17/09/2013 14:23
12 killed, 8 wounded in Shooting at D.C. Navy Yard
A gunman killed 12 people and injured eight inside a heavily secured building at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard Monday, in one of the worst mass shootings ever at a U.S. military facility, and one of the deadliest single events ever in the nation's capital.
The suspected gunman, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis of Fort Worth, Texas, was also killed. Alexis had served as a Petty Officer in the Navy between 2007 and 2011, and had been previously arrested in gun-related incidents.
Those killed ranged in age from 46 to 73, according to D.C. Police.
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray reported late Monday eight individuals were injured, including a D.C. police officer, identified as Scott Williams, who was shot in the leg while responding to the shooting. After being in surgery for hours, doctors say they hope he will be able to walk again.
None of the fatalities is reported to be military personnel. The rest of the injured individuals suffered non-life threatening injuries and are expected to recover.
Also Monday night, FBI and ATF agents searched a D.C. hotel where Alexis, who recently began work as a civilian contractor, was reportedly staying with five co-workers in town for business.
Alexis allegedly opened fire just before 8:30 a.m. Monday along the third and fourth floors of Building 197 of the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters in Southeast D.C. Bullets hit walls, and people around them fell to the floor, bleeding. Officials reported Alexis had "legitimate access" to enter the Navy Yard at the time as a civilian contractor, using a valid pass.
Survivors of the morning attack recalled sprinting from the sound of gunfire on the third and fourth floors of Building 197 of the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters. Bullets hit walls, and people around them fell to the floor, bleeding.
"I was in the cafeteria, just paid for my breakfast," Patricia Ward said. "I was waiting for my friend to pay for hers when we heard the gunshot. It was three gunshots straight in a row, pop pop pop. Three seconds later, it was pop pop pop pop pop, so it was like about a total of seven gunshots, and we just started running."
When it was over, the suspected gunman lay dead amid an armload of weapons. Sources told News4 that surveillance footage showed that he began his attack with a shotgun, but was found with a 9mm pistol and an AR-15 assault rifle.
NBC News correspondent Pete Williams is reporting Alexis purchased a shotgun in Lorton, Va. during the past week or so.
“We do know that several people have been shot, and some have been killed,” President Obama said from the White House Monday. “So we are confronting yet another mass shooting, and today it happened on a military installation in our nation’s capital. It’s a shooting that targeted military and civilian personnel.
"These are men and women going to work, doing their job protecting all of us," Obama said. They’re patriots, and they know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they faced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn’t have expected here at home."