The commander of Lemoore Naval Air Station said Thursday "many investigations" will follow a fatal overnight incident in which two people managed to breach security Wednesday night and crash into an FA-18E warplane.
Both occupants of the Jeep, a male driver and a female passenger in the Cherokee died.
The commander, Capt. Monte Ashliman, said neither person who died had any military affiliation and that there is no reason to believe that the naval air station was the target of a terrorist attack. But in a press conference at the base, he did not provide specifics about how the Jeep was able to get past a "control point," and damage the multi-million dollar jet.
Lemoore has a heavily fortified main gate with steel barriers that must be lowered before vehicles can pass into the facility. The gate is guarded by military police armed with assault rifles. Officials indicated that the Jeep did not enter through the gate, but deflected questions about how it reached the jet, which Ashliman was near a runway at the north end of the station, about 7 miles away from the gate. more
