Bizarre Shooting Incident at NSA Fort Meade Maryland

Fort Meade, Maryland NSA Heaquarters Main Gate Shooting Incident

A stolen vehicle attempted to breach the main gate of the NSA Headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland resulting in a shooting death , injuries to a second occupant  of the vehicle and a security officer  in a police cruiser .  Fort Meade is located in Laurel, Maryland adjacent to the busy Baltimore-Washington Parkway equidistant between the two cities.  I am familiar with the NSA complex having been stationed as an Army Intelligence officer with the 52th MI Group during the Viet Nam Era. The successor 525^th MI Brigade is part of the VXIII Airborne Corps headquartered at Fort Bragg, NC. The NSA headquarters complex is separate from the Army base and has extensive physical security arrangements to prevent an assault like today’s bizarre event involving two men disguised as women ramming a stolen vehicle into a police vehicle at the main gate.  A later ABC report provided further information, “Hotel Partying Preceded Deadly Shooting At NSA Gate, Sources Say:”

Shortly before 9 a.m. ET today, a vehicle with two people inside “attempted an unauthorized entry at a National Security Agency gate,” according to a statement from the NSA.

“The driver failed to obey an NSA Police officer’s routine instructions for safely exiting the secure campus,” the statement continued. “The vehicle failed to stop and barriers were deployed.”

Sources say the two inside were men dressed as women. Preliminary information indicated the two men were partying at an area hotel with a third individual when they took that individual’s car without permission. However, it’s still unclear how or why they ended up at the NSA gate.

A law enforcement source confirms the car that crashed at NSA was reported stolen in Howard County, Md.

Nevertheless, when the vehicle “accelerated toward an NSA police car blocking the road” and “refused to stop,” an NSA police officer opened fire, and one of the two men inside the “unauthorized vehicle” ended up dead, the NSA statement said. The other man in the vehicle was “severely injured” and taken to a local hospital, according to sources.

An NSA Police officer injured in the incident was also taken to the hospital.

“The incident has been contained and is under investigation,” Colonel Brian Foley, Fort Meade garrison commander, said in a statement. “The residents, service members and civilian employees on the installation are safe. We continue to remain vigilant at all of our access control points.”

The FBI said they do not believe the incident is related to terrorism. The FBI evidence response team is on the scene investigating and testing for the possible presence of drugs.

The incident is being investigated by FBI, NSA Police and Army Criminal Investigation Command. Anne Arundel Police and Maryland State Police are also on the scene assisting.

President Obama has been briefed on the incident, according to White House spokesman Eric Schultz.