Air Force base is targeted by multiple gunmen in drive-by shooting as security guards return fire
U.S. Air Force security guards exchanged gunfire with someone who opened fire near the entrance to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Saturday morning.
No injuries were reported after guards returned fire at a passing vehicle near the entrance to the Texas base around 4:30 a.m.
Spokesperson Stefanie Antosh told the San Antonio Express News that it was not clear how many bullets had been fired, how many shooters there were or what their motive was.
Antosh told the medium: ‘We don’t know what, if anything, caused it. But it wasn’t an active threat to the installation, and there is no active threat to the installation.’
The incident forced the entrance to remain closed for several hours after the shooting, but the base was not locked down.
No injuries were reported after guards returned fire at a passing vehicle at the entrance to the Texas base, seen here, around 4:30 a.m.
According to the outlet, San Antonio police also went to the base in connection with the shooting and are said to have assisted in collecting evidence.
In addition to Lackland, Joint Base San Antonio also includes Randolph Air Force Base, Fort Sam Houston and the Camp Bullis training camp.
According to the base’s website, Lackland is home to more than 24,000 active-duty military personnel and 10,000 Department of Defense civilians.
It includes the 37th Training Wing, 149th Fighter Wing, 59th Medical Wing, the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, 24th Air Force Wing, 67th Network Warfare Wing, the Cryptologic Systems Group, the National Security Agency and 70 associated units.
Airman Aaron Bushnell, who committed suicide earlier this year by setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, had previously worked at the base.
He served the service as a cyber defense operations specialist and joined in May 2020
The US Air Force officer shouted ‘Free Palestine’ while standing outside the Israeli embassy in what he described as an ‘extreme act of protest’.