A man believed to be armed with a handgun was on the run after a scuffle with a soldier at a U.S. Army base in Hawaii, prompting a brief lockdown and a manhunt on Thursday, the authorities said.
At about 2:30 p.m., an armed man dressed in civilian clothing was confronted by a soldier at the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu, according to Mike Donnelly, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii. After unconfirmed reports that shots had been fired on the base, people were instructed to shelter in place, and schools enacted active shooter lockdown procedures, the authorities said.
After an extensive search, the lockdown order was rescinded, the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii said in a statement on Facebook at about 4:50 p.m., adding that the reports of shots had never been confirmed and that “there is no longer an assessed threat on the installation.”
Law enforcement officials, who continued to search for the armed man both on and off the base, identified him as Paul A. Smith. A Honolulu Police Department SWAT team and military police personnel were sweeping the base for the man, who was described as a 5-foot-10, light-skinned male in his 20s or 30s wearing a button-down Hawaiian shirt and bluejeans with Nike sneakers, the authorities said.
The man had a mohawk-style haircut and was carrying a camouflage cross-body bag. He was last seen near the base’s commissary at about 3:20 p.m., Mr. Donnelly said. The U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii said that he was last known to be driving a white sedan.
