Wrong turn could have led to shooting outside secretive NSA headquarters that sent three to hospital
Television footage showed what appeared to be police surrounding a man on the ground in handcuffs, and a vehicle with visible bullet holes in the windscreen
A wrong turn may have led to a shoot-out with US National Security Agency guards that left three men in hospital on Wednesday, FBI officials said.
The motorists, who were not identified, drove to a gate at the secretive government agency in Fort Meade, Maryland, shortly before 7am local time. Guards fired on the vehicle after it violated NSA security rules, officials said.
Gordon Johnson, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s special agent in charge for Baltimore, said at a news conference that officials were interviewing the men to determine their motive.
“That’s our question one: What put these individuals on this compound earlier this morning?” he said.
Johnson added there was no reason to believe “that there is any nexus to terrorism.”
The vehicle had what appeared to be bullet holes in its windshield and extensive front-end damage after crashing into a concrete traffic barrier, according to images from the scene.
“It looks like the gunfire was directed onto the vehicle,” Johnson said, declining to say if weapons were found in the car. No one appeared to have been shot, he said.