13 dead in Washington shooting rampage

WASHINGTON – A former US naval reservist killed 12 people in a shooting rampage at a military base here on Monday, before himself being killed in a shootout with police.

Police identified the alleged gunman as Aaron Alexis of Fort Worth, Texas, who served in the Navy from 2007 to 2011 before becoming a defense subcontractor for computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP).

US authorities probing the shooting spree at Washington’s Navy Yard, which news outlets early yesterday reported also injured 14, said the gunman appeared to have acted alone.

“We do now feel comfortable that we have the single and sole person responsible for the loss of life inside of the base today,” police chief Cathy Lanier said late Monday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) appealed to the public for information on the 34-year-old, whose military service was marked by disciplinary problems and who reportedly had once been arrested but not charged in Texas for shooting a bullet through his apartment ceiling.

“No piece of information is too small. We are looking to learn everything we can about his recent movements, his contacts and his associates,” said Valerie Parlave, assistant director of the FBI’s Washington field office.

The FBI released a photo of Alexis, who held the rank of an Aviation Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class and had served full-time in a logistics support

squadron in Fort Worth, according to the Navy.

The shooting left Washington on edge and there was a security scare hours later at the White House when a man who apparently threw firecrackers over a fence at the US president’s residence was swiftly arrested.

Even hours after the shooting, Alexis’ motivation for opening fire, reportedly with an AR-15 assault rifle, was unclear. His four-year stint in the Navy was troubled, officers said.

“There is definitely a pattern of misconduct during his service,” a US military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

Friends in Texas told US media that Alexis had an interest in Buddhism and was conversant in the Thai language and had thought about moving to Asia.

Most recently, Alexis was employed as an IT subcontractor for a company called “The Experts,” which was working on a contract to upgrade equipment for an intranet network used by the US Marine Corps and Navy, HP said in a statement.

The suspect’s work as a naval contractor suggested he may have had a pass that could gain him entry to the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Flags at half-mast

President Barack Obama ordered that flags be flown at half-mast in the US capital until Friday as a mark of respect for the dead.

A Washington police officer was among those injured. Hospital officials said he suffered serious wounds to his legs but was expected to survive.

One employee at the Navy Yard, Patricia Ward, said she had just paid for her breakfast at a cafeteria when shots rang out.

“I was waiting for my friend to pay when we heard the gun shot. It was three gun shots straight in a row, ‘pow-pow-pow’,” she told reporters.

“Three seconds later it was ‘pow-pow-pow.’ So it was like a total of seven gunshots. And we just started running.”

Flights out of the nearby Reagan National Airport were briefly delayed and several schools were on lockdown until anxious parents came to pick up their children in the afternoon.

The US Senate adjourned for the day as a precaution, and Washington’s baseball team, the Nationals, whose stadium is adjacent to the Navy Yard, called off its Monday evening game.

US Capitol Police said in a statement late Monday that congressional activities would resume as normal on Tuesday.

About 3,000 people work at the naval facility.

The complex also has a residence for the four-star chief of the US Navy, Admiral Jonathan Greenert.

No Pinoy casualties

The Philippine embassy in the US is determining if there are Filipino victims in the shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard that left at least 13 people dead and scores wounded, embassy officials said yesterday.

Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said that so far, there are no reports of Filipino casualties.

Cuisia said they are contacting the US Navy, local hospitals and the police to check for possible Filipino victims in the shooting.

“We want to be sure that our kababayans are out of harm’s way,” he said.  – Pia Lee-Brago, Ding Cervantes,