Arizona Republic and Staff Reports
TUCSON — Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson is on lockdown, but a spokesman said no shots have been fired and no one has been hurt.
Details remain scarce, however, other than the lockdown is still in effect, meaning no one is allowed on or off the base. In a brief press release issued around 12:30 p.m., base officials said reports of “suspicious activity” caused officials to declare a higher state of security.
The base is best known as the boneyard for old military and government airplanes.
Ron Barber, who was on the base Friday morning for a commemoration ceremony for POWs and MIAs, left the base as the lockdown started at 10 a.m. Security directed traffic off the grounds of the base.
He said officials did not say why they were locking down the base.
Barber is U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ district director. He was shot in the face and leg during the January mass shooting at a Tucson Safeway.
The Pima Air & Space Museum south of the base remains open, but public tours that it does on the base have been canceled, officials said.
At least two schools, Borman Elementary of Tucson Unified School District and Sonoran Science Academy, arer on lockdown.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Caitlin Jones said she couldn’t confirm details, but said the base has been “reduced to a single point entry because of a potential security situation,” and officials were investigating.
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is located within the city limits of Tucson, about 5 miles east of the downtown area. It was established in 1925.