A lockdown at Naval Station Great Lakes has ended following a gate runner scare Friday morning at the Illinois base.
Great Lakes spokesman John Sheppard told Navy Times that officials lifted the lockdown shortly before 12:30 p.m. local time after base security inspected a black Toyota Camry that entered Gate 1 without authorization and parked on the installation.
Sheppard said that the driver was a base employee who failed to follow the directions of the gate sentry around 7 a.m., triggering an immediate lockdown on the main side of the base and a hunt for the sedan.
The base’s official social media accounts issued a “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT!" warning, urging all personnel to take cover in the nearest building while security forces closed all gates.
Local, state and federal law enforcement converged on the main side of the base and found the Camry about 2 ½ hours later, officials said.
By that time, multiple buildings had been evacuated so that military working dogs and their handles could sweep the abandoned structures.
Authorities reported no injuries or property damage tied to the incident, which was unrelated to a civilian vehicle that caught fire off base around the same time.
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Friday’s Great Lakes lockdown came in the wake of a string of recent Navy tragedies that raised concerns about base security nationwide.
Virginia prosecutors say that on Nov. 30 a gate runner entered Fort Story at 81 miles per hour before crashing his pickup truck into a police cruiser driven by Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Oscar Temores, who died at a nearby hospital.
Nathaniel Lee Campbell, 39, has been charged with involuntary homicide.
On Dec. 4, a sailor standing armed watch over the fast attack submarine Columbia — Machinist’s Mate Auxiliary Fireman Gabriel Antonio Romero — used his service rifle to shoot to death a pair of civilian workers at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and wound a third.
Two days later, Saudi Royal Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani opened fire in a Naval Air Station Pensacola classroom, killing three sailors before he died in a shootout with law enforcement.
Naval Station Great Lakes trains for incidents ranging from terrorist attacks to gate runners such as Friday’s scare.
The base security forces underwent a late October assessment from Navy Region Mid-Atlantic on all aspects of their emergency response operations.
Prine came to Navy Times after stints at the San Diego Union-Tribune and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
