A midshipman was shot at the U.S. Naval Academy on Thursday evening, during a campus lockdown and heavy police response for hours, a U.S. Navy official said.

The chaos unfolded shortly after 5 p.m. when Naval security and local police responded to reports of suspicious activity on the academy grounds, the official said.

While officials confirmed there was no active shooter threat, one person was hurt as Naval Security Forces cleared a building and was flown to a hospital in stable condition, the official confirmed.

In a message to the brigade, Capt. David Forman, deputy commandant of midshipmen, wrote that academy officials believe the midshipman mistook a law enforcement officer as a threat and was injured upon engaging the officer.

Officials locked down the campus after receiving a threat, and the threat was traced to a midshipman who had left the academy and was at his parents’ house in the Midwest, the New York Times reported, citing military officials.

Police responded near Bancroft Hall, which houses midshipmen in its more than 1,600 dorm rooms. It is the biggest single college dormitory in the world, according to the school’s website.

Read More

Social media rumors fueled Naval Academy confusion that ended in shooting

Sep 12, 2025

Gate 1 at the Naval Academy’s main entrance was closed and protected by armed Navy security officers as the investigation was underway. A few parents waited nearby, hoping for word from their midshipmen.

Tobin Rotman, a 19-year-old student at St. John’s College, lives across the street from Gate 2 of the Naval Academy.

He and friends were on the roof of their house around 6 p.m., preparing to watch the sunset, when they heard a siren blaring inside the academy walls.

“This is not a test! This is not a test,” he recalled a voice saying over the loudspeaker. “Mandatory lockdown! Imminent danger!”

Shortly thereafter, Rotman said, approximately 10 police cars sped down George Street toward Gate 1. He said the group saw two helicopters.

News helicopters circled the Naval Academy grounds. Over one low point in the wall surrounding the academy, groups of midshipmen could be seen moving between buildings.

One parent said they had heard from their midshipman, who was out on a boat when the lockdown took place. He and his crewmates reported into a nearby cove and were told to wait for an all clear.

As the lockdown continued, delivery drivers arrived at the routine pickup spot once every few minutes with pizza, subs and other food not available on campus.

Just before 8 p.m., nearly a dozen police and emergency vehicles began leaving through the main gate.

But just two blocks away there was no sign in the downtown restaurant and bar district around City Dock that anything unusual was happening.

The shooting came the day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a Utah college campus.

Earlier on Thursday, presiding officers of Maryland’s General Assembly received bomb threats involving their homes. House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A Jones, who lives in Baltimore County, and Senate President Bill Ferguson, who lives in Baltimore City, said police responded to the threats.

Jones wrote in a social media post that the threat was “non-credible.” In both cases, the representatives reported being safe and condemned political violence.

This article has been updated.

Banner reporters Tim Prudente and Sara Ruberg contributed to this report.