Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
A Florida sheriff says there are “no signs of an active shooter” and no injuries after police responded to a report of gunshots at Corry Station, a Navy installation in Pensacola.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons says someone reported hearing multiple gunshots about 10:15 a.m. Thursday, but deputies have conducted a search and found no evidence of a shooting and no victims. All available deputies responded to Corry Station sub-installation in response, authorities said.
The base and Naval Air Station Pensacola had closed entrances as police investigated. Simmons said officers are continuing to conduct a comprehensive sweep of the base.
“We’re still out there, it’s still an active scene, but at this time there’s no confirmation,” Escambia County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Morgan Lewis said.
Corry Station is a sub-installation of the larger Naval Air Station Pensacola command. The station houses several units, including the Navy’s Center for Information Warfare Training as well as civilian and Marine operations. The Navy’s website for the installation notes the gates are open 24 hours a day, but require credentials or accompaniment of credentialed individuals to enter.
NAS Pensacola had a previous shooting incident in December 2019 in which a Saudi student at the air station opened fire in a classroom, killing three sailors and wounding eight other people including two sheriff’s deputies. One of the deputies killed the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, in that incident.
After the shooting the first Trump administration sent 21 Saudi military students home, noting they had jihadist or anti-American sentiments on social media pages or had contact with child sexual abuse materials, including in internet chat rooms, officials said in early 2020. None of those trainees was accused of having had advance knowledge of the shooting or helped the 21-year-old gunman carry it out.
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