A teenager armed with a gun and another person drove through a security checkpoint at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington Sunday night, prompting a lockdown just as Vice President Kamala Harris, her husband, and four Cabinet members reportedly landed aboard Air Force 2.
The military base in suburban Maryland was locked down for roughly six hours as authorities took an armed 17-year-old into custody and searched the base for the second individual they said drove onto the base with the teen in a stolen vehicle around 9 p.m. That suspect ran away from the vehicle and remained at large Monday, apparently outside the Andrews perimeter, authorities said in a statement.
No shots were fired and no injuries were reported, authorities said. The base reopened about 3 a.m. Monday.
The breach unfolded shortly after Air Force 2 landed. Aboard were Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff; Education Secretary Miguel Cardona; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge; and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan, according to The New York Times, citing reporters traveling with the officials.
Harris and Emhoff left the base aboard the vice-presidential helicopter. It was unclear whether they departed before or after they were informed about the lockdown, the Times reported.
Harris and Emhoff were returning to Washington from Selma, Alabama, where they commemorated the 57th anniversary of the civil rights march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Andrews officials did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. Harris’ security team declined to comment.
