JBER Hospital Incident Successfully Resolved

by JBER Public Affairs
673 ABW/PA

10/16/2015 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - -- The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Hospital was put on lockdown at approximately 12:30 p.m. as security forces and emergency response personnel responded to a report of a suspicious person with a firearm at the facility.

Security forces personnel were on-the-scene within three minutes and apprehended the suspect, an active duty Air Force Airman, who was found with a loaded firearm. He is currently being held in custody on JBER.

The base hospital personnel initiated internal lockdown procedures simultaneously to allow security forces to confront of the suspect. No shots were fired and there were no injuries.

Base officials attributed the situation's safe resolution to the rapid response of security forces personnel and the rapid hospital lockdown by its staff.

"First and foremost, I want to thank the medical group and security forces personnel who quickly reacted to the situation," said Col. Brian R. Bruckbauer, JBER and 673d Air Base Wing commander. "It allowed emergency responders both on and off the installation to apprehend the individual without harm to any personnel."

The Anchorage Police Department and other local agencies assisted base security forces personnel in sweeping and securing the scene.

"We want to thank those in the local community and JBER for the successful resolution of the incident," Bruckbauer said. 

JBER officials declared the incident successfully resolved and the installation has returned to normal operations.

"This is something we train for. I'm proud of our defenders and how quickly they got to the hospital, and how quickly they took command of the situation," Bruckbauer said. "I'm proud of our professionals on base and along with our off-base partners because they were here pretty quickly to assist us. It shows a very strong partnership with the Anchorage Police Department, FBI and others who responded to assist our defenders."