Officials: Gunman Barricaded In JSC Building
POSTED: 2:27 pm CDT April 20, 2007
UPDATED: 3:20 pm CDT April 20, 2007
HOUSTON -- A building at the Johnson Space Center was evacuated Friday afternoon after a man with a gun barricaded himself inside and shots were reportedly fired, KPRC Local 2 reported.
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Officials said a report of a man with a weapon was spotted at about 1:40 p.m. inside building 44, which is the communications and tracking development laboratory, an engineering building. Johnson Space Center security officers, SWAT and Houston police officers were on the scene. Authorities said the man was barricaded in a second-floor office. His identity is not yet known. There are no reports of injuries. Officials said there were reports that between five to nine shots were fired. NASA is a secured facility that requires approved access. "If you are an employee and have the correct badge and the correct sticker on your car, you can generally drive right in," former astronaut Dr. Bill Fisher said. "If this were a contractor or a NASA employee, that person would have almost unlimited access to the Space Center once you're through the gate. For someone who is not a NASA employee, they have to go through a number of security checks and they would have to get a special badge." Johnson Space Center is located on NASA Parkway in Clear Lake. Building 44 was described as "one of the smaller" office buildings on the JSC campus, where Mission Control is based. Space Center Intermediate School, located at 17400 Saturn Lane, was placed in lockdown mode as a precaution, according to district officials. Parents were asked to not come to the campus until the all-clear is given.
For more information on this breaking story, stay tuned to KPRC Local 2 and Click2Houston.com. Refresh this page later for updated details.
LIVE: Watch KPRC Local 2's Continuing Coverage
Officials said a report of a man with a weapon was spotted at about 1:40 p.m. inside building 44, which is the communications and tracking development laboratory, an engineering building. Johnson Space Center security officers, SWAT and Houston police officers were on the scene. Authorities said the man was barricaded in a second-floor office. His identity is not yet known. There are no reports of injuries. Officials said there were reports that between five to nine shots were fired. NASA is a secured facility that requires approved access. "If you are an employee and have the correct badge and the correct sticker on your car, you can generally drive right in," former astronaut Dr. Bill Fisher said. "If this were a contractor or a NASA employee, that person would have almost unlimited access to the Space Center once you're through the gate. For someone who is not a NASA employee, they have to go through a number of security checks and they would have to get a special badge." Johnson Space Center is located on NASA Parkway in Clear Lake. Building 44 was described as "one of the smaller" office buildings on the JSC campus, where Mission Control is based. Space Center Intermediate School, located at 17400 Saturn Lane, was placed in lockdown mode as a precaution, according to district officials. Parents were asked to not come to the campus until the all-clear is given.
For more information on this breaking story, stay tuned to KPRC Local 2 and Click2Houston.com. Refresh this page later for updated details.
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2 comments:
I can confirm Dr. Fisher's discription of security procedures at Johnson Space Center. I have done contract work there on several occasions, as have several other people that I know. They run a security check on you in advance and you must present a driver's license to pick up the badge. In my case it is always a temporary badge with an expiration date. You then have to show the badge and your license again to get in. The problem is that I heard a NASA spokesperson state on the radio that they do random vehicle and bag inspections. Well I have never been subject to one of these secondary inspections, and I have never witnessed one. Neither have any of the other people that I spoke to, and each of us has been there to do work on many occasions. To thier credit, they do inpect large boxes that are delivered to thier receiving dept., but I can tell you that there is definitly some CYA going on in the interviews with NASA officials when asked about securty procedures for employees and contrators coming and going.
Thank you for your "inside" information.
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