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Andersen Air Force Base is home to the 36th Wing on the U.S. territory of Guam in the western Pacific.

Andersen Air Force Base is home to the 36th Wing on the U.S. territory of Guam in the western Pacific. (Stars and Stripes)

The Defense Department civilian security guard stabbed Thursday morning while apprehending an intruder at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam is recovering, Air Force officials said this week.

The unnamed civilian guard attached to base security forces is “healthy and doing well,” 36th Wing spokesman 2nd Lt. Ryan Bradley wrote Tuesday in an email to Stars and Stripes.

Bradley declined to comment further on the wounded guard. He also declined comment on the man who was shot and killed in the incident and referred questions to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which is leading the investigation.

NCIS could not immediately be reached for comment. Guam Police’s public information officer did not answer several calls seeking further information this week.

Local media piecing together publicly available information from Guam Police identified the deceased suspect as Ansell Degoma Poblete, 39, of Dededo. The Pacific Daily News and The Guam Daily Post reported gleaning Poblete’s name from police blotter reports of a home invasion and high-speed chase Wednesday night that officials have linked to the base incident.

The base intruder was shot at approximately 6:35 a.m. Thursday following a nightlong search, Air Force officials said in statements Thursday. He had reportedly stabbed the civilian guard who was attempting to apprehend him, prompting the guard to open fire.

Emergency medical personnel pronounced the intruder dead at the scene at 7:52 a.m., the statements said. Base officials called the shooting self-defense almost immediately afterwards.

“While apprehending a suspect, our defenders were compelled to use lethal force for their own defense, resulting in the death of the suspect,” 36th Wing commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Gentry Boswell said in the statements Thursday. “We value the importance of every life and are thankful for the courage our Defenders display in the safe conduct of their duties protecting our personnel and families.”

The saga began at 6:48 p.m. Wednesday when Guam Police responded to a home invasion call on Ypao Road in Tamuning, the Pacific Daily News and The Guam Daily Post reported, citing the police blotter. Homeowner and Navy veteran Carl Peterson was standing by his back door — about to take his dog for a walk — when the door swung open, revealing a “strange man,” carrying a rifle.

The intruder told Peterson he was fixing his car in the backyard, the Pacific Daily News said. Peterson said it was his house. Peterson told the Daily News that the intruder pointed the rifle at his head and pulled the trigger. It may have been a pellet gun, Peterson told the news site.

“The air went right over my head so I knew this guy was a true adversary,” Peterson told the Pacific Daily News. “So I went toward him and I don’t think he expected that. So he backed up.”

Peterson closed and locked the door and called police, the Pacific Daily News said. The intruder fled and police, spotting his vehicle, gave chase, according to the Pacific Daily News.

The same driver attempted to force his way through Andersen’s front gate at approximately 7:35 p.m. but crashed into emergency defensive barriers deployed by members of the 36th Security Forces Squadron, the Pacific Daily News and Air Force statements said. He then abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot into a jungle area on-base.

The base was locked down following the incident and Guam Police and security forces began searching for the infiltrator, the statements said.

When the infiltrator was found, he “responded aggressively attacking the arresting officers and stabbed a Department of Defense civilian security forces member,” the statements said. The man was then shot by the officer in “self-defense.”

Poblete was charged in March with felony assault of a police officer and misdemeanor family violence, the Pacific Daily News reported at the time.

burke.matt@stripes.com Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1

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Matthew M. Burke has been reporting from Grafenwoehr, Germany, for Stars and Stripes since 2024. The Massachusetts native and UMass Amherst alumnus previously covered Okinawa, Sasebo Naval Base and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, for the news organization. His work has also appeared in the Boston Globe, Cape Cod Times and other publications.

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