There has been a seemingly “random” shooting incident at 0430 this morning at the main gate of Lackland Air Force Base — “The Gateway to the Air Force” — located in San Antonio, Texas. No injuries were reported in the drive-by shooting, and the shooter(s) got away. A state highway runs past the main gate, effectively dividing the base in half, with a walking bridge over the highway.

Although it could be simply a random act of senseless violence, the incident has some of the hallmarks of a “probe” attack — in which terrorists could be testing the base’s security responses. The shooters continued on toward the Chapman Training Annex, where the elite USAF Pararescue commandos (“PJs”, for short) begin their long and arduous training. It is also where Air Force Security Policemen (“SPs”, for short) have their specialty training. All enlisted Air Force members, and most Air Force officers, also go through Basic Training there.

San Antonio police assisted in the initial investigation. Because of the nature and location of the attack, primary investigative jurisdiction should fall to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI, commonly called “OSI”). They are the Federal law enforcement and counter-intelligence agents of the Air Force — parallel to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), made famous by the TV series of the same name.