Officials give all clear after Washington Navy Yard is locked down amid reports of active shooter
Officials gave the all clear at the Washington Navy Yard on Thursday morning, about two hours after the D.C. facility was put on lockdown in response to reports of a possible shooting.
D.C. police responded to a call at around 7:30 a.m. Thursday from someone at the Washington Navy Yard who reported having heard what sounded like gunshots. Not long after, the U.S. Navy tweeted that the D.C. facility was on lockdown.
#BREAKING: @NavalDistWashington Navy Yard on lockdown/shelter in place. No incident can be confirmed as of yet. More to follow.
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) July 2, 2015
Reports of an active shooter at the Navy Yard, the site of a deadly shooting in 2013, quickly spread online. Some local outlets started reporting that Navy security was looking for two potential gunmen. However, a shooter had not yet been sighted, and reports from other police sources suggested that there might not have been a shooting at all.
DC police source tells me initial investigation indicates no shots were fired at #NavyYard - possible a loud noise frightened employee
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) July 2, 2015
UPDATE: DC Fire officials say everyone at Washington #NavyYard is accounted for. This on top of no injuries reported.
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) July 2, 2015
Following the all clear, the D.C. Police Department tweeted a timeline of Thursday morning's events, confirming that it had found no evidence to indicate that a shooting had taken place.
#1 of 3: A call was placed from a building inside of the Washington Navy yard for possible sounds of gun shots around 0729 AM - a subsequent
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) July 2, 2015
#2 of 3: request was made to partner law enforcement agencies for assistance. At this time we have completed our search of the building and
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) July 2, 2015
#3 of 3: have found no evidence of a shooting or injured personnel. The scene has been turned back over to the NavSea Command.
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) July 2, 2015
D.C. police were already on high alert when the call came in Thursday morning, following an advisory from federal authorities urging local law enforcement agencies nationwide to prepare for potential terrorist activity ahead of the July 4 weekend. But reports of potential gunshots sparked particular alarm at the Navy Yard where, just two years earlier, a 34-year-old government contractor named Aaron Alexis killed 12 people in a shooting rampage that ended when he was killed by police.
Outside the Navy Yard on Thursday, a uniformed witness told Fox News that he and a colleague had heard someone yell, “Get out of the building, stay away from the cafeteria.” Drawing on “lessons learned from last time,” he said, “we got in the office, shut the door, locked it, and that was it, until the police arrived to escort us out.”
FOX NEWS ALERT Navy Yard shooting witness heard someone shout "get out of the building stay away from the cafeteria"https://t.co/8QfcBISr4j
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) July 2, 2015