The Pentagon was put on lockdown Tuesday morning after reports of an “active violence incident” in its transit center, Pentagon and fire officials said. The Associated Press reported that a shooting occurred on a bus platform.
The Pentagon Force Protection Agency tweeted shortly before noon that the scene of the incident was secure but remained the subject of an active investigation. It also reported that the Pentagon had been reopened around 12:15 p.m.
The agency initially announced the lockdown shortly after 11 a.m.
“We request that everyone stay away from the Metro rail entrance and bus platform area,” one tweet read.
The Arlington Fire Department tweeted that it was responding to an incident of violence near the Pentagon Metro station and that it had encountered multiple patients. No information was given about the patients’ conditions.
An Associated Press reporter near the Pentagon heard multiple gunshots, then a pause, then at least one additional shot, according to the AP. Another AP journalist heard police yelling “shooter,” the news outlet reported.
Dave Statter, a journalist who lives in an apartment in Crystal City near the Pentagon, said he and his wife heard gunshots at 10:38 a.m. “It was obvious they were gunshots, in two volleys,” Statter said.
“I looked out my window from Crystal City and could see Pentagon Force Protection officers all converging on the upper level of the transit center,” at the Pentagon, near the entrance to the Pentagon Metro stop. “As I looked closer and zoomed in with my camera, I could see there was a body on the ground next to a Metrobus in the roadway. And some officers were around this person offering assistance. Then I realized there was a second person to the right. At one point I saw police doing CPR on both of them.”
Statter posted several videos on Twitter after he watched the scene unfold. He said it was about 15 minutes before Arlington police arrived, followed shortly after by Arlington emergency rescue personnel. “I could see them take one person away in an ambulance,” Statter said. “Then I saw them take somebody else away, a third person, who seemed to come from inside or under cover in the Metro station.”
A Pentagon Force Protection Agency official could not immediately confirm that a shooting had occurred and said updates would be forthcoming on the agency’s Twitter account. An ATF official also said that agency was responding to the scene.
Pentagon police set up a perimeter at the intersection of North Side Connector Road and Boundary Channel Drive near the Pentagon as TV cameras and photographers filmed police cars zooming into the Pentagon campus.
A helicopter circled above over the sirens of incoming additional officers. One officer who was holding down the perimeter briefly left his car holding a gun, got a quick view of the building and then returned to his car. Video from the scene showed police officers and emergency vehicles near the scene of the incident.
The incident occurred at the bus station that is inside the Pentagon parking lot but outside Pentagon security. It is accessible to the general public and regular bus routes run through the area.
The Pentagon Transit Center, on the east side of the Pentagon, is the largest transit hub in Northern Virginia, according to the Department of Defense. With a rail station and numerous bus routes, it’s a key stop in the Washington region for commuters headed to and from the Virginia suburbs. The transit center has 13 bus bays on the upper level and 11 on the lower level, serving Metrobus, Fairfax Connector, Alexandria’s DASH, OmniRide, Arlington Transit and Loudoun County Transit buses.
The Pentagon Metrorail station is the anchor of the transit center and one of the busiest stations in Northern Virginia, serving the transit agency’s Yellow and Blue lines.
Metro suspended rail service on both lines through the Pentagon during the investigation. The transit agency said no trains were operating between the Pentagon City and Mount Vernon Square stations on the Yellow Line, or between Pentagon City and Arlington Cemetery on the Blue Line.
Metro also closed the L’Enfant Plaza stop, a busy transfer station across the Potomac River from the Pentagon that serves five of Metro’s six rail lines. Metro officials didn’t respond to a request for comment about the closure.
Metro is also diverting buses to Pentagon City and trains are bypassing Pentagon station due to the police activity at the Pentagon Reservation, Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said. She said the Pentagon Force Protection Agency is the lead law enforcement agency on any incident that happens on the Pentagon reservation.
Teo Armus, Emily Davies, Dana Hedgpeth, Tom Jackman, Dan Lamothe and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff contributed to this report.
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