HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Authorities searched Tuesday for a man who fired gunshots from a vehicle in the vicinity of soldiers at a military facility in Mississippi although no one was hurt, a sheriff said.
The shots were fired near a checkpoint where two soldiers were standing guard to the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said at a news conference.
"This incident occurred along the eastern edge of Camp Shelby. It did not occur on the base," Smith said.
Authorities do not have a motive. He said earlier reports that two people were involved proved to be wrong.
Smith said he has asked the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation for help.
Mississippi's National Guard said soldiers training at Camp Shelby reported hearing shots fired at 11:45 a.m. along Peret Tower Road, near the training facility. The facility is secure and all personnel are accounted for and unharmed, the National Guard said in a news release.
The giant military base south of Hattiesburg is one of the premier training facilities for National Guard troops from across the country, and during the height of the Iraq War was often the last stop for National Guard troops training to go to the Middle East.
The base is currently hosting about 4,600 active-duty soldiers, National Guard and reservists from Texas and Mississippi in a summer training exercise.
This summer's training focuses on the coordinated efforts of individual soldiers acting as a platoon, which can vary in size but normally boasts 30-plus members.
The exercises, called "Exportable Combat Training Capability," began in mid-July and will continue through mid-August.
Camp Shelby officials also were hosting a field hearing Tuesday by the National Commission on the Future of the Army.
The commission is an independent, congressionally mandated panel directed to assess President Barack Obama's recommendations for restructuring the Army's active-duty and reserve component force structures.
A Section on 08/05/2015