UPDATE: bio info on shooter: Aaron Alexis, suspected gunman, grew up in Brooklyn with his mother, Sarah, and father, Anthony Alexis, according to his aunt Helen Weeks.
from WaPo
“We haven’t seen him for years,” Weeks said of her nephew in a telephone interview. “I know he was in the military. He served abroad. I think he was doing some kind of computer work.”
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.
The 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.
He achieved his final rank of Aviation Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class in December 2009. Officials said they did not immediately know the reasons for his discharge.
From Star Telegram
Firearms charge in 2010
But a police report filed in September 2010 painted a different picture of Alexis.
Records show that he was arrested for discharging a firearm within a municipality.
Police were dispatched to the Oak Hills apartments about 6:40 p.m. Sept 4, 2010, on a report that someone had fired a shot through the floor and into the ceiling of a woman’s apartment, according to a Fort Worth police report.
The woman told police she had been sitting in a chair when she heard a loud pop and saw dust.
“She then saw that there was a hole in her floor just a couple of feet from where she was sitting while shredding papers and a hole in the ceiling,” the report states. “She told me that she believed someone had shot a bullet through her apartment.”
The woman told police that Alexis, her downstairs neighbor, did not come up to check on her after the shooting.
She said that Alexis had called police on her several times in the past for “being loud” but that police never heard anything and therefore, no action was taken.
“She said that several days ago Aaron confronted her in the parking lot about making too much noise,” the report states.
The woman told police that she was “terrified” of Alexis and felt the shooting was done intentionally.
The report states police attempted to contact Alexis at his apartment but received no response.
Fearing someone could be hurt, police had called the Fire Department to the scene to attempt to force entry into the man’s apartment. When firefighters arrived on the scene, however, Alexis came outside voluntarily and told officers he had been cleaning his gun when it went off.
“He said that he was trying to clean his gun while cooking and that his hands were slippery. He told me that he began to take the gun apart when his hands slipped and pulled the trigger, discharging a round into the ceiling,” the report states.
“When asked why he didn’t call police or go check on the resident above him, Aaron said that he didn’t think it went all the way through since he couldn’t see any light through the hole,” the report states.
Alexis told police he thought people would dismiss the noise as a firecracker.
“I then asked why he wouldn’t answer the door when I knocked and he said that he thought it was just his upstairs neighbor and he didn’t want to talk to her because she is always making noise,” the report states.
Police arrested Alexis at the scene on suspicion of discharging a firearm in a municipality, a Class A misdemeanor. He was released from jail the next day, Tarrant County records show, and was never formally charged in the case.
“After reviewing the facts presented by the police department, it was determined that the elements constituting recklessness under Texas law were not present and a case was not filed,” said Melody McDonald, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.
The Orion at Oak Hill apartments in Fort Worth began eviction efforts against Alexis later in September 2010. Records show that he moved from the Oak Hill apartments in December 2010.
‘Always very polite’
Update: Police are looking for two more shooters said to be dressed in military-like clothing. At the moment, one has been found and cleared. The other alledged shooter is not yet found.
UPDATE:
The Washington Post
The death toll from this morning’s shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard has increased to 12, according to police. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced the mounting death toll in a news conference. One suspected shooter is dead, and Lanier said authorities still are looking for two other potential suspects. No motive is known so far, she said. Follow our liveblog for updates.
Read more here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/police-search-for-active-shooter-on-grounds-of-washington-navy-yard-in-southeast-dc/2013/09/16/b1d72b9a-1ecb-11e3-b7d1-7153ad47b549_story.html
==
The U.S Navy’s Naval District Washington reports:
Several people were injured in a shooting at the Washingotn Navy Yard Sept. 16.
An active shooter was reported inside the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building (Bldg. 197) on the Washington Navy Yard at 8:20 a.m. (Eastern Time).
Emergency personnel remain on scene and a “shelter in place” order has been issued for Navy Yard personnel.
This release will be updated as new information is confirmed.
The Naval Sea Systems Command’s headquarters is the work place for about 3,000 people.
The organization is comprised of command staff, headquarters directorates, affiliated Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and numerous field activities. Together, we engineer, build, buy and maintain ships, submarines and combat systems that meet the Fleet’s current and future operational requirements.
Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the Navy’s five system commands. With a fiscal year budget of nearly $30 billion, NAVSEA accounts for one quarter of the Navy’s entire budget. With a force of 60,000 civilian, military and contract support personnel, NAVSEA engineers, builds, buys and maintains the Navy’s ships and submarines and their combat.
For updates, please click here
UPDATE via CNN:
One suspect is dead after a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, but two others may be on the loose, the D.C. police chief said Monday.
“The big concern for us right now is that we potentially have two other shooters that we have not located at this point,” Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier told reporters.
Multiple people were killed in the shooting rampage, Lanier said, which sent police in SWAT team gear swarming to the scene Monday morning.
Hours later, Lanier said authorities were still looking for a white man and a black man in military-style clothing who could be connected to the shooting.
“We have no information to believe that either of those folks are military personnel, but we do have information that those individuals are wearing military-style uniforms,” she said.
Earlier Monday, Ed Zeigler, director of public affairs for Naval District Washington, told CNN that two suspected shooters were “down,” but a senior Navy official could not confirm whether there was more than one gunman.
“We will do everything in our power to make sure whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible,” President Barack Obama said, adding the shooting “targeted military and civilian personnel.”
“We still don’t know all the facts. But we do know that several people have been shot and some have been killed,” he said. “So we are confronting yet another mass shooting. And today it happened on a military installation in our nation’s capital.”
Earlier, authorities said a gunman dressed in all black fired shots inside the Navy Yard, injuring at least 10 people.
