1 killed at NSA gate after SUV didn't stop

Police open fire; 2nd man, officer hurt

A police officer directs a vehicle to turn away at the National Security Agency, Monday, March 30, 2015, in Fort Meade, Md. Earlier, a firefight erupted when two men dressed as women tried to ram a car into a gate, killing one of them and wounding the other, officials said. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
A police officer directs a vehicle to turn away at the National Security Agency, Monday, March 30, 2015, in Fort Meade, Md. Earlier, a firefight erupted when two men dressed as women tried to ram a car into a gate, killing one of them and wounding the other, officials said. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON -- One man was killed and a second was injured Monday at the National Security Agency in suburban Maryland when their car sped toward an NSA police vehicle and security personnel opened fire.

A law enforcement official said both men were dressed as women, and identified the survivor as Kevin Fleming of nearby Baltimore. They were driving a Ford Escape SUV that had been reported stolen.

"The incident has been contained and is under investigation," said Col. Brian Foley, Fort Meade garrison commander. "The residents, service members and civilian employees on the installation are safe. We continue to remain vigilant at all of our access control points."

An FBI spokesman, Amy Thoreson, confirmed that "a shooting incident" had taken place at an NSA gate just off Maryland 295, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Fort Meade is home for the NSA.

"We do not believe it is related to terrorism," she said.

Officials said they found cocaine and at least one firearm in the Ford Escape. The identity of the driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was not disclosed by late Monday.

Initial reports suggested that the men were shot as they tried to crash a secure entrance. But in a statement Monday afternoon, Jonathan Freed, an NSA spokesman, described a more complicated encounter.

Freed said the car approached an NSA gate and "the driver failed to obey an NSA police officer's routine instructions for safely exiting the secure campus."

"The vehicle failed to stop and barriers were deployed," he said. After that, the car "accelerated toward an NSA police vehicle blocking the road. NSA police fired at the vehicle when it refused to stop."

The Ford Escape crashed into the police car, the statement said. One NSA police officer was injured and was taken to the hospital.

"There's still a lot of investigating to do," said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the episode. "But it seems very possible that they didn't set out to go to NSA."

The law enforcement official, who said he was not authorized to speak on the record about the continuing inquiry, said the owner of the Ford Escape had picked up the two younger men Sunday night and taken them to a motel in Elkridge, Md.

On Monday morning, when the vehicle owner, who is about 60 years old, was in the motel bathroom, the two younger men stole the Escape. Where they intended to go was uncertain, but they exited Maryland 295 at the special NSA exit, which is closed to the public.

Mary Phelan, a spokesman for the Howard County Police Department, confirmed that the SUV stolen from the motel was the vehicle that ended up at the NSA checkpoint. Officials said they are trying to sort through the vehicle owner's statement; it was unclear whether the person injured in the shooting could be interviewed at the hospital.

FBI agents were on the scene for several hours Monday, interviewing witnesses along with the NSA's police force, and a bureau forensic team was collecting evidence at the crime scene, Thoreson said.

The FBI is investigating and working with the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland to determine whether federal charges are warranted, Thoreson said in an email.

Initial images from the scene showed emergency workers loading the uniformed officer into an ambulance. Nearby were a dark-colored SUV and an SUV emblazoned with "NSA Police," both heavily damaged.

The NSA said in a news release that investigators have not yet determined how the man in the vehicle died, and the conditions of the wounded man and officer were not disclosed.

Doyle said the shootings took place on the NSA side of the heavily guarded installation. The agency handles electronic surveillance -- including eavesdropping on foreign communications -- for the federal government.

The NSA has long operated out of public view, although with about 35,000 employees, it is the largest U.S. spy agency. It has drawn more public attention since 2013, when a former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, released thousands of classified documents and accused the agency of violating the privacy of Americans and foreigners.

The NSA's sprawling campus at Fort Meade, between Washington and Baltimore, was open to traffic for decades. But since the 2001 terrorist attacks, security has been tightened and access, through gates operated by armed guards, is limited to the agency's employees and pre-cleared visitors.

Monday's encounter was the second this month involving gunfire at the agency. A Beltsville, Md., man, Hong Young, a 35-year-old former prison guard, was arrested March 3 in connection with a series of shootings, including one at the NSA. Police said no one was seriously hurt in those shootings, although at least one man was hit by a bullet while walking near a mall. The episodes involved random shots fired near various public and commercial buildings.

In July, a man failed to obey an NSA officer's command to stop as he approached a checkpoint. The man drove away, injuring an NSA officer and nearly striking a barricade. He was later arrested.

Fort Meade also is home to the Defense Information Systems Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command.

Jon Reinach, owner of Fort Meade Auto Center, said people sometimes stop by his service center asking for directions. Truck drivers sometimes also have to drop off their assistants at his shop because they don't have proper identification to get past security.

"A lot of people come in here trying to find their way to Fort Meade," Reinach said, adding that he's heard of people going through the wrong security entrance, but "usually they'll pull over to a waiting area and they usually do check out."

Information for this article was contributed by Helene Cooper, Scott Shane and Matthew Rosenberg of The New York Times; by Meredith Somers and Lolita C. Baldor, Amanda Lee Myers and David Dishneau of The Associated Press; and by Peter Hermann, Sari Horwitz and Ellen Nakashima and staff members of The Washington Post.

A Section on 03/31/2015

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