Shots Fired at Pentagon; Two Policemen Injured- Gunman Dead

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/pentagon-shots-fired-police-officers-reported-injured/story?id=10014570
Shots Fired at Pentagon; Two Police and Gunman Injured
Suspect Reported in Custody; Defense Headquarters in Lockdown
By NED POTTER
Thursday, March 4, 2010


An aerial view of the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. s seen in this Sept. 2003 file photo. There were reports of two police officers were shot outside the Pentagon Metro station on Thursday, March 4, 2009.
(Andy Dunaway/USAF via Getty Images)


Two police officers were injured by a gunman firing shots outside the Pentagon tonight and a suspect is in custody, a police spokesman said.
The officers' injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

The suspect was injured when police returned fire, according to a Defense Department statement. The extent of the suspect's injuries were not immediately clear.

All three were taken to George Washington Hospital in Washington, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The shooting occurred around 6:35 p.m. at the entrance to the Pentagon Metro Station, which is just outside the Pentagon's main entrance. 
The officers belonged to the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the Defense Department said in a statement. One appeared to be hit in the lower part of the body, according to reporters there. He appeared to be alert when he was loaded into an ambulance.

Initially, hundreds of employees at the Pentagon were ordered to go into "Code Red" -- the entire building locked down, with no one allowed to enter or leave.
At least three ambulances were called to the scene, and all parking lots at the massive Defense Department headquarters were closed off.

After about 45 minutes, people were allowed to leave the Pentagon building through entrances other than the one closest to the Metro station, though metro trains bypassed the Pentagon station.

Service to the station resumed around 8 p.m., according to a statement by Metro officials, though parts of the facility remained closed as police continued to investigate the shooting.
he Pentagon Metro station stop is a couple of hundred feet from the famous five sided building. People leaving the station who wish to enter the Pentagon must show ID to Pentagon police in order to get close to the building

The Pentagon, just across the Potomac River from downtown Washington, is, by area, the world's largest office building. About 26,000 people work there, according to the Defense Department.
Edit:Change subject  title to include death of gunman.  MB

[MuffyBee]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PENTAGON_METRO_SHOOTING?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-03-04-19-55-40
2 Pentagon police officers shot
Thursday, March 4, 2010

By CHRISTINE SIMMONS
Associated Press Writer
 WASHINGTON (AP) -- A gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at the teeming subway entrance to the Pentagon complex Thursday evening, wounding two police officers before being shot and critically wounded, officials said.

Authorities said all three were taken to a hospital. Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police, said the two officers suffered grazing wounds that were not life-threatening.

The suspect, believed to be a U.S. citizen, walked up to a security checkpoint at the Pentagon in an apparent attempt to get inside the Defense Department headquarters, at about 6:40 p.m. "He just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting," Keevill said. "He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion on his face." The Pentagon officers returned fire with semiautomatic weapons.

Of the suspect, the chief said, "His injury is pretty critical."

The rush-hour assault happened outside a massively fortified building that nevertheless is near busy crowds of transit riders.

The subway station is immediately adjacent to the Pentagon building. Since a redesign following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon, riders can no longer disembark directly into the building. Riders take a long escalator ride to the surface from the underground station, then pass through a security check outside the doors of the building, where further security awaits.

In the immediate aftermath, all Pentagon entrances were secured, then all were reopened except one from the subway, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

A Pentagon official working late in the building said people inside first heard of the shooting on television. They were later told the building was locked down and to stay in place. The huge five-sided building is crisscrossed by 10 main corridors.

Then at around 7:30 p.m., they heard an announcement on the public address system that they could leave through Corridor 3 - one widely used to get access to one of the parking lots.

"We really don't know anything, just that we can leave now through that corridor," one official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak about the incident.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030500957.html?hpid=dynamiclead
Suspected gunman in Pentagon shooting acted alone, officials say
(Photo gallery in article at link)
Friday, March 5, 2010

By Allison Klein, Clarence Williams and Debbi Wilgoren
Friday, March 5, 2010; 9:41 AM

The California man who calmly opened fire on two police officers at an entrance to the Pentagon Thursday appears to have acted alone and was not connected to any terrorist plot, Pentagon police chief Richard S. Keevill said.
The shooter, identified as 36-year-old John Patrick Bedell, was dressed in a business suit and carried two semiautomatic weapons and "many magazines" of ammunition, Keevill said. "He walked very directly to the officers and engaged," Keevill said.

Officers Jeffrey Amos and Marvin Carraway were superficially wounded, one in the shoulder and one in the thigh. Both were treated at George Washington University Hospital in Northwest Washington and released. They and a third officer returned fire at Bedell, critically wounding him in the head, said Keevill, chief of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.

Bedell died at George Washington University Hospital.

Federal law enforcement sources identified the guns allegedly used by Bedell as a Sturm 9mm and a Taurus 9mm. Investigators are tracing the origins of the weapons and checking to see whether Bedell had permits for them.

Keevill said police and the FBI are examining surveillance video that shows Bedell as he approached the Pentagon, and have tracked his road trip to the Washington area from California over the past several weeks. Investigators located his car at a nearby parking garage and impounded it, and are processing the evidence found inside -- including more ammunition.

Police are looking at possible anti-government Internet postings by Bedell, Keevill said, and still trying to establish his motive for the attack at a doorway to the nation's defense headquarters -- one of the busiest, most prominent and closely guarded buildings in the Washington area.

"There are no indications at this point that there are any international or domestic connections to this incident at all," Keevill said. "At this time it appears to be a single individual that had issues."

No one else was injured in the incident, which police said unfolded in less than a minute.

Pentagon police spokesman Chris Layman said both Amos and Carraway have been with the force a little more than a year. Amos is a veteran of the Air Force, Layman said, while Carraway, of Clinton, is a former Marine.

Like all members of the Pentagon force, the officers completed a 22-week training course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center run by the Department of Homeland Security, Layman said. They were checking ID badges outside the Pentagon when they came under attack.

The shooting occurred at 6:40 p.m., near the end of rush hour. The Pentagon Metrorail station and transit center were shut down a few hours after the shooting and remained closed Friday morning, as investigators continued to search for evidence. Trains are passing through the station, officials said, but passengers have to board or disembark at the nearby Pentagon City station.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703915204575103131123111518.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond
Pentagon Gunman Dies; Mystery of Assault Deepens
Friday, March 5, 2010
WASHINGTON—The sole suspect in Thursday's Pentagon shooting died from the wounds he received in gunfire exchange with police, deepening the mystery surrounding the failed assault on the Defense Department's sprawling headquarters.

At a morning news conference, Pentagon Police Chief Richard Keevill said that the alleged gunman, John Patrick Bedell, had been carrying two 9-mm semiautomatic pistols and several magazines of ammunition. More ammunition was found in Mr. Bedell's car, Chief Keevill said.

Pentagon officials said that Mr. Bedell, 36 years old, appeared to have acted alone and that authorities were expanding their investigation into what may have prompted him to open fire on Pentagon police officers Thursday evening. Web postings linked to Mr. Bedell reflected antigovernment sentiment.
There is no indication at this point that there is any domestic or international terrorist connection, Chief Keevill said.

Concerns about the safety of U.S. military installations have been running high since a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas last November killed 13 troops and an earlier incident outside a Little Rock, Ark., recruiting station killed one soldier and badly wounded another. Both of the earlier assaults appear to have been religiously motivated.
More...

[Nut44x4]

BLOCKED WEBSITE

[Nut44x4]

John Patrick Bedell: Attack on the Pentagon
March 6, 10:44 AM


John Patrick Bedell, the man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon last Thursday had a history of exhibiting psychotic behavior and for being treated for mental illness. According to Bedell’s parents, their son had become so delusional that his parents contacted local authorities weeks ago warning anyone that would listen that their son was unstable and might have a gun, authorities said Friday.

It's still a mystery why John Patrick Bedell, a man that neighbors described as being pleasant and well dressed, opened fire Thursday at the Pentagon entrance, wounding two police officers before being fatally shot by return police fire. Two of the officers involved in the exchange of gun fire were briefly hospitalized with minor injuries.

John Bedell has long been diagnosed by psychiatrists as being bipolar, aka manic depressant, and had been in and out of psychiatric treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, told authorities that Bedell tried to cure his mental illness by using marijuana, which inadvertently made his conditions worse.

Dr. Nelson: "Without his stabilizing medication, Bedell’s feelings of agitation and fearfulness increased”.

On Friday afternoon, Bedell's parents released a statement saying his actions were caused by mental illness, not a defective character.

On January 4th Bedell’s parents reported him missing to police authorities; one day after a Texas Highway Patrol officer stopped him for speeding in Amarillo, as indicated on the police missing person's report. Police transcripts further report when Bedell was asked by the highway patrolman where he was driving to, Bedell replied that he was heading to the East Coast. Observing Bedell’s somewhat confused demeanor and disheveled appearance, the officer made a decision to call Bedell’s mother on Bedell’s cell phone.

The transcripts read that Kaye Bedell asked the officer to take her son to a mental health facility, but that the son refused. The patrolman let Bedell go with a warning. The next day, Kaye Bedell told sheriff deputies in California that her son had no reason to travel to the East Coast because he had no friends or family there and she and her husband were worried about his mental state and his intentions.

It appears Bedell's parents found an e-mail from their son that indicated he had bought a gun. Based upon this ominous action, the parents asked authorities to help them find Bedell and get him medical assistance.

On January 18th the 36-year-old Bedell returned to his parent's home telling them "not to ask any questions" about where he had been. But he left after that, and his parents didn't know where he went.

Not much is known about Bedell’s trip east, but police know he spent time in Reno, Nevada where Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said he was arrested on Feb. 1st with two ounces of marijuana in his car but no weapons.

The Bedell family put out a statement to the media on Friday saying that they were "devastated as a family by the news."

Part of the statement read: "We may never know why he made this terrible decision, although one thing is certainly clear, his actions were caused by an illness and not a defective character."

Investigators are currently involved in trying to decipher a strange series of Internet postings that suggested John Bedell was fascinated with conspiracy theories, computer programming, libertarian economics and the science of warfare.

On a Wikipedia page linked to Bedell, a user by the name JPatrickBedell expressed disdain and resentment toward the government and the armed forces.

JPatrickBedell wrote that he was "determined to see that justice is served" in the death of Marine Col. James Sabow, who was found dead in the backyard of his California home in 1991. The death was ruled a suicide but the case has long been the source of theories of a cover up. Sabow's family has maintained that he was murdered because he was about to expose covert military operations in Central America involving drug smuggling.

On the day of the Pentagon attack, John Bedell left his green, 12-year-old Toyota in a nearby shopping mall parking garage.

Bedell approached the Pentagon entrance Thursday evening wearing a jacket, dress shirt and pants, appearing like any other commuter heading home.

Police say that Bidell opened fire with a 9 mm handgun just five feet from the nearest officer, Marvin Carraway. Fellow officer Jeffrey Amos ran out of a nearby guard booth to confront Bedell, as did a third, unidentified officer. All three officers gave chase and fired at Bedell, who was struck in the head and left arm.

Investigators are confident that Bedell acted alone, and there is no indication he was connected to any terrorist organizations or under any terrorist influences.

As always Louisianans, the New Orleans Examiner.Com is interested in what you think. Could the attack on the Pentagon have been prevented if medical authorities kept better tabs on John Bedell? Or was this an unfortunate and tragic incident that was unpreventable? Inquiring minds want to know. Sound off.
http://www.examiner.com/x-21743-St-John-the-Baptist-Parish-Progressive-Examiner~y2010m3d6-John-Patrick-Bedell-Attack-on-the-Pentagon

[MuffyBee]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6912638.html
Gun used in Pentagon shooting linked to Memphis police
Sunday, March 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.

The use of guns that once were in police custody and were later involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the United States: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get other guns or buy equipment such as bulletproof vests.

In fact, on the day of the Pentagon shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcement agencies in the state had the option of destroying a gun. Under the new version, agencies can only destroy a gun if it’s inoperable or unsafe.

Kentucky has a similar law, but it’s not clear how many other states have laws specifically designed to promote the police sale or trade of confiscated weapons.

A nationwide review by The Associated Press in December found that over the previous two years, 24 states — mostly in the South and West, where gun-rights advocates are particularly strong — have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions. Gun rights groups are making a greater effort to pass favorable legislation in state capitals.

John Timoney, who led the Philadelphia and Miami police departments and served as New York’s No. 2 police official, said he doesn’t believe police departments should be putting more guns into the market.

“I just think it’s unseemly for police departments to be selling guns that later turn up,” he said, recalling that he had once been offered the chance to sell guns to raise money for the police budget.

“Obviously, we always need the money but I just said, ‘No, we will take the loss and get rid of the guns’,” said the former police chief, who now works for Andrews International, a security consulting firm.

A spokeswoman for the Memphis police said gun swaps are a way to save taxpayer money.

One of the weapons in the Pentagon attack was seized by Memphis police in 2005 and later traded to a gun dealer; the gun used in the Jan. 4 courthouse shooting in Las Vegas as sold by a judge’s order and the proceeds given to the Memphis-area sheriff’s office. Neither weapon was sold by the Memphis law enforcement agencies directly to the men who later used them to shoot officers.

In both cases, the weapons first went to licensed gun dealers, but later came into the hands of men who were legally barred from possessing them: one a convicted felon; the other mentally ill.

The history of the two guns in the recent attacks was described by officials from multiple law enforcement agencies on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigations. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives provided reports on the gun traces to the investigating agencies, but is barred from publicly disclosing the results.

At the Pentagon, gunman John Patrick Bedell carried two 9 mm handguns, one of them a Ruger.

Law enforcement officials say Bedell, a man with a history of severe psychiatric problems, had been sent a letter by California authorities Jan. 10 telling him he was prohibited from buying a gun because of his mental history.

Nineteen days later, the officials say, Bedell bought the Ruger at a gun show in Las Vegas. Such a sale by a private individual does not require the kind of background check that would have stopped Bedell’s purchase.

Mike Campbell, an ATF spokesman in Washington, would not confirm the details. He would only say Bedell “appears to have purchased the gun from a private seller.”

The gun already had changed hands among gun dealers in Georgia and Pennsylvania by the time Bedell bought it. Officer Karen Rudolph, a Memphis police spokeswoman, said her department traded the weapon to a dealer in 2008 for a different gun that was better for police work.

The Ruger had sat in Memphis police storage for years at that point, after being confiscated from a convicted felon at a 2005 traffic stop.

The trail of the gun used at the Las Vegas federal courthouse is older and harder to pin down. Johnny Lee Wicks, an elderly man enraged over cuts to his Social Security benefits, opened fire with the shotgun at the security entrance to the courthouse. He killed one officer, Stanley Cooper, and wounded another.

Wicks, like Bedell at the Pentagon, was killed by officers’ return fire.

Before that courthouse attack, what records exist suggest officers in Memphis confiscated that gun in 1998.

A judge in Memphis ordered the sale of the shotgun as part of a criminal case, and the proceeds of that sale went to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed sheriff’s spokesman Steve Shular.

He said the gun dealer who bought it later sold the weapon to a dealer in Nevada. It is not clear how Wicks got the shotgun.

Rich Wyatt, a former police chief in Alma, Colo., who now operates a gun store — and who has bought weapons from police agencies — defended the practice of police selling guns.

“Maybe if they put the money they made selling the guns into training those officers better, they’d be better off,” said Wyatt. “Nobody ever, ever questions selling a car that was used in a crime. I am sad that officers were shot, but I don’t care where the guns came from. To say we need to chase guns is not the issue, we need to chase people.”