Gunman opens fire at Navy Yard in Washington D.C., 13 dead

By Deborah Charles, Ian Simpson and Phil Stewart

A helicopter pulls what appears to be a shooting victim up as it hovers over a rooftop on the Washington Navy Yard campus in Washington, September 16, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed

Navy Yard workers, evacuated after the shooting, are reunited with loved ones at a makeshift Red Cross shelter at the Nationals Park baseball stadium near the affected naval installation Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Law enforcement officers stand in the street outside of the home of Cathleen Alexis, mother of Aaron Alexis in New York, September 16, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
 
 A woman is reunited with her husband, who was one of hundreds of Navy Yard workers evacuated to a makeshift Red Cross shelter after a shooting, at the Nationals Park baseball stadium near the affected Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
 
 A woman wipes her tears as she is reunited with her husband, who was one of hundreds of Navy Yard workers evacuated to a makeshift Red Cross shelter after a shooting, at the Nationals Park baseball Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 Police work in the U.S. Navy Yard after a shooting in Washington September 16, 2013. REUTERS-Joshua Roberts
A A helicopter pulls up an evacuee as it hovers over a rooftop on the Washington Navy Yard campus in Washington, September 16, 2013. REUTERS-Jason Reed
 
 A family member of a Navy Yard worker who was evacuated during a shooting arrives hoping to find him at a makeshift shelter at the Nationals Park baseball stadium near the naval installation in Washington, September 16, 2013. REUTERS-Jonathan Ernst

 A combination photo shows Aaron Alexis, who the FBI believe to be responsible for the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard in the Southeast area of Washington, DC, is shown in this handout photo released by the FBI on September 16, 2013. REUTERS-FBI-Handout via Reuters
 


 Aaron Alexis, who the FBI believe to be responsible for the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard in the Southeast area of Washington, DC, is shown in this poster released by the FBI on September 16, 2013. REUTERS-FBI-Handout via Reuters 

A U.S. flag flies at half staff at the White House September 16, 2013 in remembrance of victims of a shooting in the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington.
Credit: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

 U.S. Secret Service officers detain a man after he reportedly threw firecrackers over the fence of the White House in Washington September 16, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

(Reuters) - A decorated military veteran opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday in a burst of violence that killed 13 people, including the gunman, and set off waves of panic at the military installation just miles from the White House and U.S. Capitol.

The FBI identified the suspect as Aaron Alexis, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, a onetime Navy contractor who attended a Buddhist temple and had two gun-related brushes with the law. He received a general discharge from the Navy Reserve in 2011 after a series of misconduct issues, a Navy official said.
He was killed in one of several gun battles with police.

The motive - and how he breached security - remained unknown. About 12 people were injured, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said, though it was unclear how many of them were shot.

Hours after the incident, police were searching for a possible second suspect in an incident that raised questions about security at the Washington Navy Yard, about a mile south of the U.S. Capitol and 3 miles from the White House.

Somehow the gunman managed to enter the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building about 8:20 a.m. (1220 GMT) and started picking off victims from a fourth-floor atrium, witnesses said.

That set off pandemonium, with fire alarms sounding and security officers yelling at people to leave the building. Hundreds fled, some scrambling over walls to escape the gunfire. A loudspeaker announcement ordered those who remained to stay in their offices.

The command where the shooting takes place requires two separate identification badges, one to get on the base and another to access the building, according to a source who works at the Navy Yard and requested anonymity.

Police patrol officers and active shooter teams responding to calls fought a series of gun battles with the shooter until he was killed, Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.

"Everybody was panicking and trying to decide which way to get out. A few of us just ran out the side exit," Patricia Ward, who works at the Navy Yard, told reporters.

Security guards told people to "run, run, run," Ward said.

It was the worst attack at a U.S. military installation since U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan opened fire on unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 31 others. Hasan, who said he acted in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries, was convicted and sentenced to death by a military jury in August.

"We are confronting yet another mass shooting, and today it happened at another military installation, in our nation's capital," said U.S. President Barack Obama, who vowed to enact "sensible" gun control measures after a gunman shot dead 20 school children and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut last December.

INTEREST IN BUDDHISM, THAILAND

Alexis, a one-time Texas resident who was known to worship at a Buddhist temple, served in the military and most recently was furthering his education while holding a job in the private sector, his father, Algernon Alexis, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"This comes as a complete shock," the elder Alexis said when told his son was the suspected shooter.
Alexis served full time in the U.S. Navy's Reserve from May 2007 to January 2011, reaching the rank of Aviation Electrician's Mate 3rd Class, and received the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a Navy official told Reuters.

He had been a civilian information technology contractor for the Navy, though it was unclear whether Alexis was working at the Washington Navy Yard in a civilian capacity at the time of the incident, officials said.

He was arrested on September 4, 2010, in Fort Worth, Texas, on a misdemeanor charge of discharge of a firearm but the case was dropped when investigators determined that Alexis was cleaning his gun and it accidentally fired, Tarrant County prosecutors, said in a statement.

Alexis was also arrested in Seattle in 2004 for shooting out a construction worker's car tires in an anger-fueled "blackout" triggered by perceived "disrespect," according to the Seattle Police Department. Alexis told detectives "he was present during the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, and how those events had disturbed him," according to a police report.

Alexis worked at the "Happy Bowl" restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2008, said Tiki Confer, 64, the owner of the Bangkok House Thai restaurant in White Settlement, Texas. She said he spoke Thai and worshipped at a Buddhist temple.

"He was a very nice boy. When I saw his picture on the news, I was shocked," Confer told Reuters.

The shooting rattled the U.S. capital, forcing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly suspend departures at Reagan National Airport. The District of Columbia Public Schools put six schools and an administration building on lockdown as a precaution.

The Washington Nationals baseball team postponed their game against the Atlanta Braves scheduled for Monday night at nearby Nationals Park.

Agents sealed off the area in front of the White House when a man threw firecrackers over its north fence line.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus called the Navy Yard shootings "an attack on the Navy family."
The shooting revealed a potentially serious security breach.

Military personnel are generally banned from carrying weapons on military installations but most people with proper credentials are not routinely checked for firearms.

"It will be interesting to see as this develops who the shooter is, how he got in," said Navy Commander Tim Jirus, who was in charge of evacuating the Sea Command building. "Right now a lot of people are wondering just how safe the building is or just how safe the office environment is."

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Susan Cornwell, Lacey Johnson, Margaret Chadbourn, Chris Francescani and Tabassum Zakaria; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Dina Kyriakidou; Editing by Grant McCool and Jim Loney)