NSA: SUV rammed cop car as it tried to get on Army base

Scott Broom | WUSA-TV, Washington

Show Caption Hide Caption Men who rammed NSA gate were cross-dressing prostitutes New details shed light on the two men who rammed a stolen SUV into the gate at NSA headquarters at Ft. Meade. One suspect was later killed and another was critically hurt in a shooting with NSA police.

FORT MEADE, Md. — Police opened fire on an SUV that tried to crash a gate Monday near NSA headquarters after it rammed one of the agency's police vehicles and refused to stop, NSA officials said.

One of the occupants of the vehicle died during a firefight that erupted afterward at Fort Meade, where about 11,000 military personnel and 29,000 civilian employees work — including thousands for the National Security Agency — the post's garrison commander, Col. Brian Foley, said in a statement.

The other man was wounded, Foley said but did not disclose his condition.

Both men in the SUV were dressed as women, NSA officials said without elaborating on that or why the vehicle tried to enter the NSA campus at the Army base about 25 miles northeast of Washington.

The vehicle later was determined to have been stolen from the parking lot of the Terrace Motel about 7:30 a.m. in nearby Elkridge, Md., according to the Howard County Police Department. The victim whose car was stolen had picked the two men up in Baltimore before checking into the motel, Scott Broom of WUSA-TV reported.

When the car approached the NSA, an agency officer gave the driver "routine instructions for safely exiting the secure campus," but the driver disobeyed them, so barriers were deployed, NSA spokesman Jonathan Freed said in a statement. The driver accelerated toward an NSA Police vehicle blocking the road, and police fired at them when the driver refused to stop.

The SUV crashed into the police vehicle, wounding an NSA police officer, Freed said. Both of those injured are being treated at a nearby hospital; none of the names of those involved has been released.

"Just after 9 a.m. today, one person was killed and another injured when they attempted to drive a vehicle into the National Security Agency portion of the installation without authorization," according to a statement from Fort Meade officials. "NSA security personnel prevented them from gaining access to the installation."

The incident, which has been contained to the area around a gate near an off ramp from Interstate 295, is not believed to be related to terrorism, said the FBI, which is working with the NSA on the investigation.

Agents have been interviewing witnesses, FBI spokeswoman Amy Thoreson said. They also are working with the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland to determine whether federal charges are warranted.

Cocaine and a weapon were found near or inside the men's vehicle, said an official, who asked not to be identified because of not being authorized to speak about this incident.

Fort Meade is headquarters for the NSA and several other intelligence, information and cyber-security agencies under the Department of Defense. Nearly 6,000 family members of the military personnel assigned there live on the base, which covers almost 8 square miles, according to information on the base's website.

Earlier this month, Hong Young, 35, of Beltsville, Md., was accused of shooting at buildings and cars in five separate incidents between Feb. 24 and March 3, including one in which he hit an NSA building at Fort Meade. He is being held without bond in an Anne Arundel County jail.

Contributing: The Associated Press