Indian-American among Washington shooting victims

Washington, Sep 17 (IANS): Vishnu Pandit, a person of Indian origin, was listed among seven of the 12 Washington Navy Yard shooting victims identified by the authorities. All of the victims are described as civilians or contractors.

Pandit, 61, was identified Monday night along with six others: Michael Arnold, 59; Sylvia Frasier, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Frank Kohler, 50; and Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46.

No further details were available about the victims.

The 13 dead include alleged gunman Aaron Alexis, 34, who was killed after an encounter with security in Monday morning's shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Mayor Vincent Gray told reporters.

Eight other people were injured in the incident. Three of those injured were shot, including one Washingtonpolice officer, Scott Williams, who was shot in the leg, Gray said.

"The other five injuries range anywhere from stress reaction to someone who fell and had a head injury, contusion to the chest, arm abrasions and chest pain," he said.

One employee who survived the morning's gunfire hid in a locker for nearly 11 hours, police told The Washington Post. A SWAT team found the worker in the locker at around 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, Washington police expressing confidence that only one person was involved in the shooting started lifting a shelter-in-place order for residents who live nearby, Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Monday night.

Investigators have "exhausted all means available to support or discount" the lookout order issued earlier for a possible shooter in addition to suspect Alexis, she said.

Alexis who received a general discharge in 2011 from the Navy Reserve, was arrested but not charged in a gun incident in Seattle in back 2004 but still had a security clearance with a military contractor that would have allowed him access to the Navy Yard, officials said.

Even as the FBI ruled out any other shooters in the rampage at the headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, Metropolitan Police were trying to track down at least one person to determine whether that individual had any involvement.

"We'll continue to seek information about what the motive is. We don't have any reason at this stage to suspect terrorism," Washington Mayor Vincent Gray told reporters, "but certainly it has not been ruled out."

The other possible suspect was described by police as a black male, between 40 and 50, wearing an "olive drab-coloured" military-style uniform.

President Barack Obama called the shooting a "cowardly act" that targeted military and civilians serving their country and vowed that federal and local law enforcement officials would work together to hold accountable those responsible for the shooting.

"They know the dangers of serving abroad," he said, "but today they faced the unimaginable violence that we wouldn't have expected here at home."

The worst shooting incident at a military installation since 13 people were killed at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 began unfolding at 8:20 a.m. when several shots were fired inside the southeast Washington facility, where some 3,000 military and civilian employees work.

Air traffic to Reagan National Airport was briefly suspended after the shooting and ten public and charter schools and a public school administration building in the capital were also placed on lockdown as a precaution.

Officials postponed a Washington Nationals baseball game that had been scheduled for Monday night at Nationals Park, just a few blocks away from the Washington Navy Yard, US Navy's oldest land establishment created in 1799.

Washington, Sep 16 (AP): Several people were killed and as many as 10 wounded today in a shooting at a building at the Washington Navy Yard.

A defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said several killed, as many as 10 wounded in shooting.

The Navy said shots were fired around 8:20 a.m. (1220 GMT) at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, where about 3,000 people work.

The number of the victims and their conditions was not immediately known, though the Navy said multiple people had been injured.

Police and federal agents from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene. Ambulances were parked outside, streets in the area were closed and flights at Reagan National Airport were temporarily halted.

A US Park Police helicopter hovered over the building and appeared to drop a basket or a stretcher with a person onto the roof.

Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the Navy's five system commands and accounts for a quarter of the Navy's entire budget. It builds, buys and maintains the Navy's ships and submarines and their combat systems.