PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) said two unrelated security incidents at the shipyard resulted in a false report of an active threat situation on Thursday morning.
Earlier, Norfolk Naval Shipyard reported it was "secure" after being on lockdown for "initial reports of an active shooter situation," according to posts on the shipyard's Facebook page. At 12:11 p.m., a post by NNSY told employees to "commence lockdown procedures" and remain sheltered in place until further notice. "This is NOT a drill," the social media post stated.
Then eight minutes later, another Facebook post said that the active threat had been secured and that all traffic in and out of the shipyard had resumed normal operations.
Shipyard spokesperson Mike Brayshaw tells 13News Now the lockdown stemmed from two unrelated incidents earlier in the day. The first happened around 8:30 a.m. when a gun was found in a private contractor's vehicle, inside the shipyard's industrial area. Employees reported the weapon to base police, who immediately responded. Navy law enforcement secured the gun and detained the contractor, who had been authorized to be at the shipyard for ongoing work.
Around the same time that the gun in the vehicle was reported, Brayshaw said another NNSY employee reportedly made threats against the shipyard and their co-workers. The employee's supervisor reported it to base police, and law enforcement has since confirmed that the individual is no longer at the shipyard and their installation access has been revoked.
The combination of these two incidents led to mistaken reports of a possible active shooter threat shortly before noon. The shipyard spokesperson said NNSY went into a lockdown at 11:55 a.m. in an abundance of caution, and once the threat was deemed false, the all-clear was announced around 12:15.
The shipyard said no one was hurt concerning any of Thursday's incidents.
"We will thoroughly investigate these incidents and take all appropriate actions to ensure the continued safety and well-being of our employees and our surrounding community," Brayshaw said in a statement to 13News Now.