Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam was placed briefly in lockdown after a sailor shot three people, two fatally, and then turned the gun on himself at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, officials said Wednesday night.
Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick, commander for Navy Region Hawaii, told reporters at the base that two Defense Department civilian workers had died and a third was in stable condition at a local hospital following the shooting. All of the victims and the shooter were male, he added.
The shooter, tentatively identified as an active-duty sailor assigned to the Los Angeles-class attack submarine Columbia, was also dead, having apparently shot himself, Chadwick said.
The Columbia is currently in dry dock maintenance at the shipyard.
"Witnesses are still being interviewed at this time," Chadwick said, adding that Naval Criminal Investigative Service was leading an investigation into the tragic shooting.
Chadwick said he did not have information about what weapon or weapons were used in the shooting, and said the motive remains unclear.
The incident took place around 2:30 p.m. local time. Chadwick said the base was placed on lockdown within minutes of the initial report, and a shelter-in-place order was also issued.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Jackey Smith told Military.com in an earlier statement that the shooting took place in the vicinity of the shipyard's Dry Dock 2.
The base's lockdown was lifted around 4 p.m. local time.
Chadwick said support services were being mobilized for shipyard personnel affected by the traumatic incident.
"The ohana that is everyone that works on Joint Base Pearl Harbor and the naval shipyard ... generations of locals have worked int hat shipyard," he said, using a Hawaiian word that evokes the concept of family. " ... This is certainly a tragedy for everyone here, but our thoughts are certainly with the families and everyone involved."
Victims' names have not been released pending next-of-kin notification.
-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
