Multiple people were killed and several more wounded when at least one gunman opened fire Monday at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, authorities said.
The Navy said "several" people were killed at the Navy Yard. Ed Buclatin, the public affairs chief for the Navy Installations Command, tweeted "four killed and eight injured." He also tweeted that reports of more than one shooter had not been confirmed.
Washington's Metropolitan Police Department reported that a suspect was in the building. The shooter was described as a black male with a dark complexion, approximately 5'10" to 6 feet tall, 170 pound with a black shirt and black hat. He is believed to be barricaded somewhere and have multiple guns.
This is still a very fluid situation and more information is coming in rapidly. As of right now they are not even certain exactly how many gunmen are involved.
I have also heard that one of the weapons might be an AR 15, but right now that is still speculative.
I will leave this as an open thread in order to facilitate any newer information as we receive it.
Update: Reports of a second shooting site with possibly a second gunman coming in from MSNBC.
Update 2: Confirmation of two shooters, with possibility of a third. (Correction on this update. They have walked it back and are now talking about a single shooter. Let's hope that is the case.)
Update 3: Shooter is now dead. As of right now he is reported as the ONLY shooter. (Unless of course you are listening to CNN who are reporting TWO shooters down. However after the Boston bombing I take what they say with a grain of salt.)
Update 4: Okay now the police spokesperson is saying that there is one shooter down and potentially two more shooters, one black one white, still at large.
Update 5: New reports have the dead at twelve.
Any word yet from Sarah on how she is the real victim here and this is President Obama's fault?
ReplyDeleteA press conference is being prepped as I write this. As soon as RAM looks up enough meaningless big words to use and they coach Sarah on how to pronounce them they will be going live.
DeleteI already read somewhere that Fox is blaming this on the 'divisiveness of Obama.' As if all they have been doing for 6 years is promoting cooperation, love, and good will instead of hatred, fear, and lies.
DeleteSally in MI. I was wondering how soon it would be President Obama's fault. Didn't take FOX long, did it?
DeleteBeaglemom
Didn't the NRA & their fellow travellers say only gun free zone fall prey to mass killers?
ReplyDeletethe shipyard is basically a gun free zone
DeleteMy God, it's a crazy world. Hope this is resolved quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhat---no good guys to stop the crazy bad guy in time like the NRA says?
ReplyDeleteThe medical director of a local hospital is saying they expect more casualities....if they were shot at 0840 they can't be alive or in very good condition at this point three hours later. Wonder what is taking so long? I bet death toll is higher than 4.
ReplyDeleteyep, 12 now. there would have been more urgency if there were survivors.
DeleteGunman dead.
ReplyDeleteHey Maggie,
ReplyDeleteAll us bases are gun free zones! you are searched upon entry .
Not if you are an employee apparently.
DeleteThe report was that those who had ID cards that would let them enter before 6:00 AM are not searched nor do they have to go through a metal detector.
And there are armed individuals on the premises as well.
What is need are guns on our military bases... oh wait.
DeletePeople aren't searched for weapons. I used to work as a teacher at two different bases---showed my id and went on through.
DeleteOnce my car was searched thoroughly, and when I asked if all of my students would be searched as they arrived (since that would make my class late to start) I was told: No, we are only doing this until 5:00.
Huh?
Christ, Gryphen, you could have at least put "Washington DC" in the headline. I had the bottom drop out for me for a second there.
ReplyDeleteRegrets and my deepest sympathies for those involved; I admit I'm ashamed I felt such relief to know it wasn't my backyard (literally).
Sorry. I put that in the tag though.
Deletethat's what i get for using my phone for anything other than phoning :P It freezes up when i use the internet sometimes so I could only see your headline until I pulled out my laptop.
DeleteIf it helps, I did read that originally the police would not confirm more than one gunman but that the Navy confirmed up to three. Right now they're looking for two men like you said, one black one white, both in military uniforms (different uniforms). Some bases are not good on security at all and people can just walk on. I'm not familiar with the security at DC, but here where we keep nuclear weapons, no civilians are allowed on base unless accompanied by a contractor/worker, active duty, veteran, or dependent. Guns have to be declared at the gate, but I've known people who get away with it (and also fireworks). Not every car is searched; it's when they get popped for a random inspection that they realize "hmm, maybe shouldn't have been hiding that revolver next to my 60 hits of ecstasy" (true story)
Early reports are that the good guys with guns are among the victims. So very sad that power and profit hungry lobbies hold us all hostage.
ReplyDeleteUnconfirmed reports from ABC and AP that the shooter was either a navy official in his 50s or a civilian who worked for the navy (government contractor). I wouldn't doubt it, but it IS the AP... so I'll wait on that...
ReplyDelete8 dead.
ReplyDeleteAs of this moment, MSNBC reports twelve dead. Awful. Awful.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend caused me at 8:20 this morning in perfectly understandable hysterics. Her son works across the street from the Navy Yard, and he telephoned her from a closet; he and his co-workers were all ordered to hide.
Awful. And also--NOT AGAIN!?!
Please remind me: supposedly Track Palin did some sort of candy-assed military assigment so he wouldn't get shot at. He's not now enlisted (is he?) in the Reserves or National Guard.
ReplyDeleteThe odds are that none of his "needy bufddies," though of the right age, have signed up for or are qualified to defend the country they're enjoying with their lazy, druggy, do-nothing lives. They need a Mama Grizzly to show 'em what's what/
Besides which, both Bristol and Willow are the perfect ages to sign up to defend our county. Wilow's not married. Bristol's child mght have to be looked after by a relative while she's overseas. It happens to many, if not all, recuits.
The girls could learn some real-life skills, earn some money, and maybe meet a guy or gal from another part of the country who can read, write, follow instructions, and maybe is heading for the officers' corps. Getting married to an officer would be one gigantic leap upwards from the bottom-dwelling Palins.
Time to put your children's bodies where you want other people's bodies to be -- on the front line of democracy. This is where your rhetoric meets reality, Sarah. Lets see some action on your part.
i believe that if we brought back the draft, there would be much more pubic discussion about rushing into war.
DeleteWhen I read your eloquent comments, all I could think of--regarding Bristol or Willow in our nation's service--is Goldie Hawn's wail, "Where are the condos?!?", from the movie Private Benjamin.
DeleteOver at the pond, some of them are already claiming this DC shooting is a distraction planned by President Obama.
ReplyDeleteUnfuckingbelievable
Well, they wouldn't want to notice how silent their Screech is since denigrating the iconic photo. She cut off the copyright and plastered SARAHPAC. Now she is quiet as a little church mouse. Bristol? Did she fly off to a remote resort to work?
DeleteHow long has it been since anyone heard from Screech? Did her brother give the only response to the New Jersey Media? What a pathetic cowardly crew. The pees will not want anything directed toward Screech... they only want to carry on for her and blame the President.
Officials identified the gunman to NBC News as Aaron Alexis, 34, originally of Fort Worth, Texas. They said he recently began working as a civilian contractor.
ReplyDeleteAt Least 12 Killed, Others Wounded At US Navy Yard In Washington DC — Possible Suspect Still At Large
ReplyDeleteThere was a mass shooting this morning at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard.
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said that there were at least 12 fatalities, including the primary gunman.
At least three others were wounded, including a D.C. police officer. All are expected to survive.
Earlier Police Chief Cathy Lanier said authorities were looking for two other persons of interest.
One man has been identified and is not a suspect or person of interest.
The remaining individual is a black male who is about 50 years old, carrying a rifle, and wearing an olive military uniform.
The F.B.I. has taken the lead in the investigation, and officials tell NBC that its D.C. field office is "all assets out."
The incident began at about 8:20 a.m. when a gunman shot a base security officer in the head at the headquarters of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).
CBS, citing law enforcement officials, and NBC reported that the gunman was carrying a handgun, an AR-15 rifle, and a shotgun.
NBC is reporting that the deceased gunman was a 34-year-old Navy civilian contractor from Texas who used a former employee's ID card. That former employee is currently being questioned, according to NBC.
A witness told the AP that a gunman was shooting at people in the building's cafeteria on the first floor from a fourth floor ledge in the hallway outside his office.
More than 3,000 people work in the building. Two witnesses spoke with CNN after fleeing the building during the shooting.
Some schools in the area, as well as much of the area around Navy Yard, have been locked down all day. Some students and workers have begun to leave.
Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the Navy's five system commands, accounting for a quarter of the Navy's budget, and is in charge of buying and maintaining Navy ships, submarines, and combat systems.
The shooting is the worst loss-of-life incident within D.C. borders since 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90 crashed and killed 78.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-there-is-an-active-shooter-at-washington-dc-yard-2013-9
...Alex Jones and his conspiracy colleagues are claiming that the government did not allow the victims to defend themselves, “The Navy has issued a “shelter-in place” order for personnel, which seems to fall right in line with the notion that you’re not supposed to adequately defend yourself in the event of a mass shooting, but instead put your life and safety completely in the hands of police and other local authorities.”
ReplyDeleteOf course, the far right extremists are breaking out the classic line that if everyone had more guns this tragedy would have been prevented. They don’t actually know this. It’s just something that they believe, because that’s the way it always happens in the movies.
The NRA is going to be offering up the same talking points, but what is interesting is that the gun extremists aren’t even waiting for the gun control advocates to speak. They are now using every mass shooting to call for more guns. I think that without the details being known it is difficult to discuss this shooting in terms of the gun debate.
Be prepared because the absurd argument that more guns reduce violence is already being deployed by the far right.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/16/conspiracy-theorist-gun-nut-alex-jones-blames-navy-yard-shooting-lack-guns.html
Horrible... :(
ReplyDeleteI was in shock most of the morning. Thirteen confirmed dead, including the killer. It's too hard to wrap my mind around. The terror everyone felt and those who lost loved ones, it breaks your heart.
ReplyDeleteSomeone at work told me a certain news channel saw a woman of color being interviewed about what she experienced, then, when the photo came out of the perp, they discussed the sudden rise in "black on black crimes".
OK if this is true, the perp doesn't fit the "normal" profile of a mass murderer, but isn't it a stretch to "report" it's "black on black crime", when there's twelve dead bodies of innocent people we know nothing about, and does their skin color even matter?
Despicable.