A temporary employee in the process of being fired brought a gun to a Meta data center outside Columbus, Ohio.

The New Albany facility was evacuated on November 17 after company officials found the firearm in the employee’s bag as they were being escorted off the site. Whilst the gun was recovered, the individual managed to flee.

A Meta spokesperson told the Columbus Dispatch that the employee was a worker subcontracted through Turner Construction, a construction company commonly used for data center projects.

Chief communications and marketing officer for the city of New Albany, Josh Poland, also said that New Albany police have no reason to believe that the individual remains near the Meta facility.

A similar incident happened in May 2021 when a man was fired from his job at Securitas Security and went back to Microsoft’s Cheyenne data center in Wyoming with a handgun.

Physical security has always been a data center concern, but direct attacks on data centers are rare. Fires and fiber cuts are much more common causes of disruption.