The US military denied on Thursday the announcement of a shooting that claimed five victims at a military base in
Maryland, in the northeastern United States, saying it was just a “planned exercise.”
“Information concerning a shooting in (the base of) Fort Meade are wrong. It was a planned exercise, ”said Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman, in a statement. An emergency services official at Army Base Fort Meade had previously said five people were injured in a shootout and the gunman had been “circumscribed”.
“Test and validate the response of the Fort Meade garrison”
On the base’s Facebook page, a message announced Monday the holding of an “Integrated protection exercise” between September 21 and 24. It was intended to “test and validate the response of the Fort Meade garrison to multiple incidents in a Covid-19 environment”. The Fort Meade military complex, located 50 km northeast of Washington, is one of the most secure places in the country. The base is also home to the National Security Agency (NSA), the US Military Command for Cyberspace (Cyber Command) and several other US agencies.
In February 2018, a shooting left three people injured when a car tried to enter the NSA site. The FBI had ruled out the terrorist trail. In March 2015, two men disguised as women had already tried to enter the premises of the famous and mysterious intelligence agency by car. One of them had been killed and the other injured. The police had also ruled out the terrorist trail.