The Washington Post is reporting an active shooter at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. The facility made the following post to their Facebook page at about 8 a.m. local time.
https://www.facebook.com/NMCSD/posts/988637874542254
The San Diego Police Department was first made aware of an active shooter when military police contacted them this morning. In that call, the police were informed of shots being reported, but they were not asked for assistance. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department was not notified.
In reaction to reports of an active shooter, at about 8:30 a steady stream of patrol cars from a variety of law enforcement agencies was seen in the area, and about 8:45 a SWAT team truck was seen at the Naval Center.
Non-emergency personnel have been told to stay away from the facility, which is on lock-down at this time. Police have secured the perimeter and are directing both vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the area, according to CNN. The shooter has not been found.
Gate at Naval Medical Center San Diego blocked due to report of active shooter https://t.co/xoI9Ps12RC pic.twitter.com/9SMeCs10od
— NBC 7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) January 26, 2016
Reports of a shooter emerged when shots rang out from the basement of building 26. The basement includes a gym as well as military barracks. It’s not known at this time if there are any injuries. The Naval Base at Point Loma was also put on lockdown as a result of news of the shooter. Trained dogs are checking the building.
A nearby daycare facility has reported that all children have been accounted for and are safe.
News of a shooter resulted in three area schools going into lockdown. Those schools were Garfield Middle School, San Diego High School, and Roosevelt Middle School according to NBC San Diego.
Over 6,500 people work in the San Diego Naval Medical Center, but it’s unknown how many were in the building at 8 a.m. today. It covers over a million square feet in Balboa Park and is the largest military medical facility in the western U.S. The medical center houses eight clinics for active military personnel and nine primary care centers for their family members.
Update: At 1:38 p.m. CNN cited Navy Captain Curt Jones as saying that investigators had found “absolutely nothing” to substantiate reports of a shooter at the San Diego Naval Medical Center. He added, however, that their search is not yet complete. It will be a long time before the search is finished. He characterized the person who reported an active shooter as “someone who thought they heard something and made reports.”
[Photo courtesy of Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press]
