Teen Driver Made Wrong Turn, Panicked Before NSA Shooting: Report

FORT MEADE, MD — A teenage driver made a wrong turn onto the NSA campus at Fort Meade, then panicked and stepped on the gas when confronted by officers at the high-security agency, says a friend who rented the SUV that took gunfire from NSA officers.

Two people previously in custody after officers fired at the gate-crashers at the National Security Agency have been released, federal authorities said. Names of the two were not released, but they include the errant 17-year-old driver, says his friend, Javonte Alhajie Brown. The three were in an SUV Brown had rented and let a friend drive on their way to his brother's house in the area. But the youth was confused and drove up to an NSA gate Wednesday, then tried to leave Fort George G. Meade, home to the NSA and other cyber operations.

As the vehicle crashed through the gate and then tried to leave, NSA police fired their duty weapons. In the process, one person in the SUV, a police officer and a bystander were injured by shrapnel but not gunshots, said an FBI spokesman.

Brown, 24, of Washington, was turned over to the Howard County Sheriff's Office on an active warrant for unpaid child support, the Baltimore Sun reports.

The unnamed and unlicensed driver's mother and Brown told The Washington Post that the teen made a wrong turn as Brown and a back-seat passenger slept. They questioned the NSA's use of potentially deadly force. The vehicle drove onto a restricted-access road leading to the installation.

“I woke up with him slapping me in the face screaming, ‘I’m going the wrong way. I don’t know how I got here,’” Brown told the Post. “I was screaming at him,” Brown said, “‘How the hell did you do this? And why aren’t you stopping?’”

No charges have been filed in the incident. What led the SUV onto the NSA compound is still being looked at by federal authorities, who say they have no reason to believe the incident is tied to terrorism.

TV images showed the SUV with apparent bullet holes in its windshield. Several people were taken from the scene to area hospitals, but officials said there were no injuries attributed to gunfire. The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident.

WRC TV said bullet holes could be seen in the SUV's front window, and several air bags were deployed. Blood-stained material could be seen on the ground. No updates have been given on the extent of those injured.

In March 2015, one person died in a shootout at the NSA gates. Friends said Ricky Shawatza Hall of Baltimore, who identified as a woman, went by the name Mya, and had a criminal record for prostitution and robbery may have panicked when making a wrong turn into the NSA entrance while driving a stolen vehicle. Hall died at the entrance to the NSA campus after a shootout with guards, according to the FBI.

Hall drove a stolen Ford SUV to the NSA gate and "failed to obey an NSA Police officer's routine instructions for safely exiting the secure campus," the FBI said in a statement. Instead, the SUV accelerated toward an NSA police vehicle, officers fired and Hall was pronounced dead at the scene, the FBI said. A passenger and an NSA officer were injured in the fracas.

Hall may have taken the exit for the NSA by mistake while driving on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway/MD 295, which happens "all the time" to those who don't travel that way often and misread the brown sign, according to The Capital. Before turning around, drivers must proceed to the heavily guarded security checkpoint.

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(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File Photo of NSA entrance)