GREAT FALLS – A lockdown has been lifted at an Air Force nuclear missile base in central Montana Thursday following a report of an active shooter, according to authorities.
Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls announced the lockdown in a social media post. No shots were fired and nobody was injured, the base said after lifting the lockdown.
Malmstrom officials were directing people to stay away from a building where they had said a “suspected real world threat” was reported at about 10:30 a.m.
The Great Falls Police Department said it was providing security and support in the area of the base and nearby schools due to “an incident that may be occurring” at Malmstrom.
An advisory to shelter in place was announced for schools in the surrounding community. Police recommended private schools and daycare also shelter in place.
Malmstrom had just begun a pre-scheduled exercise — an active shooter response drill — when reports began coming in of a real active shooter at another location on base, a U.S. defense official said on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been made public. The official did not know if actual shots had been fired and was waiting for additional information.
The base community had been notified two days before that the drill would take place Thursday, but a time was not publicized.
Malmstrom has about 4,000 active duty military and civilian personnel. It’s one of three bases in the U.S. that operates and secures vast fields of Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The missiles are tightly guarded by security forces, including troops in armored vehicles and snipers guarding from helicopters and towers to protect each movement of a warhead. The base conducts regular training where the forces enact a security breach and train on how to reestablish control of a breached facility.