One person was injured in a shooting Thursday in an apparent misunderstanding at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, which was on lockdown.
A MedEvac helicopter landed at the academy after 6 p.m., and Fox News showed authorities taking an injured person on a wheeled stretcher to the helicopter.
A memo to midshipmen, which could not be immediately verified, said an unidentified midshipman “mistook authorized law enforcement as a threat, engaged, and the midshipman was injured in the process.” The injured midshipman was reported to be “stable and receiving medical attention.”
WBAL-TV reported that the events began when the academy was placed on lockdown as a precaution, after a midshipman who had been thrown out of the academy made anonymous threats through social media using an IP address in an attempt to make it seem like he was on the military installation.
During the lockdown, a midshipman who was sheltering in place mistook a member of law enforcement for a threat and hit him with a training weapon, the station reported. Law enforcement then shot the midshipman, who is at a hospital and expected to recover.
Other midshipmen were said to be barricaded in their rooms during the lockdown. Numerous emergency vehicles responded to the vicinity of Bancroft Hall, the huge dorm where roughly 4,000 midshipmen reside.
Hours after the shooting, some personnel were still sheltering in place.
Social media was flooded with reports of an active shooter, although the office of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore later said there was no shooter.
