Pearl Harbor Military Base was forced to shut down on TUES 14 JAN 2020 after a mortar round was found in a vehicle at an entry gate. Detection of the mortar caused the base to be temporarily shut down for hours and also resulted in three persons related to the event being arrested and detained. The vehicle’s occupants were detained and taken into custody overnight and released on WED 15 JAN 2020.
A spokesperson for the Pearl Harbor Military Base stated that it was not yet clear as to what the intentions were of the three detained individuals with regard to the munition, and/or where they were planing to go on the base with a mortar round in their vehicle. The base spokesperson, Mr. Charles Anthony, also disclosed that the mortar did not have any explosive material inside it, and that no firing device for the mortar round was located in the vehicle either.
A mortar round is a portable explosive shell that is deployed in tactical settings by being dropped into a tube and being fired. The round that was uncovered was an “inert training round,” said Jeff Houston of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Pearl Harbor Military Base is an iconic installation that is home to a robust naval shipyard where in recent months, a U.S. sailor infamously opened fire on and tragically murdered two civilian employees and grievously wounded another. In that incident, the sailor who was attached to a submarine that was docked at Pearl Harbor, also took his own life.
