Source: Sputnik News
The Pentagon ended up being placed on a lockdown after gunshots were fired near a platform by the facility’s Metro station.
According to AP, their reporter near the building heard multiple gunshots, while another journalist of theirs heard police yelling “shooter”; a Pentagon announcement said the facility was on lockdown due to “police activity.”
At least one person “was down”, with their condition currently being unknown, the media outlet adds citing two people familiar with the shooting “who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information publicly”.
The Pentagon Force Protection Agency said tweeted that the lockdown was “due to an incident at the Pentagon Transit Center” and urged the public to avoid said area.
The Pentagon currently is on lock down due to an incident at the Pentagon Transit Center. We are asking the public to please avoid the area. More information will be forthcoming.
— Pentagon Force Protection Agency (Official) (@PFPAOfficial) August 3, 2021
The Pentagon Transit Center, the site of a reported shooting this morning, is outside the Pentagon itself, but on Pentagon grounds. Regular bus routes and the Metro are available from there.
This map shows its location in proximity to the building: pic.twitter.com/DDJ0BxRKLV
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) August 3, 2021
Metro subway trains were reportedly ordered to bypass the Pentagon due to a police investigation there.
Arlington County emergency services also said there were “several patients” at the scene, AFP notes.
“Scene still active,” they said.
A Sputnik correspondent reports from the scene that the operation of the blue line of the Washington, DC metro has been suspended on Tuesday afternoon over the police activity, as announced by the train driver amid the reports of shots fired at the Pentagon metro station.
The train was stopped and people offloaded at the Arlington Cemetery station, one stop before the Pentagon metro station, the correspondent said, adding that the train will now turn around and head in the opposite direction.
According to Politico, a Pentagon Force Protection Agency official told them that the gunman was unable to get inside the Pentagon building and was shot by a Pentagon police officer.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency has already announced that the lockdown has been lifted, noting that the Metro entrance still remains closed.
The Pentagon has lifted the lock down and has reopened. Corridor 2 and the Metro entrance remains closed. Corridor 3 is open for pedestrian traffic.
— Pentagon Force Protection Agency (Official) (@PFPAOfficial) August 3, 2021
News outlet Citizen Stringer said, citing a radio transmission from the Arlington County Fire Department, that at least three victims have been identified so far, “one of whom has since been pronounced dead”.
