Active shooter at Joint Base McGuire: It’s just a drill

🚨 A heavy police presence expected at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

🚨 Crews will practice for an active shooter

🚨 Residents warned abut gunfire and sirens

A training exercise on how to respond to an active shooter at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) is going to sound like the real thing.

Residents around the base are being warned to expect a heavy police presence and jarring noises during the morning of Sept. 12.

During the exercise, base officials warn of "an increased presence of emergency responders, such as police, fire and medical services. There will also be giant voice notifications, sirens, simulated gunfire and other loud noises heard across the installation."

It is likely to sound scary, but the goal is to test emergency response and preparedness "in the event of a real world incident."

In addition to the emergency vehicles and noise, traffic in-and-out of the base in Burlington and Ocean counties will also increase, and gates will be occasionally closed.

Active shooter reported at JBMDL in 2023

In October 2023, there was a report of an active shooter at JBMDL.

On Facebook, the base announced there was a lockdown in place and "all personnel outdoors should take cover."

The lockdown was lifted about an hour later with the base announcing, "We have confirmed all members of JBMDL are safe" and there was no active shooter.

Further details were not released.

Security an ongoing concern at sprawling base

McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is a massive military base that covers over 42,000 acres stretching more than 20 miles through Burlington and Ocean counties.

JBMDL is the only tri-service base in the United States and includes units from all six branches of the U.S. Military.

Fort Dix became a permanent Army post in 1939 and served as a major training and staging facility for soldiers during World War II.

Once feared it would be targeted by the Pentagon's Base Closure Commission, it instead was merged with the Air Force's McGuire Air Force Base and the Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in 2009.

The base population is currently less than 8,000.

Despite it's unique nature as a tri-service base, JBMDL is not among the military's largest bases.

By comparison, the largest is Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Fort Bragg occupies 163,000 acres and boasts a population of over 238,000.

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