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All clear: Lockdown on Andrews airbase lifted after reports of active shooter
US military Joint Base Andrews, just outside of Washington, DC, has been put on lockdown due to reports of an active shooter at the medical center.
US military Joint Base Andrews, outside Washington, DC, was put on lockdown due to reports of an ‘active shooter’ at the medical center.
Officials later gave a ‘all clear’ on Thursday as no shooter was found and no reports of shots being fired were confirmed.
The ‘incident’ was at the Malcolm Grow Medical Facility, the base authorities confirmed.
The airbase has been placed on lockdown and first responders are on scene. All personnel have been directed to shelter in place.
Vice-president Joe Biden was supposed to fly out of Andrews at noon on Thursday, for a visit to Ohio. That trip has been delayed until the situation is resolved, according to the White House.
There appeared to be some confusion whether the situation was real or part of an exercise scheduled for Thursday.
Rodney Smith, the patient advocate at the Andrews medical facility, said an active-shooter exercise was scheduled for Thursday morning, and then he was told it was a “real-world” situation. He said he was on lockdown and didn’t have any more information.
“First it was an active-shooter exercise. Then it came back ‘real world,’” Smith said by phone Thursday morning.
Joint Base Andrews, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is the home of Air Force One and to other emergency reaction units for the area around the nation’s capital.
