The gunman or gunmen who exchanged fire with security forces outside a Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland gate in Texas remain at large more than a week later, according to authorities.
Police continue to investigate the pre-dawn shooting at the Chapman Annex Gate on Aug. 17, and no arrests have been made, San Antonio Police Department spokesperson Ximena Alvarez said in an email.
Alvarez declined Monday to provide further information on the incident.
At least one person opened fire from a vehicle that was passing by the gate near the base’s Chapman Training Annex at about 4:30 am on Aug. 17, officials said. Security forces airmen returned fire, and the vehicle fled.
Stefanie Antosh, the head of public affairs for the 502nd Air Base Wing at Lackland, referred questions on the shooting to the police department. Antosh declined to say whether bullet holes or other damage from the shooting had been found at the gate or elsewhere in the base.
Antosh told the San Antonio Express-News after the shooting that it was not “an active threat to the installation.” The base closed the gate for a few hours, but the entire base was not locked down. It remains unknown how many shots were fired, or whether more than one person in the vehicle opened fire.
The Chapman Annex is best known as a training hub for airmen who wish to become combat controllers, special reconnaissance, tactical air control party airmen. It is named in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Master Sgt. John Chapman, a combat controller who died fighting al Qaida terrorists on an Afghanistan mountaintop on March 4, 2002, during Operation Anaconda.
Lackland is where the Air Force conducts basic military training, as well as training activities for enlisted aircrew, security forces, special warfare airmen, and the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, which provides professional military education, aircrew instruction, and technical training to personnel from allied and partner nations in the Americas.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
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