Home Tags Posts tagged with "washington navy yard"
washington navy yard
Barack Obama has reiterated calls for changes to US gun laws at a memorial service for the victims of last week’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard.
President Barack Obama said tears were “not enough”.
He told mourners Americans must insist that “there is nothing normal about innocent men and women being gunned down where they work”.
Barack Obama has reiterated calls for changes to US gun laws at a memorial service for the victims of last week’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard
Twelve people were killed last Monday by contractor Aaron Alexis, who was himself shot dead by police.
Aaron Alexis, 34, reportedly had untreated mental health difficulties.
Barack Obama called on Americans to abandon their “creeping resignation” to mass shootings.
Acknowledging that “the politics are difficult” – a reference to his failure to get measures through Congress earlier this year – the president said change would not come from Washington.
“Change will come the only way it ever has come, and that’s from the American people,” Barack Obama told the crowd.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama met privately with victims’ relatives ahead of the shooting, the White House said.
[youtube sYIZiTY-sOA]
Ex-US Navy reservist Aaron Alexis killed 12 people and wounded eight at Washington DC Navy installation.
The victims of Washington Navy Yard are:
Aaron Alexis killed 12 people and wounded eight at Washington DC Navy installation
- Michael Arnold, 59
- Sylvia Frasier, 53
- Kathleen Gaarde, 62
- John Roger Johnson, 73
- Frank Kohler, 50
- Kenneth Proctor, 46
- Vishnu Pandit, 61
- Martin Bodrog, 54
- Arthur Daniels, 51
- Mary Francis Knight, 51
- Gerald Read, 58
- Richard Michael Ridgell, 52 [youtube lkwtzFrIvdQ]
Ex-US Navy reservist Aaron Alexis, who killed 12 people and wounded eight at a Washington DC Navy base, had received treatment for mental health issues, US media have reported.
Aaron Alexis, 34, was treated for paranoia, trouble sleeping and hearing voices, the Associated Press reported.
A contractor for the Navy, Aaron Alexis had a valid pass for the secure site at the Washington Navy Yard, authorities said.
Aaron Alexis was shot and killed by police during the attack.
On Tuesday, the US capital remained in a state of shock and mourning.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel laid a wreath at US Navy Memorial Plaza in honor of the Navy Yard victims.
A Washington Nationals baseball game originally scheduled for Monday night was rescheduled to Tuesday afternoon – the baseball stadium is just blocks from the Navy Yard.
The flag flew at half-mast over the White House, where hours after the attack President Barack Obama mourned “yet another mass shooting”.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has ordered a physical security review of all Navy and Marine Corps installations.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama would continue to push for tighter gun control laws in the wake of Monday’s shooting.
The shooting began about 8:20 local time on Monday, when a gunman apparently shot his way into the heavily guarded Building 197, headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, which builds and maintains ships and submarines for the Navy.
Aaron Alexis was treated for paranoia, trouble sleeping and hearing voices
Witnesses said the gunman sprayed bullets in a hallway and fired from a balcony down on to workers in an atrium at the heavily secured installation in the US capital.
Aaron Alexis was armed with a shotgun legally purchased in Virginia, as well as one handgun authorities say may have been obtained inside the naval installation.
The attack only ended when police stormed the building and shot him dead, police said.
“There is no question he would have kept shooting,” Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier told reporters on Monday.
On Tuesday, authorities said they believed Aaron Alexis had acted alone and that all victims – ranging in age from 46 to 73 – had been identified.
Authorities have revealed no motive for the attack, and have begun combing the US for hints about Aaron Alexis’ past.
As an employee of an IT contractor, Aaron Alexis apparently had a card granting him access to the building – even though he had had several run-ins with the law and had been discharged from the Navy under a cloud, authorities said.
“It really is hard to believe that someone with a record as chequered as this man could conceivably get, you know, clearance to get… credentials to be able to get on the base,” Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray told CNN.
Aaron Alexis left the Navy as a petty officer 3rd class, after serving full-time in the naval reserve from 2007-11.
He received two routine medals for his service in the Navy: the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Aaron Alexis separated from the Navy reserves under what is called a general discharge, a status that suggests misconduct.
He had been cited for misconduct – including insubordination, disorderly conduct and excessive absences from work – at least eight times during his Navy career, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
According to media reports, Aaron Alexis was a Buddhist convert who had had two previous gun-related brushes with the law.
In 2004 he was arrested in Seattle for shooting a construction worker’s car tyres, in what he described as an enraged “black-out”.
Aaron Alexis was questioned by Fort Worth police in 2010 after firing his gun through the floor of an upstairs apartment. He said it was an accidental discharge.
Also, in August 2008, Aaron Alexis was arrested for disorderly conduct in the state of Georgia, according to the Smoking Gun, a website that collects police and court documents. Details on the incident were not available.
On Tuesday, Aaron Alexis’ employer said the military should have made his record known.
“Anything that suggests criminal problems or mental health issues, that would be a flag. We would not have hired him,” Thomas Hoshko, chief executive officer of The Experts, told the Washington Post.
The IT contractor confirmed Aaron Alexis had worked since July at six different military installations and had only been at the Navy Yard for a few days before the shooting.
[youtube iW7KBON4yfQ]
Russian politician Alexei Pushkov shocked America by mocking the Washington Navy Yard tragedy before a death toll had even been tallied.
Alexei Pushkov took to Twitter Monday morning and used Barack Obama’s words from a speech on the Syria crisis to ridicule Americans in the wake of the tragedy in Washington D.C.
“A new shootout at Navy headquarters in Washington – a lone gunman and 7 corpses. Nobody’s even surprised anymore,” Alexei Pushkov tweeted two hours after shots first rang out.
“A clear confirmation of American exceptionalism.”
As the New York Post points out, Alexei Pushkov, a member of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee was likely referencing a comment made by the president last week.
“That’s what makes us exceptional,” Barack Obama said.
“With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth.”
Barack Obama was urging Americans to support a strike on Syria as a means of halting its human rights violations.
Alexei Pushkov shocked America by mocking the Washington Navy Yard tragedy before a death toll had even been tallied
But the Russian politician used the words to mock Americans
“The USA should part with the notion of American exceptionalism,” Alexei Pushkov tweeted about an hour later.
“It contradicts the principles of equal rights and smells of political racism.”
This is not Alexei Pushkov’s first swipe at America, nor is it his first foray onto the international stage, though his timing and methods leave him more wide open for criticism than ever before.
Alexei Pushkov, who is seen as especially close with the Kremlin, was among the most vocal in Russia during NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s prolonged stay at a Moscow airport.
Edward Snowden was eventually granted asylum in Russia, but not before Alexei Pushkov got in his jabs – at Snowden and America.
Alexei Pushkov at one point became annoyed with Edward Snowden’s prolonged citizenship limbo.
He joked that if Edward Snowden does not find shelter in Venezuela, “he will have to stay and marry Anna Chapman”, the redheaded Russian spy who was among 10 sleeper agents deported from the United States in 2010.
At another point in the saga, reports mistakenly suggested Edward Snowden has left Russia and the U.S. demanded to know his whereabouts.
“Why should the United States expect restraint and understanding from Russia,” Alexei Pushkov mocked at the time.
On Monday, Alexei Pushkov again showed no restraint when he used the occasion of a deadly shooting to make a political point.
The death count at the Washington Navy Yard continued to rise after the Parliamentarian’s comments. As of Monday afternoon, the death count was 12.
Aaron Alexis’ family is “distraught” to learn that he carried the massacre, relatives said today.
A family member said that the mother and sister of the Washington Navy Yard shooter were also “shocked” that he could have done this.
While some neighbors and acquaintances described Aaron Alexis as “nice”, his father once told detectives in Seattle that his son had anger management problems related to post-traumatic stress brought on by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
He also complained about the Navy and being a victim of discrimination during his time as a Navy reservist from 2007 to 2011.
At the time of the shootings, Aaron Alexis worked for The Experts, a subcontractor on a Hewlett Packard contract to refresh equipment used on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet network.
After leaving the reserves, Aaron Alexis worked as a waiter and delivery driver at the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant in White Settlement, a suburb of Fort Worth, according to Afton Bradley, a former co-worker. The two overlapped for about eight months before Aaron Alexis left in May, Bradley said.
Having traveled to Thailand, Aaron Alexis learned some Thai and could speak to Thai customers in their native language.
A former acquaintance, Oui Suthametewakul, said Aaron Alexis lived with him and his wife from August 2012 to May 2013 in Fort Worth, but that they had to part ways because he wasn’t paying his bills.
Aaron Alexis was a “nice guy”, Oui Suthametewakul said, though he sometimes carried a gun and would frequently complain about being the victim of discrimination.
Oui Suthametewakul said Alexis had converted to Buddhism and prayed at a local Buddhist temple.
Aaron Alexis’ family is distraught to learn that he carried the Navy Yard massacre
The shooter’s family lives in a run-down area of Brooklyn called Bedford-Stuyvesant, which was known in the 1980s for being at the center of New York’s crack epidemic.
His mother Cathleen, 60, lives in a fourth floor walk up apartment worth $130,000 with other relatives.
The street was then sealed off by police and FBI agents who stood guard outside and refused to let anybody onto the side of the street where the house is.
Later the gunman’s brother-in-law Anthony Little, who is married to Aaron Alexis’ sister Naomi, 31, arrived and said: “The family are distraught…They’re shocked.”
Anthony Little said it had been several years since had Aaron Alexis spoken with his family in Brooklyn.
He added: “He is not as close as the normal person with his family.”
Monday at around 5 p.m. two FBI agents arrived and questioned neighbors and workmen who were inside the apartment doing renovations but left after 15 minutes and refused to answer questions.
Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old civilian contractor from Fort Worth, Texas, was confirmed dead on Monday after the mass shooting which also left at least 15 people injured in the nation’s capital.
Friends of the gunman today described Aaron Alexis, who worked as a waiter at a Thai restaurant, as “friendly and polite”.
He shot dead 12 people at the Navy Yard in Washington DC today, but was described by friends as a fan of meditation and Buddhism “who didn’t seem aggressive”.
Two different portraits of Aaron Alexis have emerged, as his criminal record runs in contrast to the reports of friends and family.
He was arrested for gun-related incidents in 2004 and 2010, while he was also kept in jail in Georgia for two nights in 2008 for disorderly conduct.
Aaron Alexis had joined the Navy in 2007 but was kicked out in 2011, the year after the second gun arrest. In both gun cases, charges were never filed
He was a Petty Officer Third Class in the Navy prior to his dismissal.
Aaron Alexis was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal prior to his discharge.
He was stationed at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth. His LinkedIn profile reveals that he attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and worked as a network technician at SinglePoint Technologies.
Aaron Alexis received a general discharge from the Navy Reserve in 2011 after a series of misconduct issues, a Navy official said.
[youtube k4MLkB9M0mM]
Gunman Aaron Alexis, who died after killing 12 people at a naval installation in Washington DC, has been identified as a former Navy serviceman.
Aaron Alexis, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, died in a gun battle with police during the rampage at Washington Navy Yard.
Eight others were injured in the attack, which began at around 8:20 local time on Monday.
President Barack Obama ordered flags be lowered to half mast at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
He said he mourned “yet another mass shooting” and condemned the “cowardly act”.
No motive is known for the attack, whose dozen victims ranged in age from 46 to 73, said the authorities.
Police initially responded to reports of two other armed suspects, but after exhaustive searches Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said on Monday night they were all but certain that Aaron Alexis was the only gunman.
Witnesses said suspect Aaron Alexis sprayed bullets in a hallway and fired from a balcony down on to workers in an atrium at the heavily secured installation in the US capital.
Aaron Alexis was reportedly armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene.
Chief Cathy Lanier told reporters that the attacker “was engaged in shooting with police officers” when he died.
Aaron Alexis died in a gun battle with police during the rampage at Washington Navy Yard
“There is no question he would have kept shooting,” she added.
Valerie Parlave of the FBI said that the suspect, who was employed by a subcontractor that was working on a US Navy intranet network, had a valid pass to enter Washington Navy Yard.
Aaron Alexis was formerly a petty officer 3rd class who served full-time in the naval reserve from 2007-11, said the US Navy.
It was not immediately clear why he left the military, but unnamed military officers told US media there had been a series of misconduct issues during his service.
According to media reports, Aaron Alexis was a Buddhist convert who had had two previous gun-related brushes with the law.
In 2004 Aaron Alexis was arrested in Seattle for shooting a construction worker’s car tyres, in what he described as an enraged “black-out”.
And he was questioned by Fort Worth police in 2010 after firing his gun through the floor of an upstairs apartment. He said it was an accidental discharge.
In addition to those killed in Monday’s rampage, one police officer was shot in the legs, a female civilian was shot in the head and hand, and another woman was treated for a shoulder wound.
All three were expected to recover, said Washington Hospital Center officials.
Five others required medical treatment, mostly for minor injuries, said Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray.
As news of the shooting emerged, emergency vehicles and police surrounded the complex, while helicopters hovered overhead.
The US Senate buildings and six nearby schools were temporarily placed on lockdown as a precaution, while flight departures were briefly suspended at Reagan National Airport.
Patricia Ward, who works at Washington Navy Yard, said she had heard three shots, a pause, and then four more.
“Everybody was panicking and trying to decide which way to get out,” she told reporters.
The Washington Nationals baseball team called off their game against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night at Nationals Park, not far from Navy Yard.
Monday’s mass shooting occurred at a building that serves as the headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command, which builds and maintains ships and submarines for the Navy.
Washington Navy Yard is the US Navy’s oldest shore installation, first opened in the early 19th Century, according to the Navy.
[youtube Q3vhGXQJ9bY]
At least one heavily armed gunman opened fire inside a building at the Washington Navy Yard killing at least 11 people and injuring at least 12.
Named as 34-year-old civilian contractor Aaron Alexis, the Fort Worth resident entered the cafeteria in the Washington military base brandishing an AR-15 rifle, shotgun and handgun and began shooting.
The FBI have said that Aaron Alexis died after launching his rampage, during which witnesses said he appeared to fire at selected targets and not randomly, but they have not disclosed how he perished.
Washington D.C.’s FBI field office reportedly said that they have “all assets out” as they search for one other possible shooter they described as a black man in his 40s or his 50s.
Washington D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier said the other potential gunman were wearing a military-style uniform and has greying sideburns.
“It appears that we have at least 12 fatalities … it doesn’t get much more serious than that, obviously,” said Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.
“We have no known motive at this stage. We will continue the investigation to try and figure out what that motive is.”
Previously, Cathy Lanier said that law enforcement were searching for two individuals, one white and one black.
However, police have said they have identified the white individual and he’s not a suspect or person of interest.
“The big concern for us right now is that we have potentially two other shooters that we have not located at this point,” Cathy Lanier said earlier this afternoon.
At least one heavily armed gunman opened fire inside a building at the Washington Navy Yard killing at least 11 people and injuring at least 12
Witnesses reported one man described as an African-American male in his 50s dressed in military fatigues and armed with an AR-15 assault rifle opening fire upon entering the base at the Naval Sea System Command HQ.
The attacks came three days after al-Qaeda used the 12th anniversary of 9/11 to call for strikes on America.
Hundreds of SWAT and FBI rapid response units descended on the nation’s capital to deal with the situation which unfolded just before 8.30 a.m. this morning.
Initial reports from the scene are that one of the suspects walked up to the facility, opened fire and then ran inside the building.
“There was three gunshots straight in a row,” said Patricia Ward, who works at the Navy Yard, describing how she first heard the gunfire while having breakfast at the headquarters building.
A few seconds later, Patricia Ward said she heard four more gunshots. Security guards rushed in and got people out as fast as they could.
NBC News, citing a senior naval officer at the Navy Yard, said at least 12 people had been shot.
“We saw him hold the rifle, and we saw him aim it in our direction,” said one witness to Fox News.
Another Navy official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said more than one gunman may have been involved. The Washington Post reported that there were several gunmen.
The Navy said in a statement the shooting took place at the heavily guarded headquarters, where about 3,000 people work.
The shooting hit the military establishment less than three week after U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for murdering 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down unarmed soldiers in what he later called retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries.
The Navy Yard is believed to have tight security.
Visitors without military ID must have a valid reason for entry and provide some other civilian identification.
The gates are protected by U.S. Marines and civilian security guards.
The National Museum of the U.S. Navy is in the grounds of the Navy Yard – and open to the public. However, they must show ID to enter.
One victim was reported to have been shot on the roof of a building, reported News4′s Tony Tull.
A U.S. Park Police helicopter lowered a basket to a building and lifted what appeared to be a shooting victim from the roof just before 10 a.m.
[youtube 6INBm1RZRAs]
Several people have been shot by a gunman at the Washington Navy Yard, a naval installation in the US capital, the US Navy has said.
The US Navy confirmed police had entered an office building in search of a gunman, after shots were fired at 08:20 local time.
Local news agencies said as many as three people were wounded, including one police officer.
Personnel at the yard have been ordered to “shelter in place”, the Navy said.
Several people have been shot by a gunman at the Washington Navy Yard
The Navy said shots were reported to have been fired at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters at the yard in south-east Washington DC.
Dozens of emergency vehicles have converged on the site, and helicopters have been flying overhead.
Flights in and out of Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport down the Potomac River from the Navy Yard have been suspended to accommodate search helicopters.
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.
[youtube bHh_YJp9MSs]
[youtube SvlITMS6Xfk]
