‘Cowardly attack’: At least twelve killed in rampage near White House

At least 12 people died and four more were injured – three critically – in a shooting rampage at a US Navy yard in Washington DC yesterday.

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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People 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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Witnesses 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

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