Shots were reportedly fired Tuesday at a decommissioned nuclear production site in Washington state — though a shooter or victims were not immediately found, officials said.
Deputies rushed to the Hanford Site, which is about 20 miles northwest of Kennewick, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said in statement at 11:22 a.m. PST.
Managers of the site called Tuesday’s incident a “possible active shooter” and said employees are in lockdown mode.
But minutes after the sheriff’s initial statement, the department said deputies “have not located any victims inside the building or any evidence at this time of shots being fired.”
And by 12:48 p.m. PST, Department of Energy managers of the Hanford site said authorities, “have not found any evidence of shots fired or injuries.”
“Hanford authorities are conducting interviews with employees that called in initial reports,” the DOE added.
Starting in 1943, the site produced plutonium for the top secret Manhattan Project, which led to atomic bombs used to end World War II.
It ceased operations in 1987 and has since become a tourist site.
Joe Studley and Rupa Palla contributed.