Lockdown amid reports of shooting at Washington nuclear facility

Police have not confirmed if a shooting took place

(Getty Images)

Employees are on lockdown at the Hanford nuclear site in eastern Washington state, where police were called on Tuesday after reports of an active shooter with a shotgun.

Officials have not confirmed whether a shooting did indeed take place, or if anyone was harmed.

“Hanford Patrol continues to search the 2750 E Building,” officials from the Hanford site said in a news release, referring to one of the buildings on the property. “They have not found any evidence of shots fired, and have not found any injured employees.”

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office reported similar findings.

“Law enforcement has searched the building,” they wrote on Facebook. “They have not located any victims inside the building or any evidence at this time of shots being fired. Law enforcement will be conducting additional searches of the building.”

Sheriff Tom Croskrey told reporters on Tuesday that officials are moving to deescalate the police posture at the scene.

Police have recovered a gun from a car at the facility, though it is unclear if the weapon is related to the potential shooting.

Employees received an emergency text message alert after the shooting was called into police.

“Affected employees prepare to run fight hide,” the message read, local news outlet KAPP-KVEW reports. “Employees in nearby buildings are to lockdown and prepare to run fight hide. All others stay away.”

Police officers from the Hanford Patrol, Benton County Sheriff’s Department, as well as the Richland and Kennewick police departments, are on the scene, searching through buildings for the potential shooter.

The site, which used to produce plutonium for US nuclear weapons as part of the Manhattan Protect, has been decommissioned since the Cold War, and now houses nuclear waste.

Access to the area requires passing through a security checkpoint with an ID badge.

The facilities at Hanford have been undergoing one of the longest-running nuclear cleanup efforts in the world.

The Independent has contacted local police for further information.