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Chaos at Washington navy yard as shots ring out over breakfast Chaos at Washington navy yard as shots ring out over breakfast
(about 1 hour later)
Many of the 3,000 people who work at the Washington navy yard had just arrived for work. Some, like Patricia Ward, a 53-year-old logistics specialist, were in the basement cafeteria of building 197, mingling with co-workers and getting breakfast just after 8am. Many of the 3,000 people who work at the Washington naval yard had just arrived for work when the shooting started.
"I heard the first three shots: pow, pow, pow," Ward said. "A few seconds later: pop, pop, pop, pop – four more shots. And then everyone in the cafeteria just started running." Some, like Patricia Ward, a 53-year-old logistics specialist, were in the basement cafeteria of building 197 just after 8am, mingling with co-workers and getting breakfast.
A few moments later, Ward and other staff from the compound, wearing the lanyards with security passes needed to access the base, were streaming out of the gates and along M Street. "I heard the first three shots: 'pow, pow, pow'," Ward told the Guardian. "A few seconds later: 'pop, pop, pop, pop' – four more shots. And then everyone in the cafeteria just started running."
Moments later, Ward and other staff from the compound, wearing their security passes needed to access the base, were streaming out of the gates and along M Street.
Ward recalled seeing a heavily pregnant woman, and another co-worker who "looked like she was having a heart attack". "People were just flying out of the office. There was probably 20 or 30 people just running."Ward recalled seeing a heavily pregnant woman, and another co-worker who "looked like she was having a heart attack". "People were just flying out of the office. There was probably 20 or 30 people just running."
Hours after the first shots rang out, many details remained unclear. Police confirmed that one gunman had died, but also issued a description of two further suspects wearing "military-style uniforms". Asked why police thought there were more gunmen on the loose, police chief Cathy Lanier would only say: "We have reason to believe they were involved in some way and we are trying to locate them." Heading in the opposite direction, toward building 197, were "active shooter teams" – armed officers from Washington's Metropolitan police department and the park police, who were on patrol and in the area.
Minutes after she spoke, officials confirmed that one of the suspects had been identified and had been ruled out of the investigations. They were on the scene seven minutes after the first emergency calls were made at 8.15am.
Many of the streets surrounding the navy yard were in lockdown, and most of the staff at the base were obeying orders to stay put. Helicopters buzzed overhead, and multiple law enforcement agencies dispatched officers to the scene. In the early confusion, there were reports of another incident at joint base Bolling, an air force base several miles away. Those reports were later dismissed, although staff there were told to stay where they were. The navy base's security had already been involved in an exchange of fire with the suspected gunman, named by the FBI as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old who served in the navy between 2007 and 2011.
Enhanced security measures were put in place at the Pentagon, where spokesman George Little said: "While the Pentagon remains open, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency increased its security posture, not out of a specific threat, but as a proactive, precautionary measure." Alexis, whose home was listed as New York City, was a navy aviation electrician's mate third class. He previously lived in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was arrested in 2010 over a firearm offense.
President Obama was briefed repeatedly and was late for a planned speech on the economy. The shooting prompted the Senate to go into recess. Authorities they were still searching for a second gunman – identified as a black male with grey sideburns wearing olive-coloured military outfit – in order to "rule in or rule out" his involvement. A third man police initially described as a suspected was located and deemed not to be of interest.
It was not clear whether police released descriptions of two other possible gunmen out of caution or because they definitive information that the killer was not acting alone. One person in the building, Terrie Durham, said she saw a gunman with a rifle in a corridor. "We noticed him down the hall, and he stepped around the corner and we heard shots," she told WJLA TV.
What is known is that the first emergency calls were made to Washington's Metropolitan police department at 8.15am. Within seven minutes, an armed response unit was at the scene. Todd Brundidge, a co-worker who was stood beside Durham, said a gunman then turned the gun on office workers. "We could see him with the rifle and he raised and aimed at us and fired," he said.
Multiple witnesses said there was a gunman on the fourth-floor of building 197, used for navy administration. One report said the gunman had at one stage barricaded himself into a room on the fourth floor, the location of the office of vice-admiral Kevin McCoy, the commander of the navy sea systems command. There was no suggestion he was directly connected to the incident. It was not clear whether the gunman – or gunmen – had a particular connection with the navy yard, which is several blocks from the US Capitol and nearby marine barracks.
One person in the building, Terrie Durham, said she saw a gunman with a rifle in a corridor. "We noticed him down the hall and he stepped around the corner and we heard shots," she told WJLA TV. But the suggestion that the gunman was selecting victims at random in the navy yard appeared to be endorsed by another witness, navy commander Tim Jirus. He also heard shots, which initially sounded "far away and muffled". "It sounded to me like a cap gun," he said.
Todd Brundidge, a co-worker who was standing beside Durham, said the gunman then turned the gun on them. "We could see him with the rifle and he raised and aimed at us and fired," he said. After helping evacuate some people, Jirus was standing in an alleyway, beside a fire escape, when he said he started talking to another man who had just emerged from a nearby maintenance building to say he could hear gunshots.
It was not clear whether the gunman – or gunmen – had a particular connection with the navy yard, which is several blocks from the US Capitol and nearby marine barracks. Seconds later, the man Jirus was talking to was himself shot in the head.
After it opened in 1799, the navy yard served as the military's largest shipbuilding facility, but as the British marched on Washington in the war of 1812, military officials burned it rather than see it captured. "We heard two shots and he went down," Jirus told CNN. "I feel lucky to be here."
During the American civil war, the Lincoln assassination conspirators were held on its campus, and by the second word war, it had become the largest naval ordnance plant in the world. Now, it is headquarters of the naval sea systems command (Navsea) and is the largest of the Navy's five system commands. The yard is headquarters of the naval sea systems command (Navsea) and is the largest of the Navy's five system commands.
The suggestion that a gunman was selecting victims at random in the navy yard appeared to be endorsed by another witness, Tim Jirus. He also heard shots, which initially sounded "far away and muffled". "It sounded to me like a cap gun," he said. As police entered building 197, running through corridors and up staircases toward the fourth floor, where a gunman was reported to have barricaded himself in, they relayed a constant stream of what they were seeing to the MPD command centre, via radios.
After helping evacuate some people, Jirus was standing in an alleyway, beside a fire escape, when he said he started talking to another man who had just emerged from a nearby maintenance building. Seconds later, the man he was talking to was shot in the head. "There were multiple victims, there was gunfire going on," recounted Washington's police chief, Cathy Lanier.
"We heard two shots and he went down," Jirus told CNN. "I don't feel lucky because he got instead of me. But I feel lucky to be here." Law enforcement officials described what appears to have been a series of running gun fights which culminated in Alexis being shot dead.
There was no question Alexis "would have kept shooting" had he not been killed by police, Lanier said.
It was not until 4pm that police could give a complete tally of the victims. The city's mayor, Vincent Gray, said there were thirteen deaths, including Alexis, plus "more than a dozen" injured, although they did not all receive gunshot wounds.
"We all know this is a horrific tragedy," Gray said. "I don't know if we have ever seen anything like this in the city."
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