping the safety of our JBA family a number one priority. In addition, we thank our local authorities for quickly standing by and offering their assistance."
The Secretary of Defense thinks work needs to be done to cut back on mistakes like this.
"I think we need to pay attention to how to minimize the chances of false alarms like that,” said Ashton Carter, Secretary of Defense. “At the same time, I think it’s important to have a reasonable level of awareness of the possibility of this kind of event and what to do, and I thought the response was strong and solid."
The base was scheduled to conduct an active shooter exercise, however, reports of a real-world active shooter situation were reported.
— Joint Base Andrews (@JBA_NAFW) June 30, 2016
The incident is ongoing at the Malcolm Grow Medical Facility. First responders are on-scene now. All personnel continue to shelter in place
— Joint Base Andrews (@JBA_NAFW) June 30, 2016
JBA is currently on lockdown due to a report of an active shooter. All personnel are directed to shelter in place. More info as it comes.
— Joint Base Andrews (@JBA_NAFW) June 30, 2016
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