NASA evacuates Houston building - Space News - MSNBC.com

NASA evacuates Houston building - Space News - MSNBC.com

NASA evacuates Houston building
Authorities checking out report about gunman at Johnson Space Center
MSNBC and NBC News
Updated: 4:05 p.m. ET April 20, 2007

A building at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was evacuated Friday amid reports that an armed person was spotted there, the space agency said. Other employees at the center were told to remain in lockdown as authorities surrounded the scene.

NASA security personnel as well as Houston police responded to "a report about a person with a weapon" at Building 44 on the space center's campus, agency spokeswoman Lynette Madison told MSNBC.com. She said that personnel were evacuated from the building, and that the situation was "ongoing." Police commandos were surrounding the building and searching inside.

KPRC, Houston's NBC affiliate, quoted authorities as saying a gunman was reportedly barricaded in a second-floor office. Houston police said they had reports that shots were fired, but there appeared to be no injuries.

NASA sent an advisory to center personnel telling them to "shelter in place until further notice."

Space Center Intermediate School, which is adjacent to the campus, also was placed in lockdown mode as a precaution, district officials told KPRC. Parents were asked to not come to the campus until the all-clear is given.

Building 44 is a communications and tracking development laboratory on a remote part of Johnson Space Center's sprawling campus, far from the Mission Control buildings. Security officials were looking into the possibility that the facility was connected to other buildings via underground tunnels.

Check back for updates on this developing story.