3 Who Brought Mortar Round To Pearl Harbor Released: Update

HONOLULU, HI — Military officials on Wednesday confirmed they have released the three persons taken into custody after a mortar round was discovered in their vehicle at the gate to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The discovery of the mortar round caused an hourslong shutdown of the base. Base spokesman Charles Anthony told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it wasn't clear what the trio planned to do or where they wanted to go when they were stopped late Tuesday.

A mortar is a portable weapon that is loaded and fired by dropping an exploding shell into a tube. Anthony said there was no explosive material inside the round and no firing device in the car.
It was an “inert training round,” Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman Jeff Houston said in an email to The Associated Press.

“NCIS does not believe that terrorism played any role in the gate incident yesterday, and we don't believe there is any threat to the community,” he said .

No information is available on the three men taken into custody, and it's not clear if they will face charges. Hundreds of people, usually lost, end up at the Pearl Harbor gate daily and are turned around if they don’t have proper identification to enter, Anthony said.

“The security guard first noticed the smell of marijuana and then looked inside the vehicle and saw what was potential ordnance,” Anthony said.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam was shut down to traffic around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday while a bomb squad investigated the vehicle that appeared at the Nimitz Gate without authorization, the Navy said in a statement.

The base's gates were closed for about two hours, but no one was allowed through the Nimitz Gate until early Wednesday.

The base is home to a naval shipyard where an active-duty U.S. sailor opened fire on three civilian employees in December, killing two of them. Officials have said the sailor, whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbor, then took his own life.

The shooting happened days before dignitaries and veterans attended the base's ceremony to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.