“The Pentagon has lifted the lock down and has reopened,” the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, which is responsible for security in and around the Defense Department complex, wrote on Twitter. The agency added that the Metro entrance remains closed.
The gunman was shot by a Pentagon police officer and did not get inside the Pentagon building, a Pentagon Force Protection Agency official told POLITICO. One other officer was injured and is being transported to seek medical attention.
There are no additional suspects at this time and the scene is secure, the official said, stressing that the situation is still “fluid” and that information is still coming in.
Following a “shooting incident” on Tuesday morning, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency sent out an alert instructing all personnel not to leave the building, Lt. Col. Uriah Orland said.
“The Pentagon currently is on lock down due to an incident at the Pentagon Transit Center,” PFPA tweeted shortly after 11am on Tuesday.” We are asking the public to please avoid the area. More information will be forthcoming.”
The Metro station and bus stop is located just outside the Pentagon building. Visitors coming from the Metro or parking lot must pass through security to enter the building.
The metro station was closed in March last year after a man was fatally stabbed on the platform shortly before 9 a.m. It reopened around 2:30 p.m. that same day.
Earlier, AFP had reported that ehe Pentagon went on lockdown Tuesday after a shooting at a bus and subway station just outside the highly secure US military headquarters.
According to it, employees in the US Defense Department office complex in the Arlington suburb of Washington were ordered to shelter in place for more than an hour after gunfire erupted in the station, the entrance of which is just a few dozen yards (meters) from the building’s main doors.
“Multiple” people were injured, according to emergency workers, though details on the injuries were not available.
Subway services were temporarily suspended and buses headed to the station were diverted to other stops, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
“The Pentagon currently is on lock down due to an incident at the Pentagon Transit Center. We are asking the public to please avoid the area,” the Pentagon’s security force said in a tweeted statement.
Around 40 minutes later, the force said the scene of the incident was secure, without providing any details of what happened.
“It is still an active crime scene. We request that everyone stay away from the Metro rail entrance and bus platform area. Transportation at the Pentagon is diverted to Pentagon City.”
Arlington County emergency services said it encountered “multiple” people needing treatment at the scene, without providing any more information.
There was a heavy presence of security and fire and rescue vehicles at the iconic five-sided building.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was not in the building at the time.
Austin, according to a Pentagon source, was with President Joe Biden in a regularly scheduled meeting.
POLITICO / AFP
