The lockdown at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday morning was triggered after a person mistakenly reported an active shooter during a planned active shooting drill.
The “all clear” signal was given at around 10:40 a.m. local time, according to base officials. However, a medical facility remained on lockdown, but officials did not give a reason.
The report was sent from someone who saw security forces performing a routine inspection. The confusion was exacerbated by the planned active shooter drill that hadn’t yet started.
Officials said there was no shooter and no threat to workers on the base.
On the base, officials had “scheduled to conduct a no-notice active shooter exercise in the late morning on the opposite side of the base,” according to a tweet from the Joint Base Andrews account.
But, it explained, “reports of a real-world active shooter situation at the medical facility were miscommunicated before the exercise was able to begin.”
There was “a misidentification” of security forces emergency services doing a routine inspection of the facility.
“We take all threats seriously and reacted to ensure the security of those on the base,” said Col. Brad Hoagland, the base commander, in a statement. “I applaud the quick reaction of our first responders in keeping the safety of our JBA family a number one priority,” he added.
Joint Base Andrews is home to Air Force One and is around 20 miles from Washington, D.C.
The lockdown was initiated just after 9 a.m.
