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Tucson Air Force base locks down amid reports of gunman

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Reports of a person on base with a weapon prompted a security shutdown Friday of an Air Force base in Tucson, officials said.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was locked down for several hours in the early afternoon as officials investigated the incident. No shots were fired nor was there any confirmation of a gunman by midafternoon.

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Traffic at the base was restricted to one entry point, spokesman Timothy Moore said in a telephone interview.

Ambulances had been sent to the base, but officials said they were unrelated to the incident. In a post on the base’s Facebook page, officials said an ambulance was needed for a woman going into labor.

Davis-Monthan became a military base in 1925, and two years later Charles Lindbergh flew his Spirit of St. Louis there to dedicate its field, according to the website Global Security. Now the base is home to the 355th Fighter Wing, which trains A-10 and OA-10 pilots and works with EC-130E aircraft, among other duties.

About 6,000 members of the military and 1,700 civilians work at the base, Global Security said.

In January in Tucson, a gunman killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

The scare at the base comes amid a tighter focus on security at military bases in the aftermath of a 2009 rampage at Ft. Hood in Texas. Thirteen died in that assault and 29 were wounded.

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--Stephen Ceasar, Ashley Powers

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