There's apparently been a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. Reports are that one shooter is dead but that there may be two others still at large. I've also heard that the alleged shooters were dressed "military-style" but were not, apparently, military. Makes me wonder, though, if this is another Boston Bombing style terrorist attack or something more conventional and domestic (incensed employee, madman, what have you).
At least 12 people have been killed in a mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, officials have said.
At least four others including a police officer were injured, officials said.
Shots were reported at 08:20 local time (13:20 GMT), and dozens of armed police officers converged on a building at the naval installation.
A gunman was killed at the scene and police are searching for two other "potential" gunmen, Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.
Officials are searching the area surrounding the Navy Yard in south-east Washington DC for two additional suspects in military-style uniform, Ms Lanier said.
"The big concern for us right now is that we potentially have two other shooters that we have not located," she said.
She described one as a white male in a tan short-sleeve military-style outfit and beret hat. He was last seen about 08:35 local time carrying a handgun.
A black male 40-50 years of age and wearing olive kit was seen carrying a long gun and is also being sought.
'Severe' injuries
Gunman 'aimed at us'
Ms Lanier said 12 people were deceased. Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said four people were wounded in the shooting.
One police officer was shot in the legs and other police officers were injured in other ways.
At least three people including the shot police officer were brought to Washington Hospital Center by helicopter with "severe" gunshot wounds, said chief medical officer Janis Orlowski.
A female civilian was shot in the head and hand, and another woman was being treated for a shoulder wound, she said.
All three were in critical condition but their chances for survival were "very good", Dr Orlowski said.
Authorities said no motive was yet known for the shooting.
The FBI has taken control of the scene and the investigation, Ms Lanier said.
Security around the US Capitol was bolstered following news of the shooting. The US Senate adjourned for the day earlier than scheduled.
The shooting occurred at a building on the Navy Yard campus that serves as the headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command.
Eyewitness Patricia Ward reported hearing at least seven shots from inside a cafeteria on Monday morning.
"It just happened so fast… I just ran," she said.
Cmdr Tim Jirus was on the fourth floor of the building when he heard shots, he said.
"It sounded like a cap gun as opposed to a real gun," he said. "I feel very lucky to be alive. Someone standing there talking to me got shot. I didn't."
'Unimaginable violence'
Professor Gary Solis explains what the Washington Navy Yard does
The Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department has instructed family members to reunite at the car park of a nearby baseball stadium.
President Barack Obama has been briefed on the matter by senior aides and has directed federal agencies to co-ordinate their response and investigation efforts.
At the White House, Mr Obama said he mourned "yet another mass shooting" and sent his thoughts and prayers to the victims.
"These are men and women going to work and doing their job," he said. "They know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they face the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home."
The Washington Navy Yard is the US Navy's oldest shore installation, first opened in the early 19th Century, according to the Navy.
From what I have heard they opened fire in the in the mess hall so I would imagine they had a way to get in besides shotting the gate guard. I could be wrong. Despite what some will tell you (I am looking at you NPR...) this is not a fortified site and all you need is a CAC to walk right by a couple armed cops at most. Naval Reactors buildings and the like on site have more security.
According to BBC News, there's a rumour going round that one gunman was an ex-employee with some sort of grudge, but it's pretty clear nobody really knows what the hell happened.
There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)
Replace "ginger" with "n*gger," and suddenly it become a lot less funny, doesn't it?
-- fgalkin
Reports indicate that it was one gunman and that he is dead. NBC News
A former naval petty officer packing an assault rifle and two other guns sprayed an office building with bullets at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, killing 12 people in a rampage that paralyzed part of the nation’s capital, authorities said. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year.
Authorities said that the gunman, a civilian contractor identified as Aaron Alexis, 34, was killed after exchanging fire with officers who stormed the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command in a massive law enforcement response.
To Absent Friends
Dalton | Admin Smash | Knight of the Order of SDN
"y = mx + bro" - Surlethe
"You try THAT shit again, kid, and I will mod you. I will
mod you so hard, you'll wish I were Dalton." - Lagmonster
I know that 'deadliest <thing> since <example of thing>' is a staple of reporting, but...seriously? Why do you even bother when 'It's almost as bad as last year' is all you can come up with?
Understand that I'm not trying to trivialize either event, but...do people even read what they write before syndicating it?
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
The worst part of the coverage is again the mentioning of violent video games, yet him allegedly not getting paid for work couldn't have driven him over the edge? Just happens to be of an age where playing a lot of games is common, hate when these highly paid "journalists" think it's abnormal to play games and be an adult.
"Somehow I feel, that in the long run, Thanos of Titan came out ahead in this particular deal."
Meest wrote:The worst part of the coverage is again the mentioning of violent video games, yet him allegedly not getting paid for work couldn't have driven him over the edge? Just happens to be of an age where playing a lot of games is common, hate when these highly paid "journalists" think it's abnormal to play games and be an adult.
that's because it's probably easier for these people point at a simple "odd thing" (even if it's not really that odd) as a cause then to actually try to work out the real reason, not mention that working out the real reason would need critical thinking and that's the last thing these people want the public to do.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
Funny, I didn't hear a word about video games, but I did hear about a real life prior shooting incident he was involved in (a claimed accidental gun discharge where the bullet wound up in someone else's home) and a general discharge from the Navy which he received after what is being called a pattern of misconduct. Also a Seattle incident where he shot the tires out on someone else's vehicle.
I hadn't heard about him not getting paid. Well, I know from personal experience how much that sucks but there are means of legal redress for that.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Well he could have been on the edge to begin with and not getting paid pushed him into full blown psycho.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
"I think you completely missed the point of sigs. They're supposed to be completely homegrown in the fertile hydroponics lab of your mind, dried in your closet, rolled, and smoked...
Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
That's my guess. All too often the media look for a single cause when really this sort of thing is a culmination of long-term problems and stress.
Apparently, he may also have suffered from PTSD... but of course not everyone with PTSD goes psycho and shoots up a food court.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Meest wrote:The worst part of the coverage is again the mentioning of violent video games, yet him allegedly not getting paid for work couldn't have driven him over the edge? Just happens to be of an age where playing a lot of games is common, hate when these highly paid "journalists" think it's abnormal to play games and be an adult.
Well, they're going to have their work cut out for them since we are living in an age where gaming is no longer a niche hobby and is done by a whole lot of people, so...
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
I like how everyone is reporting how he "earned" the National Defense Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medel without noting that these are just "I was in the military when XXX happened" tokens. I am not sure if its to set up the super elite trained killer released on the populace by uncarring military narrative or the damaged shell of a man returned home and with issues and abandoned narrative. Probably both.
NPR reports that earlier reports of him using a semiautomatic rifle (to say nothing of "assault rifle") were incorrect, and he was in fact armed with a shotgun purchased legally in Virginia.
Rogue 9 wrote:NPR reports that earlier reports of him using a semiautomatic rifle (to say nothing of "assault rifle") were incorrect, and he was in fact armed with a shotgun purchased legally in Virginia.
That makes a lot more sense, thanks for the update.
Patroklos wrote:I like how everyone is reporting how he "earned" the National Defense Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medel without noting that these are just "I was in the military when XXX happened" tokens. I am not sure if its to set up the super elite trained killer released on the populace by uncarring military narrative or the damaged shell of a man returned home and with issues and abandoned narrative. Probably both.
I thought Alexis spent all his time in the military stateside and never served overseas.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Rogue 9 wrote:NPR reports that earlier reports of him using a semiautomatic rifle (to say nothing of "assault rifle") were incorrect, and he was in fact armed with a shotgun purchased legally in Virginia.
Thats not going to stop scum like Feinstien. She's already screeching like a stuck pig over "military style rifles."
Never underestimate the ingenuity and cruelty of the Irish.
Broomstick wrote:
I thought Alexis spent all his time in the military stateside and never served overseas.
Exactly. The National Defense Medal is an award anyone gets when serving in a time of war or whatever qualifies as such since we don't declare them officially. So anyone serving for any time whatsoever since 2001 has it. This is the one you will see every boot wearing out of basic, known as the McDonald's ribbon based on the colors.
The Global War on Terror Service Medal is a medal anyone who is contributing to the global war on terror in any measurable way gets. Pretty much everyone gets this one too. There is a separate award, the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal, for those who deploy for direct effect on the global war on terror and don't qualify for a specific campaign medal like the Iraq Campaign Medal or Afghanistan Campaign Medal. It used to be used exclusively for those two theaters until the specific awards came out while unnamed campaigns got the Expeditionary Warfare Medal. If you were in for a certain period and in the right places you might have all five, I believe the Iraq and Afghanistan Campaign Medals were retroactive but you still keep your GWOTEM.
There is no way in hell the reporters don't know that, or that they are basically participation handouts, but most of their audience probably doesn't.
Patroklos wrote:
Exactly. The National Defense Medal is an award anyone gets when serving in a time of war or whatever qualifies as such since we don't declare them officially. So anyone serving for any time whatsoever since 2001 has it. This is the one you will see every boot wearing out of basic, known as the McDonald's ribbon based on the colors.
It was a gimme medal back during the first Gulf War up until at least 1994 when I was discharged. I never knew that they stopped giving it out for a period of time after that.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Rogue 9 wrote:NPR reports that earlier reports of him using a semiautomatic rifle (to say nothing of "assault rifle") were incorrect, and he was in fact armed with a shotgun purchased legally in Virginia.
A "law-enforcement-style shotgun" according to The New York Times. Which they later state to be a "Remington 870 Express 12-gauge" which looks roughly like this:
"How can I wait unknowing?
This is the price of war,
We rise with noble intentions,
And we risk all that is pure..." - Angela & Jeff van Dyck, Forever (Rome: Total War)
"On and on, through the years,
The war continues on..." - Angela & Jeff van Dyck, We Are All One (Medieval 2: Total War)
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." - Ambrose Redmoon
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight
"If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the table."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
Alyeska wrote:It was probably Evil Black with an extended tube.
And "Law-Enforcement-Style" too. Why do you think you need a weapon meant for Police use, citizen?
A better question is what do they mean by "Law Enforcement-Style"?
Its a shotgun with a safety and a has a mounting rail for accessories
Villainous!
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
