Monday, October 7, 2013

Navy Yard Shooting Leaves 12 Dead

Max Charney
Staff Writer

Twelve people are dead from a mass shooting at a Navy Yard in Washington D.C on Monday Sept 16. authorities have concluded that Aaron Alexis acted alone in the shooting. Alexis was 34, he was later shot by police that same. Officials are still looking for a possible motive that would have prompted this attack.
  Alexis was able to enter the Navy Yard like any of the other of the workers (or any normal worker). He had a proper security pass and walked through, with a bag that held the disabled Remington 870 shotgun, upon further investigation, the shotgun revealed unexplained phrases sketched into the side, one saying: “Better off this way,” and the other reading “My elf weapon.” Alexis assembled the shotgun inside a bathroom at the headquarters of the Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA) also known as Building 197. Video surveillance shows Alexis entering the bathroom with the bag and leaving with the shotgun assembled. Then started to fire the shotgun at random. Investigators believe Alexis then went floor to floor shooting workers. He also shot and killed a security guard, Alexis took the security guard’s pistol as well and used it in the attack.
 Thirty minutes later law enforcement arrived and hunted down Alexis, he engaged in multiple firefights with police. He died from a gunshot but it is still unclear about how exactly he died. The Navy Yard does have their own police, but only seven officers were working that day. The capital was on a lockdown for several hours following the shooting.
 Alexis was a former Navy reservist and was a military contractor at the base. Alexis was diagnosed for insomnia but never sought out help for his condition, he also claimed that he heard voices in his head, and was being force to do the shooting because he was being controlled by low frequency radio waves.
 This shooting was the eleventh deadliest shooting in U.S history, followed by the July 20, 2012, movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo that left 12 dead. This is the thirty first shooting linked to a mental illness in the U.S. Adam Lanza was responsible for the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newtown, connecticut. Which was the second deadliest shooting in U.S history. He was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder (SID). He was also responsible for the deaths of twenty elementary school children, and seven adults including his mother. Almost all the school shootings in the past eight months have been related to mental illness. Adam Lanza was not treated for his mental health issues.
 Last Sunday, September 22, there was a memorial service for the victims of the shooting, president Obama was at attendence. The service was held at the Marine Barracks Washington, in southwest Washington. Those killed were Michael Arnold, 59 years old, Kathy Gaarde, 62 years old, John Roger Johnson, 73 years old, Arthur Daniels, 51 years old, Richard Michael Ridgell, 52 years old, Martin Bodrog, 54 years old, Vishnu Bhalchandra Pandit, 61 years old,  Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46 years old, Mary Francis Knight, 51 years old, Gerald Read, 58 years old, Sylvia Frasier, 53 years old, and Frank Kohler, 50 years old. Eight others were injured during the attack. Officials do not think that Alexis was targeting anyone specific.