TUCSON, Ariz. (World News) -- TUCSON, Ariz. (World News) - A man with a gun holed up Friday in a building at a sprawling Tucson Air Force base on the outskirts of Tucson that was locked down several hours earlier, a military official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The lockdown at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was prompted by reports of someone with something that looked like a weapon, said Tech Sgt. Russ Martin said. The reports prompted a frenzy of activity at the base and in the news media amid unsubstantiated reports that someone had been shot.
No one was shot or hurt, but the base took extra precaution by locking the facility down and keeping kids inside its schools. Students were eventually released around 4:30 p.m.
"We're just locking down the base for the safety and security of the people on Davis-Monthan," Martin said.
The Tucson police department says its SWAT team, hos tage negotiations unit and bomb squad are on stand-by to help out if necessary with the gunman. An FBI spokesman says investigators are on at the base on the edge of the Arizona city where earlier this year a gunman wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people.
Ambulances were sent to the base, sparking fears of injuries, but it was just a case of bad timing, Martin said.
"Any ambulance you saw leaving earlier, not too long ago, was actually a woman going into labor," he said.
As the lockdown unfolded Friday, Senior Airman Timothy Dunaway said traffic was reduced to a single point entry; vehicles lined up at the base's main gate and were being turned around.
Alison Bunnell, who lives at the base with her husband and their four children, was turned away when she tried to return to the base.
Bunnell said she was told that children at the base's schools were oblivious to what was going and were watching movies and eating snacks. She s aid she wasn't worried. "We have exercises all the time," Bunnell said.
Davis-Monthan is near the Pima Air & Space Museum and the "boneyard" for old military and government airplanes that is a popular destination for aviation enthusiasts.
The base is the home of the 355th Fighter Wing, and provides attack airpower, combat support and medical forces, according to the base's Facebook page.
Security at military bases has gained more attention in the last two years since an Army major went on a rampage at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the shooting spree. Investigators have foiled other plots against military bases in other parts of the country since Sept. 11.
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Associated Press writers contributing to this report include Mark Carlson and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington.
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