Two people are dead, including the suspect, after an active shooting incident at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, police said. The Naval Air Station was on lockdown Friday morning amid an active shooter situation. Although exact injuries or fatalities are unclear, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the situation was ongoing.
“I can confirm there is an active shooter on NAS Pensacola and it’s going on right now,” Amber Southard, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, told CNN.
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Southard later confirmed that the active shooter has been confirmed dead, after confirming that authorities were working to “take down” the shooter on base at NAS Pensacola.
There are “an unknown number of injured” that have been taken to a hospital,” Lt. Cmdr. Megan Isaac, a Navy spokesperson, told ABC News.
Baptist Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Bowers confirmed that the hospital accepted five patients related to the shooting, according to the Pensacola News Journal. Sacred Heart Hospital confirmed that they were expecting six patients from the active shooter situation.
Scanner traffic for Escambia County Fire and Rescue indicated that at least 10 patients were being transported to local hospitals. Three medical helicopters were in route and several military ambulances were also seen in the area.
The shooting reportedly took place near Radford Road on base, according to the News Journal.
St. John’s Catholic school, located outside the front of the base, was closed due to the military lockdown.
The gates to the station have been “secured,” according to a post on the station’s Facebook page, which also said that “more information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who works at the NAS Pensacola as a civilian contractor, said he was in line to go through the gate when it was shut down.
“There’s probably been 100 or so various law enforcement vehicles zooming down the wrong side on Navy Boulevard,” Bergosh told the News Journal. “There’s been ambulances, fire trucks. It’s my understanding there’s multiple causalities. I haven’t heard of any fatalities yet.”
He said he is stuck in a traffic gridlock outside the base and received a call from his co-workers who reported being on lockdown inside the base.
Friday’s lockdown in Pensacola comes just two days after two civilian employees at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii were killed by an active duty US sailor, who killed himself.
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