NASA building evacuated amid gun reports

[penguinz]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18233965/

A building at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was evacuated Friday amid reports that an armed person was barricaded 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. There were indications that a NASA contract worker was holed up inside the building.

Madison said that personnel were evacuated from the building, and that the situation was "ongoing." Police commandos surrounded the building and were clearing it room by room.

KPRC, NBC's affiliate in Houston, quoted authorities as saying a gunman was reportedly barricaded in a second-floor office. Authorities said callers at the space center told dispatchers that several shots were fired inside the building, but those reports could not be confirmed and there appeared to be no injuries.

The person inside the building worked for a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Group, a contractor for NASA, company sources told KPRC. John Prosser, executive vice president for finance and administration at Jacobs Engineering Group, confirmed to MSNBC.com that he had received those reports — but he could not provide any further information.

The Tennessee-based subsidiary, Jacobs Sverdrup, does "very extensive" work for NASA, including computer and engineering services, Prosser said.

NASA sent an advisory to center personnel telling them to stay in place.

"We have a report of an individual with a weapon in Building 44," the advisory read. "Security has responded and evacuated the building while continuing to evaluate the situation. Residents of all other buildings are advised to shelter in place until further notice. The roads around Building 44 are blocked."

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, some distance from the Mission Control buildings. Security officials were looking into the possibility that the facility was connected to other buildings via underground tunnels.

A Soyuz craft is due to bring U.S. and Russian astronauts along with billionaire space passenger Charles Simonyi back to Earth on Saturday, but that flight is being managed from Russian Mission Control near Moscow, with the landing targeted for Kazakhstan. Johnson Space Center is also preparing for a space shuttle mission as early as June 8.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
© 2007 MSNBC Interactive