A 17-year-old was arrested and another fled after passing through a checkpoint at the Maryland military base that the president and vice...
A 17-year-old was arrested and another fled after passing through a checkpoint at the Maryland military base that the president and vice president use to travel to and from Washington, officials said. military officials.
The teenager, who has not been identified, was armed when he was apprehended, they said.
The security breach at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington, occurred Sunday night around the time Vice President Kamala Harris and four Cabinet members landed at the base, which was blocked for several hours.
After the two men passed through the checkpoint at the base’s main gate, authorities stopped their vehicle with “barriers”, the base said in a statement. A declaration. The two men then fled the vehicle, which authorities said had been stolen. The 17-year-old was apprehended and remains in custody, and a sweep of the base determined that the second intruder had “left the facility”.
No shots were fired during the incident, the base said.
Ms. Harris, her husband, Doug Emhoff, and the four Cabinet members – Education Secretary Miguel Cardona; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge; and Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency — had just arrived at Air Force Base Two at the time of the security breach, according to reporters traveling with them.
Mrs. Harris and Mr. Emhoff, who were returning from a trip to Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 57th Anniversary of the Civil Rights March on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, were transported safely from base on Marine Two, the Vice Presidential helicopter. It was unclear whether they left before or after hearing about the lockdown, according to reporters who traveled to Alabama with Ms Harris.
In February 2021, an intruder at the base boarded an airplane typically used by high officials and military leaders. The breach prompted authorities to order a security review at Air Force bases around the world.
A similar grassroots lockdown happened in 2016 after there was active shooter reports, grounding then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s flight to Ohio. This happened the same day the base had planned to hold an active shooter response exercise. Reports of a gunman turned out to be false.
Derrick Bryson Taylor contributed report.
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