One police officer is dead after a violent incident outside of the Pentagon Tuesday morning. An undetermined number of others are injured and the status of the alleged assailant is unknown.
The incident, which put the Pentagon into a brief lockdown, took place at a Metro bus platform just steps from the building’s front door.
“Gunfire was exchanged and there were several casualties,” Chief Woodrow Kusse of the Pentagon’s police force — known as the Pentagon Force Protection Agency — told reporters at a brief press conference Tuesday. “There were several injuries that resulted from the incident,” he added later.
The PFPA Twitter account subsequently confirmed that an officer had been killed.
@PFPAOfficial mourns the tragic loss of a Pentagon Police Officer killed during this morning’s incident at the Pentagon. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Officer’s family. Additional info on the officer will be forthcoming, following full next of kin notification.
— Pentagon Force Protection Agency (Official) (@PFPAOfficial) August 3, 2021
Kusse declined to discuss details of the incident, citing the ongoing investigation, but the Associated Press reported that the officer had been stabbed to death, and that the assailant had been shot and killed by law enforcement at the scene. Politico also reported that law enforcement shot the assailant.
“We are not actively looking for another suspect at this time,” Kusse said, after noting that “the scene is safe and secure on the Pentagon reservation. There were a number of people who fled, and there are some erroneous reports that are being pursued as part of the ongoing investigation.”
Pentagon workers were told to shelter in place Tuesday morning after a “shooting incident,” Politico and The New York Times reported. Kusse said the incident took place around 10:37 a.m., when “a Pentagon police officer was attacked on a Metro bus platform.”
Shortly after, the PFPA announced that the building was on lockdown. A few minutes after noon, the police agency announced that the lockdown had been lifted.
The Pentagon has lifted the lock down and has reopened. Corridor 2 and the Metro entrance remains closed. Corridor 3 is open for pedestrian traffic.
— Pentagon Force Protection Agency (Official) (@PFPAOfficial) August 3, 2021
It remains unclear how many shots were fired, by whom, and whether any other weapons were used. Video shot from nearby showed law enforcement responding to the scene.
In 2010, a gunman shot and injured two Pentagon police officers before being shot and killed by law enforcement responding to the scene.
This post has been updated.
