Advertisement

Shots fired, man arrested at British base used by USAF

By Doug G. Ware and Allen Cone
The U.S. military base at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, Britain, was locked down Monday after a "significant incident." File Photo by Jason Bye/EPA
1 of 2 | The U.S. military base at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, Britain, was locked down Monday after a "significant incident." File Photo by Jason Bye/EPA

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Police arrested a man Monday who they say tried to force his way onto a British airbase that's been used by the U.S. military for decades.

RAF Mildenhall was put on lockdown after what Suffolk police called a "significant incident." Sky News reported the man attempted to bypass a checkpoint at the base.

Advertisement

"Suffolk police were contacted at approximately 1.40 p.m. today to reports of a disturbance at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk," police said in a statement. "The base was put into lockdown and units responded immediately.

"Shots were fired by American service personnel and a man has been detained with cuts and bruises and taken into custody."

No one else was injured and the lockdown was lifted a short time later, police said.

"Lockdown has terminated on base and operations are returning to normal," British officials said in a Facebook post. "We've concluded our combined U.S-U.K. response to this incident and we are continuing to support local authorities in the ongoing investigation."

RAF Mildenhall is about 70 mils southeast of London.

Stars & Stripes reported about 18,000 U.S. Air Force service members, civilians and British nationals are stationed at bases across the country.

Advertisement

Mildenhall is scheduled to close in 2022 and the site was sold because the Pentagon decided to scale down its European military presence, The Guardian reported.

Latest Headlines