Officer attacked at transit station near Pentagon, leads to lockdown and multiple patients

Multiple patients were being treated Tuesday after a shooting at a Metro station prompted officials to put the Pentagon on lockdown for more than an hour, according to authorities.

A Pentagon police officer was attacked at a bus platform and gunfire was exchanged, resulting in several casualties, Chief of the Pentagon Police Woodrow Kusse said at a Tuesday afternoon press briefing.

Kusse declined to comment on the status of the officer or the attacker, but said the incident is over and the scene is "safe and secure." He added that there is no active search for a suspect and the motive for the attack is unknown.

An Associated Press reporter near the building heard multiple gunshots. Another AP journalist heard police yelling “shooter," the news agency reported.

The Arlington County, Virginia, Fire Department wrote in a tweet that crews "did encounter multiple patients." Officials have not released details about the extent of their injuries.

About an hour after tweeting there was an "incident at the Pentagon Transit Center," the Pentagon Force Protection Agency posted that the scene was "secure." The lockdown was lifted just before 12:15 p.m., according to the agency, which is charged with safeguarding occupants of the Pentagon.

"It is still an active crime scene. We request that everyone stay away from the Metro rail entrance and bus platform area," the agency said.

Sherri Ly with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority told NBC News that Metrobuses were being diverted from the transit hub, and trains were bypassing the Pentagon Transit Center, "due to an active police investigation on the Pentagon Reservation."

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