No injuries at Keesler AFB after unsubstantiated report of shooter, officials say
An unsubstantiated report of an active shooter forced the Keesler Air Force Base into lockdown for several hours Wednesday morning before authorities re-opened the gates and said no one was hurt.
First responders who rushed to the base said they found no signs of a shooter or any other threat after what base leaders called an “extensive” search. Biloxi Police helped respond to the report and said they made no arrests, heard no gunshots and did not find anyone who witnessed gunfire.
“We never found anything to substantiate that there was actually an active shooter on base,” said Lt. Candace Young, a spokesperson for Biloxi Police.
It is unclear who made the report or where it came from. Capt. Paige Skinner, a spokesperson for the 81st Training Wing at Keesler, said base leaders are “trying to figure that out.”
The unsubstantiated claim sent airmen and military personnel across the base scrambling into offices with locked doors, closed blinds and no lights, Skinner said. In a phone interview early Wednesday, speaking in a low voice as the lockdown continued, she said base officials had not confirmed what building the purported threat was reported in.
Biloxi officers arrived on the base around 8 a.m. after Keesler’s military police force asked for help responding to the report. Young said officers cleared buildings, searched for victims and evacuated civilians but left the base around 9:40 a.m. after Keesler no longer needed their help.
The gates opened again just before 10 a.m.
Skinner said the unsubstantiated report was not connected to a training exercise planned on Wednesday. That exercise was supposed to include simulated gunfire, first responders and loudspeaker announcements. The 81st Training Wing Public Affairs office said in a news release earlier this week that the plans were “only an exercise,” with “no real-world threat to the safety of individuals on the installation.”
The military police force, called the 81st Security Forces Squadron, also made no arrests Wednesday morning and did not take anyone into custody, Skinner said. Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer said he had received no reports of deaths on the base. Erin Rosetti, a spokesperson for Memorial Hospital, confirmed that no victims had been brought to their emergency room.
Unsubstantiated active shooter reports have occasionally troubled military bases across the country over the last decade.
An active shooter drill in 2021 at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida ended in lockdown after someone called 911 to report what they thought was a true threat. Media outlets mistakenly wrote about a fake shooter in Fort Meade, Maryland that year because military public affairs staff fielding calls during a drill thought reporters were part of the training exercise and gave them information from the drill as if it were real. Someone who saw people carrying guns during a training exercise in 2016 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland also triggered a lockdown when they called to report it.
This is a developing story and may be updated. Reporters Margaret Baker, Anita Lee and Hannah Ruhoff contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM.