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One person dead in shooting at NSA headquarters in Maryland
One person dead in shooting at NSA headquarters in Maryland
(35 minutes later)
Law enforcement officials were scrambling on Monday to establish the basic facts of a violent incident near the gates of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade near Baltimore, in which one person was shot dead and one was badly injured.
Law enforcement officials were on Monday scrambling to establish the basic facts of a violent incident near the gates of the National Security Agency in which one person was shot dead and another was badly injured.
Early on Monday morning, an SUV that was said to contain two men dressed as women attempted to force entry through the gate, leading to a shooting incident. Representatives of the NSA did not immediately return repeated inquiries from the Guardian.
Hulks of battered trucks were visible in photography taken near an access point to Fort Meade near Baltimore, a large army base that among other institutions hosts the headquarters of the US surveillance giant.
Mary Doyle, a spokeswoman for Fort Meade, said the identities and even genders of the people in the SUV were unclear. But one was shot dead and the other badly injured and taken to the hospital.
According to Jonathan Freed, the NSA’s communications chief, before 9am on Monday morning a vehicle containing two unidentified individuals attempted to force “an unauthorized entry” through a Fort Meade gate, in spite of security officers’ orders to stop.
Hulks of battered trucks were visible in photography taken near an access point to Fort Meade, a large army base that among other institutions hosts the headquarters of the US surveillance giant.
When the vehicle “accelerated toward an NSA police vehicle blocking the road”, Freed said in a statement, NSA police opened fire and the two vehicles collided.
Doyle said it was unclear if the NSA was the target of the morning incursion attempt, which was said to have taken place around 9am, but the security gate in question led to the NSA’s campus, which is hived off from the rest of the sprawling army base.
Mary Doyle, a spokeswoman for Fort Meade, said the identities and even genders of the people in the SUV were unclear. But one was shot dead and the other, badly injured, was taken to the hospital.
Freed said in his statement that an NSA police officer was injured and taken to a local hospital.
Doyle said it was unclear if the NSA was the target of the morning incursion attempt, but the security gate in question led to the NSA’s campus, hived off from the rest of the sprawling army base.
“The assumption being, if you drive through one of those gates, that’s where you’re going,” Doyle told the Guardian.
“The assumption being, if you drive through one of those gates, that’s where you’re going,” Doyle told the Guardian.
A different law enforcement source, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said little had yet been confirmed about the latest apparent violence at Fort Meade, including the target of the attack.
A different law enforcement source, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said nearly nothing had yet been confirmed about the latest apparent violence at Fort Meade, to include the target of the attack.
“It’s too early to say,” the law enforcement source said.
“It’s too early to say,” the source said.
Freed’s statement called all information offered thus far “preliminary”.
No motive had yet been established, but both sources said there was no reason to believe that the incident had any ties to terrorism.
No motive had yet been established, but both sources said there was no reason to believe that the incident had any ties to terrorism.
It was unclear if the two people in the SUV opened fire on officers, something the law enforcement source said could have happened but could also be attributed to the confusion and inaccuracy of early reports. A local Washington DC TV station showed a uniformed officer, apparently conscious, being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance. But a Fort Meade statement on the incident made no mention of an injured officer.
It was also unclear if the two people in the SUV opened fire on officers, something the law enforcement source said could have happened but could also be attributed to the confusion and inaccuracy in early reports.
A local CBS news account from the scene, which is located between Baltimore and Washington DC, claimed that cocaine and an unidentified weapon were found in the suspect SUV.
A local Washington DC TV station showed a uniformed officer, apparently conscious, being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance.
Earlier in March, a former Maryland corrections officer, Hong Yong, was arrested on suspicions of carrying out multiple shootings in the area, including a 3 March shooting at an NSA building.
In its first statement on the incident, Fort Meade’s garrison commander, Colonel Brian Foley, indicated that authorities believed the danger had passed.
“The incident has been contained and is under investigation. The residents, service members and civilian employees on the installation are safe. We continue to remain vigilant at all of our access control points,” Foley said in the statement.
The FBI’s Baltimore field office said it was collaborating with NSA police and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the scene. A statement it released said the agents did not consider the incident to be terrorism.
“Our evidence response team is processing the crime scene, and FBI agents are doing joint interviews with witnesses. We are working with the US attorney’s office in Maryland to determine if federal charges are warranted,” the FBI statement said.
