| An undated aerial handout photo shows the National Security Agency headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland |
At least one person was shot and wounded at the US National Security Agency’s headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland, on Wednesday and one person was in custody, but officials have secured the area and there was no continuing threat, local media reported.
A Fort Meade spokesman confirmed one person had been injured and transported and that a main highway was closed near the facility, a US Army installation about 48km north-east of Washington.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed on Twitter that its Baltimore office had sent agents to investigate the incident, its Baltimore office said on Twitter.
Local media quoted an NSA spokesman as saying the area was now secure.
“NSA police and local law enforcement are addressing an incident that took place this morning at one of NSA’s secure vehicle entry gate,” ABC News quoted the spokesman as saying. “The situation is under control and there is no ongoing security of safety threat.”
Earlier local media reports said that as many as three people had been wounded.
Local fire and police departments had said earlier on Twitter they were responding to a possible shooting incident.
CBS News broadcast images of a black sport utility vehicle with what appeared to be bullet holes in the front windshield at the gate of Fort Meade, the US Army installation that is the home of the NSA, as well as the US Cyber Command and Defence Information School. The vehicle was at the end of a dead-end lane marked by concrete NSA-stamped barricade blocks on one side and a chain-link fence on the other, near a guard booth and entrance gate, the CBS video showed.
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is one of the US government’s main spy agencies. The secretive agency focuses on using technological tools, including the monitoring of internet traffic, to monitor the government’s adversaries.
A White House spokeswoman said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident.
In March 2015, two people tried to drive their sports utility vehicle through the NSA’s heavily guarded gate. Officers shot at the vehicle when they refused to stop, killing one of the occupants. The people in the vehicle may have taken a wrong turn after partying and taking drugs, according to news reports.