Washington Navy Yard shootings breaking news

[foolsgold]

just incase anyone has family friends out there news so far

At least four people have been killed in a mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, a naval installation in the US capital, a Navy official has said.

Police entered an office building in search of a gunman, after shots were fired at 08:20 local time (13:20 GMT), the US Navy said.

Local news agencies have said a police officer was among the injured. It remains unclear how many were hurt.

Personnel at the yard were ordered to "shelter in place", the Navy said.

Capt Ed Buclatin, director of public affairs at the Navy Installations Command at the Navy Yard, said on Twitter that four people were killed and eight injured.

The US Navy said shots were reported to have been fired at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters at the yard in south-east Washington DC.

Cmdr Tim Juris was on the fourth floor of the building when he heard shots, he told the BBC.

"It sounded like a cap gun as opposed to a real gun," he said.

Dozens of emergency vehicles have converged on the site, and helicopters have been flying overhead.

President Barack Obama has been briefed on the matter by top officials and has directed federal agencies to co-ordinate their response efforts.

As many as 3,000 people work at the command, which engineers, purchases, builds and maintains ships and submarines for the Navy.

The Washington Navy Yard is the US Navy's oldest shore installation, first opened in the early 19th Century, according to the Navy.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Disgruntled demoted American employee had gun. Yeah, and?

 

[foolsgold]

[video]http://on.rt.com/zfxa42[/video] latest video of t from rt news

 

[Mental Kenny]

12 people dead including the shooter, news said there were three attackers, one died, two are still at large. I'd say probably some domestic extremist

 

[foolsgold]

The dead gunman in Monday’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard is Aaron Alexis, 34, a Navy veteran and native of Brooklyn, an FBI official said Monday afternoon.

Police say it is unclear if Alexis acted alone. Authorities are still searching for another possible suspect: a black man in his 40s with gray sideburns, wearing an olive-drab military-style uniform.

At least 12 are dead at the Navy Yard, and again we wonder if this is the rampage that will change things.

Alexis died at the scene of Monday’s shooting, in which at least 12 other people died. D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray said no motive is known.

FBI Assistant Director Valerie Parlave asked the public to call 1-800-CALL-FBI with any information about him: “No piece of information is too small. We are looking to learn everything we can about his recent movements.”

By Monday afternoon, a portrait of Alexis had begun to emerge. He left the Navy in 2011, and until recently was a regular—if unusual—figure at a Buddhist temple.

Alexis spoke Thai, the language of many other temple worshippers, and also worked as a waiter at a Thai restaurant. At the Wat Busayadhammavanaram Meditation Center, Alexis came to meditate twice a week. But he still seemed so tightly wound that at least one worker there sought to avoid him.

“He would help people if they came in carrying heavy things,” said J. Sirun, an assistant to the monks at the center. “From the outside, he was a quiet person. But on the inside, I think he was very aggressive. He did not like to be close with anybody, like a soldier who has been at war.”

Alexis was memorable because he had so many Thai friends and spoke Thai “very well,” Sirun said. “He understood about 75 percent of the language.”

“I didn’t think he could be this violent,” Sirun said. “I would not have been surprised to hear he had committed suicide. But I didn’t think he could commit murder.”

Somsak Srisan, who also frequented the temple, learned that Alexis needed a place to stay. He offered to rent him a two-bedroom white bungalow behind the temple. Srisan said Alexis lived there for a year and didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, and never missed a payment on his $600 a month rent.

Srisan said he doesn’t know why Alexis left his job at the base. They spoke about it only once, and it was a brief conversation, he said.

“I asked him, ‘Why you quit the job with the government?” Srisan said, speaking broken English. “He said somebody doesn’t like me.”

Srisan said he didn’t ask Alexis any more questions because, “I don’t want to go too deep with him.”

A manager at Happy Bowl Thai, where Alexis was a frequent customer and a friend of the owner, said she was struck by how kind he was.

“Yes, he was a very nice guy. I would never think he would do this. Never,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.

Military personnel records show that Alexis spent nearly four years in the Navy as a full-time reservist from May 2007 until he was discharged in January 2011, according to a summary of his personnel records released by Navy officials at the Pentagon.

Those Navy officials said they were still researching whether Alexis had been employed as a defense contractor or a civilian employee of the Navy, and were uncertain if he was assigned to work at the Navy Yard.

from http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...9-657e0c72fec8_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop