US military base put ‘on lockdown’ over security breach, investigation underway

Washington: The Joint Base Andrew military base near Washington DC from where Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband had just taken off, has been put on lockdown on Sunday (local time) after reports of an “armed individual” on base, according to reports.

“(The) Guards stopped the shuttle reporters take from the terminal. They had rifles out and searched our van,” Scott Detrow, NPR’s White House correspondent, who is currently at the base and is a part of the press pool reporter for the vice president, said.

Joint Base Andrews is located in Prince George’s County in Maryland and serves as the home base for several planes that are used by the President of the United States.

US President Joe Biden was not at the facility when the incident began, and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband second gentleman Doug Emhoff had left on Marine Two for the Naval Observatory . According to a White House official, the four cabinet secretaries who were travelling with VP Harris were safely off-base.

“We are still on our shuttle, and still are awaiting any sort of official statement on the extent of what’s happening at JBA right now. A guard who searched our shuttle told us it is a confirmed “armed individual” but that no shots were fired,” Detrow said in his pool report.

The vice president and several cabinet members had just landed at the military base after a trip to Selma for a “Bloody Sunday” anniversary event.

Reports are coming in that an individual was held at the Joint Base Andrew military facility and the base has been sealed off after the security breach and an investigation is underway, according to pool reporters.