Military Personnel stand guard outside the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick.
Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images
A Navy hospital corpsman suspected of shooting and critically wounding two people at a Maryland office park was shot and killed Tuesday morning several miles away in Fort Detrick, the site of the U.S. Army’s biological defense program center, officials said.
Local police in Frederick, Maryland, separately said they had responded to an “active shooter” at a commercial business address in that city about 4 miles away from Fort Detrick.
“Currently there are two victims and one suspect is down,” police said.
NBC 4 in Washington reported that the unidentified 38-year-old suspect traveled to Fort Detrick after the shooting. He was shot by personnel there.
A Navy spokesman said in a statement: “The U.S. Navy can confirm there was an active shooter incident at Fort Detrick, MD involving U.S. Navy Sailors.”
“The shooter, a Navy Hospital Corpsman, is deceased. We will continue to update with additional details as the situation evolves,” the spokesman said.
Police said that the two victims suffered life-threatening injuries and were flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
A Pentagon spokesman said, “We still don’t have all the facts right now. Information is still coming in, it’s still very early.”
“It is literally unfolding as we sit here and speak and so I just don’t have any more detail,” the spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters during a briefing.
Jeremy Mutschler, director of marketing for Nicolock Paving Stones, told the Associated Press that he believed the shooting occurred near the company’s Frederick location but not at the business itself.
“One of the victims who was wounded entered our facility looking for help and we were able to assist and call the authorities,” said Mutschler, who is based in New York.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
