U.S. Navy: Sailor, civilian suspect killed at base

A man fatally shot a sailor Monday night at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va. — the world's largest naval base — before being killed by responding security forces, according to the Navy.

The shooting occurred around 11:20 p.m. aboard the USS Mahan, a guided-missile destroyer, base spokeswoman Terri Davis said early Tuesday. Davis would not describe the circumstances of the shooting, but said the scene was secure. No other injuries were reported.

Davis said that the two people killed were both males, but that she did not have any other information on them. She could not say whether the civilian had permission to be on board the ship.

The base was briefly put on lockdown after the shooting, but quickly resumed operations, the Navy said in a news release. However, enlisted sailors on the USS Mahan were ordered not to report for duty on Tuesday.

To get on the base, civilians must be escorted or be issued a pass. Each base entrance is guarded, and all 13 piers have additional security forces. As part of ongoing security efforts, handheld ID scanners were implemented this year at Navy bases in the region, including the Norfolk station.

The shooting comes months after a September incident at the Washington Navy Yard, in which gunman Aaron Alexis — identified as a contractor and former Navy reservist — killed 12 civilian workers before being shot to death.

The shooting also comes about a month after the Navy held force-protection exercises around the world, including an active-shooter drill at the Norfolk base.

The Norfolk base covers more than 6,000 acres and is the home port for 64 ships, according to information the Navy provided in February. The base is also the home port for a Navy hospital ship. About 46,000 military members and 21,000 civilian government employees and contractors are assigned to the base and its ships, according to the Navy figures.

The Mahan, commissioned in 1998, has a crew of about 300. In September, it returned to Norfolk after a deployment of more than eight months that included being positioned in the eastern Mediterranean Sea for a potential strike against Syria.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press