FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — The two men who broke through a Fort Bragg security arm at the All-American Gate Tuesday night have not yet been arrested.
Fort Bragg officials originally reported that Fayetteville police found the vehicle and possibly captured the suspects.
We have since learned it was the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office that located the abandoned vehicle, but the suspects got away.
We spoke with officials and a witness about what happened.
“We hear almost like screeching tires,” Helen Cid said.
That screeching was the sound of a Dodge Ram truck breaking through the security arm at the All-American Gate around 6:30 Tuesday night.
Fort Bragg officials say a security guard noticed suspicious behavior from the driver as they tried getting on post.
“While they were checking the license plate, the drivers smashed through the arm that was down,” said Tom McCollum, Fort Bragg spokesperson.
Cid was driving home with her son after a Christmas event at Fort Bragg. She saw the truck going through the security barriers.
“Then just blew right through the barriers and off post,” Cid said. “I don’t know what he was trying to do, I had no idea what was going on.”
McCollum said the badly damaged truck then took off the All American Expressway.
It was found abandoned that same night, more than 15 miles away on Hayfield Road.
David Williams lives nearby and says he saw several officers at the scene last night, and hopes the suspects are caught soon.
The All-American Gate is the main gate for nearly 80,000 people coming on and going from Fort Bragg every day.
McCollum said all of the proper procedures were followed by security guards during the incident.
“Those who want to do harm on Fort Bragg, and in and around the installation, I would personally think twice about it,” McCollum said. “Our guards are great, they’re well trained, they know what to do and they know when to do it.”
Cid, a former military police officer, says from what she saw security guards handled everything correctly and kept everyone safe.
“They did great, the whole point is for the gate guards to stop people from going onto base that isn’t supposed to be here, and that’s exactly what they did,” Cid said.
The suspects’ names have not been released, and we don’t know why they were trying to get on post, or why they drove away.
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