Shooting outside US NSA headquarters, one hurt

Shots were fired early Wednesday at the ultra - secret National
Security Agency , the US electronic spying agency outside Washington ,
leaving one person injured , officials said.
Aerial footage of the scene from NBC News showed a black SUV with
numerous bullet holes in its windshield crashed into concrete barriers
at the main entrance to the NSA 's headquarters in Fort Meade ,
Maryland.
The images showed what appeared to be police surrounding a man on the
ground in handcuffs.
"The situation is under control and there is no ongoing security or
safety threat ," the NSA said.
"We can confirm there has been one person injured and we don 't know
how the injuries occurred , " an NSA spokesman told AFP .
The local ABC television affiliate put the number of injured at three
and said a suspect was arrested.
The Baltimore office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , which is
handling the investigation , said the incident " has been contained .
"
A law enforcement source told AFP that it was too soon to know whether
the incident was an attack on the facility or otherwise .
They are " still trying to ascertain the facts," the source said.
"The president has been briefed on the shooting at Ft Meade, " the
White House said in a statement . "Our thoughts and prayers are with
everyone that has been affected . "
' Puzzle Palace'
The NSA is the premier US signals intelligence agency, eavesdropping
on electronic communications and hacking computers of US adversaries
and suspects worldwide , and also protects US communications and
information systems from cyber attack.
The agency was thrust into the spotlight in 2013 when former
contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of its global surveillance
programs, including its collection of data on Americans .
Its compound, known as the " Puzzle Palace " — located about 32
kilometers (20 miles) northeast of Washington — is highly secure.
In March 2015, guards at the NSA gate opened fire on an SUV which did
not heed orders to stop, killing the driver and wounding a passenger.
The two involved , it turned out , were men dressed as women who made
a wrong turn into a restricted lane and may have refused to stop
because , it later turned out , there were drugs in their vehicle .
The leading US spy agencies installed heavy security at their
facilities after an assault rifle- wielding man opened fire on cars
waiting to enter the Central Intelligence Agency ' s headquarters
compound in McLean, Virginia in January 1993. Two CIA employees were
killed and three wounded .
The man , Aimal Kasi , escaped to his native Pakistan and it took US
investigators four years to find him . He was eventually arrested and
sent back to the United States , where he was convicted of murder and
executed in 2002 .
In 2016 , a man drove his car into a fence gate at the CIA
headquarters, claiming he was an agency recruit . He was arrested but
was found to be mentally unstable , and only received 30 days in jail
and a fine .