Air Force police fire shots at gate runner
A driver sped towards the guards while going down the wrong traffic direction. The driver sped through the Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis gate and was in the installation for a few minutes before speeding out through the exit. The gate runner was described as going at a high rate of speed. The driver was arrested by the San Antonio police for a different event.
From Fox News:
Air Force police fired several shots Tuesday at a vehicle that sped through the main entry of a Texas base.
An unidentified driver sped in the direction of Air Force guards “at a high rate of speed in the wrong direction of traffic” at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Tuesday, speeding through the access control point and gaining access to the installation for several minutes before speeding back through the gate exit, according to a report from Military.com.
“Security forces pursued the driver and took defensive measures when the suspected gate runner attempted to exit the installation via the inbound lane traveling at an excessive rate of speed,” Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis spokesperson Angela Casarez said of the incident, according to Military Times.
The driver reportedly was unable to reach any of the training areas located on the more than 27,000-acre base, and did not sustain any injuries from the shots fired by Air Force guards.
The San Antonio Police Department later arrested the suspect about nine miles from the base after he was involved in a separate incident, according to the report.
Fox News has additional information.
The Air Force may need to develop a better SOP for how to disable a vehicle, and when to engage a vehicle.
They need some effing range time is what they need.
Need to train the gate guards on dove shooting. Get the practice at fast moving targets.
Might be time for some select fire arms as well.
Doesn’t that place have cables near the gate like all the other places do
You mean kinda like Huachuca had until a couple weeks ago?
Exactly
I noticed them hear on the ground
Waiting to be reinstalled????
Damned if I know. Not my department lol
The Naval Submarine Base I most often visit for work purposes has quick-lifting gate blocks about 75 feet inside the gate in both the entry and exit directions. No vehicle, no matter how fast it’s going, is going to get past those blockers. I thought every military base had them after 9/11?
The NYC Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhatten closed it’s currency and coin operations years ago but still has the gold/silver vault in it, the currency/coin operations were moved to Rutherford NJ, and when we arrived at the guard post, the blockers were up until we were cleared and then lowered into the ground. At the old “Fed”, all the trucks lined up on Maiden lane and backed into the Fed with just armed guards all over the place. During a drill, the doors were shut and guards came out with gas masks and Reising .45 Cal sub guns. .
At the base I live near, they did that at the main gates, but not all the smaller ones. They close those up at night, but nothing says the bad guys only work in the dark. In fact, if they were trying to cause a mass casualty event, common sense dictates that they’d want to do it during the day when more people are on duty.
Plus I have to wonder how often they test those things to see if they actually work. I’ve never seen them do it. Wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t work and would surprise me even less if we were to find out they gate guards have not been trained how to activate them.
Huachuca had an unplanned test a couple weeks ago. Gate fired off for no obvious reason, but deployed perfectly. Apparently, it doesn’t just fold back up, ready for the next use. As Achmed said, it was a “premature detonation.”
I know they were installed at Portland ANG Base not terribly long after 9/11.
The suspect is Christopher Ryan Thompson.
“Suspect In Camp Bullis Breach Arrested After Attempted Car Jackings, Officials Say”
https://news4sanantonio.com/renderer/news4sanantonio/amp/news/local/suspect-in-camp-bullis-breach-arrested-after-attempted-car-jackings-officials-say
What is confusing is that Fox news stated the incident happened on Tuesday, 24 October…yet the San Antonio article and Military.com indicate it happened on Saturday, 21 October.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/10/24/air-force-guards-fired-shots-intruder-who-drove-car-through-gate-texas-base.html
https://mugshot.expert/texas/thompson-christopher-ryan/162262/
“Public records aggregator Lexis Nexis shows Thompson may have served in the U.S. Marine Corps, but it’s unclear in what capacity.”
“A man suspected of breaching Joint Base San Antonio – Camp Bullis on Saturday was arrested by San Antonio Police minutes later after attempting to carjack multiple people near a Stone Oak hospital.”
“Christopher Ryan Thompson, 47, is facing charges of aggravated robbery, robbery, criminal mischief, and attempted theft of a vehicle valued between $30,000 and $150,000.
“JBSA officials said they believe Thompson breached Camp Bullis’ access control point approximately 20 minutes earlier.”
“San Antonio Police initially indicated Tuesday afternoon that it had no information about the incident in which Thompson was arrested and that no arrest had taken place as the JBSA statement said. A spokesman for JBSA provided a case number for the incident Tuesday afternoon, and police provided a copy of that report Tuesday evening. It’s unclear what led to the miscommunication.”
“Willie Ng has been a law enforcement officer for 30 years and teaches criminal justice-related courses at the University of Incarnate Word. He said these disconnects can erode public confidence in law enforcement, and even worse, put the public in danger.”
“In this particular case, they’re actively looking for a suspect – one that, I believe, was even fired upon by law enforcement,” Ng said. “That tells me that that person is a danger to the community. So if one agency is thinking that that person is arrested, well, then there’s no action by law enforcement looking for this individual who is obviously a danger to the community.”
“People become complacent and say, ‘Okay, this person has been caught,’ which is not only a danger to the community, but also to law enforcement who can see a traffic infraction by that suspect, pull them over … And that person knows that they’re being looked for, and they were fired upon.”
“JBSA believes they have their suspect in custody, Ng said this conflict highlights the need for collaboration among law enforcement.”
Were some of the people he tried to carjack armed? Or is he just that inept.
Also, are the San Antonio cops inept at saying we have no record of said event, until the military provided them with a case number? Oh look, we found it. Silly us.
From the photo I wouldn’t call that a gate.
Hell, you could crawl under it even with a prick 25 on your back.
More like checkpoint Charlie with the little shack.
Test run for…reasons? Somebody gots some ‘splainin’ to do…and some range time to do.
My thoughts, exactly. Is there another airbase with observed access control similarities that someone wanted to target, and San Antonio was a way to verify any weaknesses?
They’d be stupid to test at the same place they wanted to hit – have any other bases been infiltrated this week? The more time that goes by with no similar incidents makes me lean toward just a single idiot with a death wish (or the particular vulnerability they had hoped to exploit wasn’t what they expected).
Could that have been a “proof of concept” run?
Now that there’s been a demonstration that they can successfully breach the gate, will the bomb laden vehicle be next?
I’ve had this problem with our military “gate guards” since I was on active duty. With the exception of a short period of time right after 9/11, our base security has been nothing more than smoke and mirrors. The gate guards provide the illusion of security and nothing more. If a bad actor really wanted to create a mass casualty event on a military base, it really wouldn’t be overly difficult.
That should change. Should’ve changed a long time ago.
I recall an incident circa 1990 where a very arrogant LTC tried to run the gate at Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg. The gate guards deployed the anti-vehicle barricade and did major damage to the LTC’s car. CG USAREC then did major damage to the LTC…..
Correction to last CG USARUER. Crosby Saint would kick my ass for that if he were still alive…
USAREUR…bad day re-shingling the barn roof..
War Story Alert: Back in the day when I was manning the main gate of two installations in England and one in Oregon we never had any training or indication anyone would run the gate. We were unarmed in England. We were armed in the US.
Oh oh. Now base related.
The Maine shooter, identified as a member of the Army Reserves,
the story now includes not only threatening a National Guard base in Maine,
but being carried off for mental evaluation from WEST POINT.
https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2023/10/26/police-took-suspected-maine-shooter-evaluation-july-yellow-flag-law-not-triggered/
Pre-pandemic Robins AFB
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/10/06/3-die-after-running-gate-crashing-into-barrier-at-robins-air-force-base/
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — Authorities say a man drove through a gate at Robins Air Force Base and collided with a security barrier, killing himself and two passengers.
The incident occurred Friday night after the vehicle approached the Russell Parkway gate and refused to stop.
News outlets report the car then crashed through the gate, prompting guards to activate a security barrier to keep the vehicle from advancing. The speeding vehicle then hit the barrier.
According to a news release, the driver and a passenger were pronounced dead at the scene. A third man was rushed to Houston Medical Center, where he died.
Authorities said none of the men killed were affiliated with the base.
Their names are not being released until their families have been notified.
From memory the gate runners were illegal aliens.
At our hometown air base, He’d have been riddled with .30 carbine FMJs (1958-62). Later, .556.