Last Updated Aug 2, 2018 2:45 PM EDT
DAYTON, Ohio — Security forces and other emergency responders were called to the hospital of an Air Force base in Ohio following reports of an active shooter Thursday. A spokesperson with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton told CBS News later Thursday afternoon the area is now safe.
The base stated via Twitter that base emergency responders including security forces and fire department responded to a “reported active shooter incident” at around 12:40 p.m. ET.
The incident was reported at the base medical center, where people were seen being escorted out of the building with their hands over their head, CBS affiliate WHIO reports.
Elena Arrasmith, who works at the base as an administrator, told the station that personnel had been involved in an active shooter training exercise Thursday. She had left for lunch and was returning when she got a phone call that said the situation was “real world.” Police told her to clear the scene.
Arrasmith said she is waiting outside until the base is cleared to pick up her 1-year-old daughter, who is still onsite at a base daycare.
“Fear, nerves start going, anxiety, I just want to go and get her and I can’t, and I don’t think I have experienced anything as worse as that,” Arrasmith said.
Base personnel were directed to shelter in place until the incident is investigated, according to a tweet from the base.
“Our first priority in any emergency incident is to protect the men and women at Wright-Patt,” the tweet said. “Our base security forces defenders and fire department personnel are trained to quickly assess situations and take necessary action. An investigation is underway.”
Stacey Geiger, with the base’s public affairs office, said the base was on lockdown but she had no other information to release.
Local police were directing traffic away from the base, which is Ohio’s largest single-site employer with more than 27,000 civilian employees and military personnel. The sprawling base is near Dayton in southwest Ohio. The base was the site where the Dayton Peace Accords were finalized in 1995, an international peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia.
WHIO reported that local police were being ordered off the base and the FBI was taking over the investigation. The ATF tweeted the Columbus field division was responding.
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