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CNN is reporting that the gunman is an employee. He's baracaded himself on the 2nd floor of the building...
I hope this doesn't turn bad. We don't need another tragedy this week..
CNN Page
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN and Reuters) -- NASA evacuated a building at the Johnson Space Center in Houston after a person with a gun was seen and a shot was fired, a NASA spokeswoman said Friday.
NASA Spokeswoman Brandi Dean said it was not yet known if anyone was hurt. Local police were on the scene, she said.
Another NASA spokesperson, James Hartfield, told CNN there were gunshots heard in the building. A call for help came in at 1:40 p.m. (2:40 p.m. ET) to which Houston police responded.
Hartfield said all of the employees that would have been in that building have been evacuated.
There is "extremely tight security" at Johnson Space Center, said Hartfield.
"A person would [have] to have some sort of I.D. and security card [to enter],"
CNN is reporting that the gunman is an employee. He's baracaded himself on the 2nd floor of the building...
April 20, 2007, 3:15PM
JSC building evacuated after report of gunman
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Authorities have evacuated Building 44 at the Johnson Space Center because of reports of a man with a weapon, according to a JSC spokeswoman.
There were reports that several shots were fired, but NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs would not confirm that.
Authorities received reports that a gun shot was fired at Johnson Space Center building 44 in Clear Lake at 1:59 p.m. today.
Houston Police including a SWAT team were at the scene, as well as NASA security.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was missing or injured.
NASA security got a phone call at 1:40 p.m. about a person with a weapon at Building 44, an office building where engineers work on communications systems.
People were told to leave Building 44, and workers in other buildings were told to remain there.
Building 44, which sits in the middle of the 1,600-acre Johnson Space Center campus, includes offices and two labs. It is an engineering facility for communications and tracking involved in space shuttle work.
From television helicopter camera shots on Channel 11, many Houston Police cars were seen around the building.
Clear Creek ISD's Space Center Intermediate School, with about 900 students, is currently on lockdown status. No injuries have been reported.
NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the building was ``one of the smaller'' office buildings on the JSC campus, where Mission Control is based. He declined to speculate on how a person would get a gun inside NASA security or what his motives would be.
The iden y of the armed man is not yet known.
Evacuated employees were outside the building, and moved to the east side of nearby Building 25, which is a safety barrier. Some of the employees were sitting under trees and talking.
This is 4 shootings that I know of in the past week in a half.
This is getting ing ridiculous
This goober they have giving updates doesn't know .
His answers have all included "I don't know."
Damn crazy NASA employees are making me miss Jeopardy.
And you took the words right off of my keyboard JB. I'm watching the ABC coverage and the "I don't know"s are piling up quick.
Luckily Jeopardy comes out in an hour so maybe I won't miss it. I hope this situation is resolved soon and there are no deaths.
apparently that building is along the route of nasa's tours of the complex.
my kid was there yesterday and half of today on a field trip with his classmates.
luckily they left around 1 pm. to head back to s.a.
man, you can't go anywhere anymore.
If some old bald man with coke bottle glasses comes on during the NASA news conference you know the has hit the fan. I can't for the life of me think of his name...but he's the bearer of bad news.
I wonder if it was the crazy diaper wearing lady?
Assuming it was a Gunman? How sexist of you.
It is a man...someone saw him! lol So shhh!! :P
Are there any updates for those of us without televisions?
Nope
right now it's being reported that the gunman killed a hostage and himself
That's the latest I heard too. And there was a woman ducttaped inside the room they were in.
i'm curious to know who all is involved. i know a woman that worked there but I'm not sure if she still works there or not
April 20, 2007, 5:38PM
2 dead in JSC hostage standoff
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
A gunman and one hostage, both men, are dead after a violent incident at Johnson Space Center today, Houston Police confirmed today.
A second hostage, a woman, survived with no injuries.
Houston Police said the gunman apparently shot himself in the head about 5 p.m. today.
HPD Capt. Dwayne Ready said the first hostage was killed during the early minutes of the three-hour-plus ordeal.
Between 4 and 5 p.m., HPD scanner chatter indicated shots reported fired in the building, and shortly afterward television pictures showed an ambulance drive up and a stretcher rolled into the building.
Television video showed the SWAT team leaving and doors to the building open shortly after 5 p.m.
The man is a contractor with Jacobs Engineering, Inc., according to the California company's CFO.
Ready said two shots were fired inside Building 44 earlier this afternoon, according to a witness who is a NASA employee. The shots came from inside the building, Ready told reporters.
Ready said he has no idea what the motive for the shooting was.
The NASA employee said he saw the gun and the suspect.
Ready said no injuries have been reported.
He said he could not confirm whether any employees were unaccounted for, but that NASA was trying to pinpoint that information.
John Prosser, the chief financial officer of Jacobs Engineering Inc., said the man inside NASA is a contract employee for the worldwide engineering company.
``That is my understanding,'' Prosser said. Prosser said he did not know the name of the employee. ''I don't know. I can't ... I couldn't release a name even if I did."
Authorities initially evacuated employees from Building 44 at JSC because of the report of a gunman, according to a JSC spokeswoman.
There were reports that several shots were fired, but NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs would not confirm that this afternoon.
NASA employees and contract workers were kept informed of the situation by e-mail, including the first one which began, ``We have a report of a weapon in Building 44.''
Authorities received reports that a gunshot was heard in Building 44 at 1:59 p.m.
Houston Police including a SWAT team were at the scene, as well as NASA security.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was missing or injured.
Shortly before 4 p.m., NASA was asking employees to leave the campus.
Earlier in the afternoon, Christine Reichert, space station flight controller at Johnson Space Center, said employees were being told to stay in their buildings.
She said she people in the building close to Building 44 "were all good. That's all I know."
Doors to Mission Control were locked as is standard procedure.
NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said the incident appears confined to Building 44.
``Other than that, it doesn't seem to have affected our activities out here,'' Humphries said.
NASA security got a phone call at 1:40 p.m. about a person with a weapon at Building 44, an office building where engineers work on communications systems.
People were told to leave Building 44, and workers in other buildings were told to remain there.
Building 44, which sits in the middle of the 1,600-acre Johnson Space Center campus, includes offices and two labs. It is an engineering facility for communications and tracking involved in space shuttle work.
From television helicopter camera shots on Channel 11, many Houston Police cars were seen around the building.
Clear Creek ISD's Space Center Intermediate School, with about 900 students, had been on lockdown status, but children were released around 3:30 p.m. No injuries were reported.
NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the building was ``one of the smaller'' office buildings on the JSC campus, where Mission Control is based. He declined to speculate on how a person would get a gun inside NASA security or what his motives would be.
Jacobs Engineering Group, based in Pasadena, Calif., has a wide-ranging business that includes aerospace and defense contracts, as well providing services to the energy, pharmaceutical, building and automotive industries, among others. For NASA, it has been involved in designing a system to analyze the impact of debris that may hit the Space Shuttle's wings, according to the company's Web site at www.jacobs.com.
It had sales in 2006 of $7.4 billion, and has 31,700 employees worldwide, according to Wright Investor's Service.
Anyone who comes on to JSC property has to have an employee badge or a visitor badge. Visitors must show a drivers license or some other form of identification to be cleared to be on the property.
NASA Director of External Relations Eileen Hawley said NASA would study the situation when it was defused to see if any policies needed to be changed.
Chronicle space reporter Mark Carreau and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Link
This is obviously the fault of NBC for releasing Cho's videotape and the rest of the media for continuing NBC's transgressions.
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