CORPUS CHRISTI – A dramatic series of events came to a fiery end at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Thursday.
An unidentified man was shot and killed by base security shortly after he crashed into a barrier at the station’s north gate. The Navy Times reports an autopsy was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but results have not been released.
The incident started about a half hour earlier at a gas station near the base. According to Corpus Christi Police, a woman was filling her black Ford Edge when a man forced his way inside the vehicle and drove away.
A man driving in the area at the time told KRIS 6 News that a few minutes later; a black Ford Edge cut him off, and asked where the “U.S. base” was.
The SUV then made its way to NAS Corpus Christi, where it drove onto the base at the south gate. Security chased the vehicle until it crashed at the north gate and caught fire. The man then got out of the burning SUV and charged at security personnel, who then opened fire.
NAS Corpus Christi Public Affairs staff couldn’t identify the man, they also didn’t know why he drove onto the base.
NAS Corpus Christi’s north gate remains closed until further notice. The base’s Facebook page posted that the gate would likely stay closed through the President’s Day holiday Monday.
