Active Shooter Didn’t Threaten Fort Meade, Rumors Followed 'Unfortunate Miscommunication'

FORT MEADE, MD — Officials said there was not an active shooter Thursday at Fort George G. Meade. Rumors swirled earlier in the day that there was a threat, but the National Security Agency explained that this was false.

"Reports of an active shooter situation at Ft. Meade are not true," the NSA tweeted at 11:44 a.m. "There is a regularly-planned security exercise underway, but no actual incidents have occurred."

The operation, called Capital Shield, is an annual test of how prepared agencies are for a disaster in the Washington, D.C.-area. Fort Meade publicly announced the drill on Monday, adding that it would last Tuesday through Friday. The base informed that there would be increased security but not any true danger.

"Fort Meade routinely practices how it would report incidents to media during its exercises," Public Affairs Officer Chad Jones wrote in a press release. "Today’s incident was an unfortunate miscommunication between the installation and a few media outlets believed to be notional. I apologize for the confusion."

Patch never reported that there was an active shooter on the base Thursday.

"Based on how the information was released to media outlets today, the Garrison Public Affairs Office will use this unfortunate incident to ensure it is better prepared in case a real-world incident does arise," the announcement concluded.

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