'Several' people shot at US Navy yard in Washington

A gunman has shot "several" people at the Washington Navy Yard, a naval installation in the US capital, the US Navy has said.

The Navy confirmed police had entered an office building in search of a gunman, after shots were fired at 08:20 local time (13:20 GMT).

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.

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.

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.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24111481#

At least 4 were killed according to NBC news.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/16/20522196-gunman-opens-fire-at-navy-yard-in-washington-several-wounded-officials-say?lite

Same old, same old.
Now if only the US Armed Forces were armed...

Hmm....well, if that had happened in some Little Rock schools, they would've been ready for them!! (Little Rock having decided "for", then "against", and then finally" for" allowing staff to conceal and carry)....something messed up when schools are armedto the teeth and the Navy isn't!

They are now saying 12 were killed.

At least 12 plus 4 wounded according to the BBC.

I am somehow going to turn this incident and the whole mass shooting phenomena into a Sociology class lecture tomorrow night. I have 23 hours to figure out how I am going to do that.

Kath, you can quote me tomorrow night: I am horrified that I am getting numb to the horror ~

Sooz

That is horrifying. I am angry which is my normal reaction to things.

If you're horrified or angry now, wait until you read this...



Alexis did have at least two run-ins with the law on a gun problem: Prosecutors in Texas said he was arrested in September 2010 by Fort Worth police on an accusation that he recklessly discharged a gun, a misdemeanor there. Investigators later determined that Alexis was cleaning a gun when it accidentally fired, sending a bullet into the apartment upstairs, prosecutors said.

Alexis told police he was cleaning his gun while he was cooking, and his hands were slippery. Prosecutors determined that there wasn’t enough evidence of recklessness to bring a case.

In 2004, Alexis was charged with malicious mischief by Seattle police after he shot out the tires of a construction workers vehicle. Those charges were dropped, but a Seattle officer said Alexis admitted to shooting the vehicle because the worker had disrespected him. Alexis told the officer he was present during the events of 9/11 and that they had "disturbed" him, according the Seattle PD incident report.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/16/20527513-alleged-washington-shooter-served-as-navy-reservist-may-have-recently-lost-job?lite

I think it has to do with all the heightened militarization of everything we see around us. Our police look like marines. Our TV shows can't seem to go a day without a gun or an explosion. We've been involved in two protracted official wars and let's not mention the "War-On-This-That-And-Everything" tagline that our media likes to repeat ad nauseum. I'm all for those old buggers saluting their lost buddies in front of the cenotaph but geez - do we really need to honour every single bloody battle that took place over the last couple centuries? We could learn more about ourselves as a species if we spent more time learning about what led to all those tragic events in our history than if we glorify every poor sap who died believing they were doing it for "King and Country".

I think it has to do with a global narcissism. The shooter Alexis admitted to shooting the vehicle because the worker had disrespected him.

People aren't generally going to respect you. The world is full of racists, sexists, bullies of all sorts, and for the most part people not respecting one another.

I was teaching Piaget's stages of Cognitive Development today and we were discussing the preoperational phase is marked by egocentric thought. I think most of these mass murderers only engage in egocentric thought. They are hurt and they only think of their own pain or how others wronged them.

They've never learned how to self soothe or to think of others. There are millions of people characterized that way but relatively few mass murderers so it's only one element.

There have always been those who feel the pain so strongly that they want to end it all. It seems to me, though, that there is an increase in the number of those that want to take others with them. I hate that people feel such pain and hopelessness but I hate eve more that they take others with them and cause such pain for the ones surviving. It could be that it has always been this way and I just hear about it more because of media. I'm not sure about that. It seems the "I'll show them" mentality has gotten worse.

I am ashamed of the lack of emotion I was feeling yesterday. A friend of mine posted early on his Facebook page that he was ok and had gone home, but that his cube mate was shot. I heard DOT was on lockdown and I did not even try to contact anyone I know who might have been in that building. I think I was just overwhelmed at my proximity to violence, and stupidity on Capitol Hill.

one of the top 10 worst mass killings in US history.

On the NBC news website, they had this link;

Navy Yard gunman's relative: 'No one saw it coming'
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/aaron-alexis-shooting-washington-navy-new-york-city-223962341.html


At the same time, they had this...


Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter, reported hearing voices in the weeks before the rampage, and said that three people were sending vibrations through the ceiling to keep him from sleeping, police said Tuesday.

Police in Newport, R.I., said that Alexis called them to a Marriott hotel there on the morning of Aug. 7 and reported that he was being followed and was worried that the people were going to hurt him.

Alexis told police that the three talked to him through the walls, floor or ceiling at three hotels — two commercial hotels in Rhode Island and one on a naval base there. He told them that they used a microwave machine to send vibrations and keep him awake.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/17/20535835-navy-yard-shooter-reported-hearing-voices-6-weeks-before-spree-police-say?lite


No one saw this coming? Really?

Pat Robertson's AIDS rings are about on the same level. Does that make him a danger?

i am thinking....yes.

John - This weekend I interviewed a schizophrenic new mother. She had voices tell her to harm the baby. She explained to me that voices have been talking to her for 5 years (since she was 14 years old) and she knows not to listen to them. The psychiatrist said that she could handle this in outpatient.

For me, this pretty much sums it up...


Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis tried to buy an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week after test firing one, but the store wouldn't sell it to him right away, CBS News has learned.

The reason for the refusal isn't clear.

Alexis then purchased a shotgun he used in his rampage, sources tell CBS News.

The owners of two gun stores in Virginia told CBS News Alexis would have been able to buy an AR-15, he just wouldn't have gotten it right away.

Anyone can buy the assault-style weapon in Virginia, but the dealer would have to observe the laws of the buyer's home state.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57603416/aaron-alexis-tried-to-buy-assault-rifle-but-was-unable-to/

A man who was mentally disturbed to the point that he heard voices, a man who had 2 incidents with guns in which the police were called, can walk into a store and buy a shotgun.

Seems like the U.S. isn't even going to try to prevent this from happening.

We discussed access to guns in sociology class. There was a man who was disturbed that an incident when he was 16 was interfering with his concealed carry license. One older man thought it was punishing responsible gun owners to legislate away their rights. We tried to discuss family history of mental illness, but they thought if a son was schizophrenic it was even more important for the parent to have the gun for protection. I said once a child is past age 12 they will know your pass codes. They disagreed.

This class is highly pro gun. They also have three ex-military members who are highly pro-gun.

Wayne LaPierre's deadly obsession rages on ~ ~ emphasis/bolding below is in the original ~ Sooz

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre: ‘There Weren’t Enough Good Guys With Guns’ At Navy Yard Shooting
By Aviva Shen on September 22, 2013 at 10:57 am

Wayne LaPierre, Vice President of the National Rifle Association, blamed this week’s shooting at the Navy Yard on a shortage of firearms. Speaking with David Gregory on Meet the Press, LaPierre charged that the base was “completely unprotected” when Aaron Alexis entered, and called for even more armed guards than were already on duty.

Gregory questioned this logic, pointing out that this attack occurred at a military facility with a heavier armed guard presence than most other places.


Watch it:


In reality, police were on the scene within two to three minutes of the shooting, and security guards had already gone after the gunman. Even in those few minutes, the gunman had managed to shoot several people and then had an all-out gun battle with law enforcement, wounding one internal security guard and one Metropolitan police officer. Most gunmen in recent years have needed only a few minutes to wreak havoc. The 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood army base in Texas happened in four minutes, despite heavy security. The deadliest school massacre in U.S. history, at Virginia Tech, took just nine minutes.

LaPierre, who also called for arming teachers after the Newtown shooting, seems to believe that arming every single person at military facilities and in schools would stop the now regular occurrences of fatal gun violence in the U.S. However, even when responders to violence are trained, more guns in a tense situation often hurt more than they help. Just this week, New York police officers accidentally shot two bystanders while pursuing a disoriented, unarmed man. Last year, police shot nine bystanders while confronting the Empire State Building gunman.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/09/22/2661551/navy-yard-nra/

Anyone who buys into LaPierre`s argument needs a psych evaluation and should definitely NOT be allowed to posess guns.

Aaron Alexis was one of those `good guys`with a gun until he wasn`t.

let's see....military base.....completely unprotected.......insane much?