‘Cowardly attack’: At least twelve killed in rampage near White House
One of the gunmen, identified by authorities as 34-year-old navy employee Aaron Alexis, was killed but police were last night hunting two possible accomplices.
Both the remaining suspects, one black, one white, were wearing military-style uniforms although they were not believed to be serving troops.
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Hide AdPeople were being told to stay in their homes and out of the area as authorities hunted them.
One police officer was shot in a gunfight with one of the men.
The shootings happened inside the US military’s headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, targeting office workers a short distance from the White House.
Mourning the victims, President Barack Obama promised to ensure “whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible”.
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Hide AdWitnesses described a gunman opening fire from a fourth-floor overlook, aiming down on people in the first-floor cafeteria. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway.
Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman on the third floor.
He said: “He just turned and started firing.”
Last night a police officer and two civilian women were in critical condition at Washington Hospital Centre, said Janis Orlowski, the hospital’s chief operating officer.
A federal government official added that although the dead gunman’s motive may have been job-related, authorities had not ruled out anything, including terrorism. Alexis is believed to have had a criminal record and to have got into the Navy Yard by using someone else’s identification