Civilian employee falsely reported active shooter at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to 'trauma bond': court documents
New information has been released after an "active shooter hoax" at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on Tuesday.
Court documents say a civilian employee falsely reported a shooter in an effort to allegedly "trauma bond" with her colleagues.
Court records revealed this false report of an active shooter was possibly the employee's attempt to reconnect with colleagues after officials say she felt excluded by her coworkers.
Federal investigators say Malika Brittingham, a civilian naval employee, texted someone Tuesday morning that she allegedly heard five to six gunshots, and was hiding in a closet with some of her coworkers at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Ocean and Burlington counties.
According to court documents, the person who received the text called it in and that's when New Jersey's largest military base went into lockdown.
The all clear was given an hour later, at around noon, after officials learned it was a hoax.
The situation sent base employees into a panic.
"I was like, what's going on? What's going on? I said, you know, what just -- let me go in the bathroom and I ran in the bathroom because I was too afraid," recalled base employee Regina Sunday.
"We got a nice, calm base. We don't need all that here," said fellow base employee Dwayne Brooks.
This comes after there was an actual shooting at a Georgia base last month.
New Jersey's Acting U.S. Attorney posted to social media, saying, "After everything this country has gone through, especially in light of current events, I will be sure to bring down the hammer of the law for anyone found guilty of creating unnecessary panic and undermining public trust."
Federal investigators say Brittingham initially lied about the timeline of when and why she allegedly sent the text, but officials say she later confessed to falsely reporting the shooting.
Officials have not yet released a photo of her.
