Police say as many as 2 shooters have killed 4, injured 8 on grounds of Washington Navy Yard

**freak** · September 17, 2013

View Photo Gallery — 10 people shot at Navy Yard: Police search for active shooter on grounds of Washington Navy Yard in Southeast D.C.

As many as two shooters, including one in fatigues, killed at least four people and wounded eight others in a rampage at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, police said, spreading fear and chaos across the region as authorities tried to contain the incident.

Initial reports were marked by confusion, but by late morning, police said at least one of the shooters was “down.” It was unclear whether that means the suspect was in custody, wounded or dead. They said that another suspect may have been was pinned down in a building on the installation in Southeast Washington near Nationals Park.

The U.S. Capitol Police says there's no threat to the U.S. Capitol complex including the seven congressional office buildings. via @edatpost

The police “didn’t say what was going on,” one Navy Yard contractor said. “They just said, ‘Run!’ ”

(The Washington Post)

Gunfire was heard shortly before 11 a.m., two and a half hours after the first shots were fired, an an area where police believed that person was barricaded. Police were sweeping Building 197, the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters where the shooter was apparently holed up. The number of shooters still was unclear.

At least two police officers were shot. Police on the scene said one is a D.C. Metro Police officer who was shot twice in the leg and was evacuated on a helicopter that took off from a rooftop. The other was a base officer. The D.C. officer, a male, was concious at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and his chances for survival were good, hospital officials said.

Janis Orlowski, the chief medical officer at Washington Hospital Center, said three victims in all were brought to the center, all in critical condition but alert, responsive and able to talk with doctors. The victims were also able to speak briefly to law enforcement officers before undergoing surgery or treatment, she said.

The other two victims at the hospital were female civilians, Orlowski said at a press conference. All are likely to survive.

Ten public and charter schools and a public school administration building in the District were placed on lockdown as a precaution, and flights out of Reagan National Airport were briefly halted, causing delays even after they began departing again.

Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, the chief of Naval Operations, was evacuated from his residence at the Navy Yard complex shortly after the first report of shots fired, Navy officials said.

Greenert, a four-star admiral and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was safely evacuated to the Pentagon along with his wife, Darleen, said Cmdr. Ryan Perry, a Navy spokesman.

The U.S. Navy said that three shots were fired around 8:20 a.m. at Building 197, where about 3,000 people work.

Rick Mason, a program management analyst who is a civilian with the U.S. Navy, told the Associated Press that a gunman was shooting from a fourth floor overlook in the hallway outside his office. He said the gunman was aiming at people in the building’s first floor cafeteria.

David Stevens, a Navy contractor, was on the phone talking in building 197 when he heard an initial volley of shots fired. He heard people shouting that a shoorter was on the building’s fourth floor.

He said he ran to the edge of a glass atrium that overlooks all the floors and glanced up, only to hear a “second deluge” of shots. The fire alarm sounded, and people began exiting the building.