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By RICHARD LARDNER
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - After a week-long investigation, MacDill Air Force Base officials say security personnel acted appropriately when two local teenagers in a stolen car blew through the facility’s Dale Mabry gate with Tampa police close behind.
The teens were not stopped because they “were not threatening any base personnel, and the level of threat in this particular situation did not warrant the use of deadly force,†said Air Force 1st Lt. Larry van der Oord, a base spokesman.
Davaraye Mungin and Damian Bowie, both 16, were apprehended after they crashed into two Tampa police cruisers near U.S. Central Command headquarters around 3:00 a.m. on Sept. 20.
The episode raised questions about the quality of MacDill’s security and prompted base officials to beef up protective measures around the nearly 5,800-acre installation.
As the teens were speeding south on Dale Mabry Highway, a police dispatcher phoned the base to alert security officials because police and the base do not share a radio frequency.
Police thought the call went through seconds before the vehicle passed through the gate at Dale Mabry Highway. But the call came after the car was on the base, leaving the two Air Force guards unaware of the vehicle’s occupants or contents.
“There are many different layers of security on the base,†van der Oord said. “Though the individuals were able to gain access to the base, they were quickly caught and the appropriate level of force was used to do so.â€
The inquiry, which has not been made public, was conducted by the 6th Security Forces Squadron and approved Friday by Air Force Col. Margaret Woodward, MacDill’s commander.
Contact Richard Lardner at (813) 259-7966 or rlardner@tampatrib.com.
So if the guards had shot the two while entering the base everyone would want to hang them right. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
I was always told, you blow through security on a base your are going to get shot on sight… especially after 911. Hesitation and restraint is exactly what the terrorists bet on, and that is exactly what we cannot afford to do. Terrorist vehicles don’t usually come with a yellow hang tag suction cupped to the windshield that says “bomb on board”. They call it the armed forces for a reason, and they should have used some.
If the military decided no protocols were breached than that the way it was. 
I think it is Sue that doesn’t have a clue. AF always covers up their mistakes. Does the scandals at the AF academy spark any memories? How about the AF shooting Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan recently?
I find the term “troubling”. The traffic circle is designed to slow vehicles down as a force protection messure. The guards just blew it. Here is the bottom line: SF Security Squadron Commander should be relieved. That is the way the Navy does it.
We are at war, remember? Good thing it wasn’t a car bomb or else the base commander would have had to tell the gate guards “no dessert for a week”.
As far as “those poor misguided teens” , no sympathy. You break the law, be prepared for the consequences, at times, up to and including death.
FT Navy @ MacDill AFB-We should’ve been better protected.Not all terrorist fit the same profile-if I were on watch that night & was on alert & doing my job, it would’ve concerned me for headlights to approach the gate @ that speed & I hope I would’ve prepared for immediate action.Why didn’t the guards attempt to stop the vehicle by shooting the tires?Though not enough response time to activate barricades the whole point of having watch-standers is for protection.If this were a suicide bomber-which was very likely since they hadn’t yet received the police call-they could’ve easily pushed a button to explode the vehicle once on base?I’m very disappointed in how casual this whole event has been treated.Regardless how old they were, once they forced entry on military soil they should have been treated just as a terrorist would’ve been & faced federal charges.They were WAY too lenient in handling this incident & it provides an open invitation to anyone who has harmful intent
Fact of the matter is two individuals fleeing from law enforcement in an unrepoted stolen car headed for the airbase where the US is running the war on terrorism. No one attempted to stop the vehicle. The MP’s did not know if the car contained teenagers going on a crime spree or whether the car was full of explosives. The MP’s have a job to ensure that no unathorized vehicles or people breach the security of the base and they failed to do that. Suicide bombing will eventually come to our country but instead we worry about the perception of over-reacting. When a man is fleeing from police, drives past armed guards at a high rate of speed onto a military base and heads towards Central Command and we do nothing about it, we set a bad precedent. We need to learn from this incident and plan for the next time.
In this day and age when security should be of the utmost importance, I find it hard to understand how those 2 teens, who obviously were up to no good at that time of the morning, managed to get through the security gates of MACDILL AFB of all places, with no attempt at all to at least slow them down. Imagine if they had been a couple of suicide bombers with a boobytrapped car - after all they are that young (and younger) over in Iraq. Unless those guards knew for a fact there was no danger, then we are really playing with fire! I certainly hope this mistake results in extra-precautionary measures in the future.
My son is a Security Forces Airman at Mac Dill ,and I dont see how a human body is going to stop a speeding car.The Airman envolved did the right thing by letting the gaurds past them and letting the police on base catch the teens. Had they shot them like you would have liked, then the front gate would have been closed and given you something else to complain about......Wake Up
Why didn’t the guards stop them to check for base decal and ID like they do to active duty and retirees?????Then raise the tire shreaders????
I’m a retired Marine who spent 18 years as a MP. couple of questions- how close behind the stolen vehicle were the Tampa PD? - did the SP’s pursue when the vehicle ran the gate? that time of morning there should not have been that much traffic entering the base- did the SP’s at the gate even try to slow/stop the vehicle or were they in a “nothing can happen here” mode- otherwords not being alert while on duty-
they should have been held for federal charges- at least they wouldn’t have been released before the police finished writing the report. Oh are the parents going to pay for the wrecked vehilces?
Shoot First, Ask Question Later.
I’ve lived on a base. Even though my car was known I still had to wait to be waved through.
It is incomprehensible to me to think that car made it into the base without bullets riddling their car. They should have been incarcerated in the brig on federal charges. It’s all based on the fact that NO ONE knew who they were or what their intentions were, but they did run directly into our sensitive base and it SHOULD have been protected to the fullest extent.
Now the bad guys know just exactly what they can do and how we will NOT react! Shame on us!
Imagine the uproar if they had shot and killed the two teens...they did the right thing buy using caution and not firing.
Hey Pablo...you are right...it would have been MUCH better had they simply shot both boys to death and spared themselves the trouble.
Wake up! You have not a clue.
Sue
Air Force once again sweeps mistakes under the rug.
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Posted by Steve kelly, Tampa on 10/01 at 10:29 PM
to the people saying “shoot out the tires” and “shoot first ask questions later”, you have no idea what you are talking about. If that were to happen you would be in big trouble. Chiming in is fine, but don’t pretend to know what you are talking about. you should be protecting our troops and thankful that no one was shot or killed.