Ex-Midshipman Arrested, Charged In Naval Academy Active Shooter Hoax

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A former midshipman from Indiana has been charged in connection with last week's lockdown at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, according to prosecutors.

Another midshipman was injured during the incident after mistaking a security officer for an active shooter.

Jackson Fleming, 23, of Chesterton, Indiana, was arrested Friday on suspicion of sending an online threat through a social media app concerning the Naval Academy, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Indiana said Tuesday.

A complaint charging Fleming with one count of transmitting a threat in interstate communication was approved by a magistrate judge in the Northern District of Indiana on Sunday, prosecutors said.

Reports of an active shooter on the Annapolis campus, known as the Yard, sent the school into lockdown shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday. There was no active shooter, but the incident sparked a wave of misinformation and sent security on a sweep.

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U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-District 3) said that a midshipman was shot in the shoulder after mistaking a security officer for an active shooter and hitting him in the head with a parade rifle.

A Maryland State Police Aviation command helicopter flew the injured midshipman to the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Elfreth said. He was expected to make a full recovery.

The New York Times reported that the security concerns started with a post on an anonymous chat platform. The post was traced to the laptop of a midshipman who had left the Academy and was at his parents' house in the Midwest. That person has been identified as Fleming.

Jonathan Bedi, an attorney for Fleming, told The Baltimore Banner that his client had recently graduated from college and planned to attend law school.

“We intend to fight these charges in court vigorously,” Bedi wrote in an email. “No one, including Jack, should be judged by a mere accusation from the government. We are prepared to mount the strongest possible defense, and I am confident that when the complete facts emerge, Jack will be vindicated.”

If found guilty, Fleming faces up to five years in prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana is handling the prosecution in cooperation with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.