PSNS locked down temporarily Tuesday due to suspicious package

Update: The suspicious package was a bag that contained personal items that were mistakenly left by a sailor. The bag was safely cleared, said NCIS spokesperson Darwin Lam in an email to Kitsap Sun on May 16.

BREMERTON — Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility was locked down Tuesday morning due to an investigation of a suspicious package at the shipyard.

At approximately 9 a.m., Naval Base Kitsap Police responded to a suspicious package found within the shipyard’s Controlled Industrial Area, PSNS spokesperson Adrienne Burns said in an email.

"In line with our rigorous security protocols, and to ensure utmost safety, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility issued a shelter-in-place order for all of PSNS & IMF Bremerton," Burns said.

Inbound and outbound traffic and pedestrian movement were halted for about 45 minutes until a perimeter was established, Burns said.

Security personnel secured the area, assessed the package, and decided there was no threat, which allowed the shipyard to resume normal operations throughout most of the shipyard and re-open most of the shipyard access turnstiles at that time, Burns said.

PSNS fully returned to normal operations at about 11:15 a.m., the spokesperson said.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Bremerton is investigating the incident, Burns said.