Johnson Space Center shootings
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
| NASA Johnson Space Center hostage crisis | |
|---|---|
| Location | Clear Lake City, Houston, Texas, United States |
| Date | Friday, April 20, 2007 1:00 pm (UTC-5) |
| Target | Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center |
Attack type | hostage situation, shooting incident, homicide |
| Deaths | 2 (including gunman) |
| Injured | 0 |
| Motive | unknown |
The Johnson Space Center shooting was a hostage situation and shooting incident that occured on April 20, 2007, at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. A single gunman took two hostages, killing one before committing suicide.
The gunman was sighted with a revolver in Building 44, the Communication and Tracking Development Laboratory. The gunman was a contract employee of Jacobs Engineering of Pasadena, California.[1] Other buildings on campus were put into lockdown and the targeted building as well as four others in the area were evacuated. Other NASA employees were allowed to go home with some reports of employees having to travel on foot due to their vehicles being blocked by police and emergency units. It is believed, although not confirmed, that the shooter went into a conference room, pointed the gun at a person, and asked everyone else to leave the room. This belief is based on unconfirmed reports that there were some employees that worked in Building 44 who hadn't been accounted for. The situation was in the hands of NASA Security Officials as well as the Houston Police Department.
Two bodies have been reported by various news stations to have been found. Police report that one male hostage has been shot in the chest cavity and the shooter had taken one gunshot to the head and died. One female hostage was duct taped around the hands and feet but reported to be alive and physically unharmed. the shooter's motive is still unknown.
The shooter and a male hostage are dead. The shooter's name has not been confirmed by officials as of 7:00 PM Eastern.