Joint Base Andrews Briefly Went Under Lockdown After Reports of Active Shooter

Joint Base Andrews went on lockdown on Thursday morning after reports of an active shooter. The air force base is located in Maryland about 20 miles outside of Washington D.C., which made the potential story alarming on several levels, as the base hosts both Air Force One planes. All personnel sheltered in place, according to the base’s Twitter account, which confirmed only the reports (not the actual existence of) an active shooter near the Malcolm Grow medical facility.

First responders landed on the scene, and the base took report seriously. Yet the story grew ever more wrinkled with the knowledge that this report arrived while the base was conducting a scheduled active shooter drill.

Reuters went ahead and confirmed the presence of an active shooter (via Twitter), and CBS News reported “it’s real,” but on-air CNN reports appeared conflicted with one expert saying the situation could be a false alarm. So, the media and the base are both hanging tight, and we’ll continue to update as details unfold.

UPDATE: The lockdown has been lifted with an “all clear.” The situation is a false alarm, which was prompted when someone “saw personnel carrying long guns during drill.”