A lone gunman opened fire outside of Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nev., around midnight Tuesday night. In response, the security team shot him, say police.
The unnamed suspect 'fired rounds' at the main security gate of the airbase after being spotted "behaving erratically" at around 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 24, a Nellis AFB spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
The massive airbase complex is closely associated with the secretive Area 51, a highly classified facility deep within the Nevada Test and Training Range, where some of the latest weapons and aircraft are kept and tested.
Air Force security officers swiftly "challenged the suspect who pointed his firearm at them," by shooting him in the leg after returning fire, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.
The suspect was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after emergency first responders applied a tourniquet.
No other injuries were reported, and authorities have stated that the situation poses no ongoing threat. However, the "investigation is ongoing,” said officials from the Air Force and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police in a joint press statement.
The shooter's identity and motives remain unknown, while federal authorities investigating the incident say they are not aware of any broader plot or other accomplices at this time.
Nellis Air Force Base announced on Facebook that its primary entrance was closed “until further notice,” and an alternative gate was kept open temporarily for drivers, to ease congestion. The main gate was reopened by 8:55 a.m.
There have been heightened security measures at U.S. military installations in recent years, due to increasing threats.
On Aug. 1, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, a person attempting to illegally access the base was fatally shot by security personnel. Authorities have not released any further details on that suspect or motive.
Later that month, an active-duty sergeant opened fire on his fellow soldiers at the Fort Stewart army base in Georgia. He struck and wounded five.
In 2019, a Saudi Royal Air Force trainee, Mohammed Alshamrani, killed three Americans and injured eight at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The Department of Justice labeled the incident an "act of terrorism."
Later the same day as the Nellis AFB shooting in Nevada — Wednesday — 29-year-old gunman Joshua Jahn shot and killed one person and injured two others in Dallas, Texas, after opening fire on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility from a nearby building.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Jahn fired "indiscriminately" at the ICE building and at a nearby unmarked transport van, where the victims were hit.
The three detainees who were struck were in the ICE transport van when they were shot, say authorities.
Jahn eventually shot himself around 7 a.m. and was found dead with a rifle on a nearby rooftop.
Related: Five Police Officers Shot, Three Dead in Pennsylvania While Serving a Warrant
In addition to Area 51, Nellis Air Force Base hosts several important air combat exercises, including Red Flag, close air support, and Green Flag-West.
The base, which was initially named the Las Vegas Air Force Base, was renamed in 1950 after William Harrel Nellis, a United States fighter pilot who flew 70 combat missions and was killed in action over Europe during WW2.
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