ONE PERPETRATOR DEAD, SECOND SOUGHT
by Sharon Rondeau
(Sep. 16, 2013) — A rampage at the Washington Navy Yard which began at approximately 8:20 a.m. on Monday has resulted in the deaths of 13 people, including the shooter.
The Washington Navy Yard is also known as Naval District Washington. It opened officially on October 2, 1799 as a shipbuilding facility. Now an administrative complex, it is home to the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters, the Naval Historical Center, the Marine Corps Institute, and the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps.
A total of 16,000 people work at the yard, which is located along the Anacostia River.
The shootings took place at the Naval Sea Systems Command section in Building 197, where approximately 3,000 people work.
One gunman, identified as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, is dead as well as 12 victims. CBS reported that Alexis had a criminal history in Seattle, WA and Ft. Worth, TX, including “discharging a firearm in public.” A possible second perpetrator may still be at large.
Alexis was enlisted as a Petty Officer Third Class and later served in the Reserves in Ft. Worth. He had been working as a civilian contractor at the Navy Yard.
A police report generated from the gun-related incident in Ft. Worth indicated that his neighbor, whose floor and ceiling Alexis’s gun penetrated when it went off inside his apartment, was “terrified” of her downstairs neighbor.
The incident in Seattle was described as an “anger-fueled blackout” because Alexis said he “could not remember” firing the gun into the tires of a car.
ABC News reported that Alexis was discharged from the Navy for “a series of misconduct issues.” His father told police on Monday that his son had post-traumatic stress disorder and “anger management problems,” possibly from reportedly acting as a first responder to the 9-11 attacks in Manhattan in 2001.
A former roommate of Alexis’s said that he was not violent.
The Post & Email extends its deepest condolences to all who were affected.
Update, September 17, 2013: CNN and other outlets have reported today that an AR-15 firearm was not found at the scene of the crime as was reported on Monday.