John Patrick Bedell : Pentagon Suspect Shooting
March 5th, 2010 | by |
WASHINGTON (AP)- The D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office says the alleged shooter at the Pentagon has died.
Beverly Fields, chief of staff of the D.C. medical examiner’s office, said the body of 36-year-old John Patrick Bedell arrived at the medical examiner’s office shortly after midnight.
Bedell was shot by two Pentagon police officers after authorities say he drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at a security checkpoint into a Pentagon subway entrance.
The two police officers received bullet wounds but were not seriously hurt.
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WASHINGTON (AP)- A gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at a security checkpoint into the Pentagon on Thursday in a point-blank attack that wounded two police officers before the suspect was critically shot.
The two officers suffered grazing wounds and were being treated in a hospital, said Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police. Authorities had no motive for the shooting.
The suspect, believed to be a U.S. citizen, walked up to the checkpoint at the Pentagon’s subway entrance in an apparent attempt to get inside the massively fortified Defense Department headquarters. “He just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting” no more than five feet away, 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 assault at the very threshold of the Pentagon — the U.S. capital’s ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001 — came four months after a deadly attack on the Army’s Fort Hood, Texas, post allegedly by a U.S. Army psychiatrist with radical Islamic leanings. In the immediate aftermath Thursday, investigators did not think terrorism was involved but were not ruling that out and did not discuss possible motives.
President Barack Obama was closely following the case with updates from the FBI through his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as John Patrick Bedell, 36. They also said they were speaking with a second man, who might have accompanied the shooter, and were running his name through databases.
The subway station is immediately adjacent to the Pentagon building, a five-sided northern Virginia colossus across the Potomac River from Washington. Since a redesign following the 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.
After the attack, all Pentagon entrances were secured, then all were reopened except one from the subway, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. He said the subway entrance was likely to remain closed overnight at least.
Keevill said the gunman gave no clue to the officers at the checkpoint about what he was going to do.
“There was no distress,” he said. “When he reached into his pocket, they assumed he was going to get a pass and he came up with a gun.”
“He wasn’t pretending to be anyone. He was wearing a coat and walked up and just started shooting.”
Keevill added: “We have layers of security and it worked. He never got inside the building to hurt anyone.”
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.
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.
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Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek, Devlin Barrett, Matt Apuzzo, Anne Gearan, and Mike Gracia, Nafeesa Syeed and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.
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Friday, 12:34 AM ET — Suspect dies. J. Patrick Bedell has died, according to KFI News. The Pentagon shooting suspect suffered injuries described as “critical” by the chief of Pentagon Police.
Blogger Steve Huff at Mediaelites has posted an in-depth profile of Bedell.
9:55 PM ET — Suspect named. John Patrick Bedell, 36, is the alleged gunman in today’s shooting, according to officials who spoke to the AP:
Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as John Patrick Bedell, 36. They also said they were investigating whether a second person was somehow involved. No further information was available.
9:26 PM ET — “This has never happened in our history.” Watch as Pentagon Protection Force Chief Richard Keevil holds press conference:
9:21 PM ET — Pentagon releases statement. The Pentagon has released a statement about the incident:
A shooting incident has occurred at the Pentagon Metro Entrance this evening at approximately 6:40 p.m. EST. Two Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) officers were injured when an unknown suspect fired at them. The suspect was injured in return fire from the PFPA officers. Injuries to the two PFPA officers do not appear to be life threatening. A suspect is in custody and his condition is unknown. All three injured have been taken to a local hospital. All Pentagon entrances were secured for a brief time but have since been reopened with the exception of the Pentagon Metro entrance. The incident is under investigation. More details will be released when available.
8:49 PM ET — Gunman is American. The chief of the Pentagon Protection Force Agency held a press conference just minutes ago. The chief said that the alleged attacker is a male American. Officers involved told the chief that the suspect calmly approached Pentagon police to gain access to the building and reached into a pocket and pulled out a gun that he then fired. The chief said that the alleged attacker’s injuries are “critical.”
8:31 PM ET — Gunman’s injuries ‘more serious.’ From the AP:
WASHINGTON – A gunman opened fire at the subway entrance to Pentagon complex Thursday evening, wounding two Pentagon police officers, a spokesman said.The alleged gunman also was wounded, said Chris Layman, a spokesman for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. Authorities said all three were taken to a hospital. None the injuries were thought to be life-threatening, Layman said.
Layman said the suspect walked up to the subway entrance at 6:40 p.m. and opened fire. He hit two officers. The officers fired back, and the suspect was hit. His injures are more serious.
8:08 PM ET — Officers’ injuries not serious. The two officers injured in today’s shooting are not seriously injured according to CNN. Affiliate WJLA broadcast video showing one of the officers sitting up in a gurney and being loaded into a waiting ambulance. CNN’s Chris Lawrence reported that a suspect opened fired on two officers who then returned fire. All three are being treated at George Washington University Hospital.
7:46 PM ET — Pentagon entrances reopen. CNN reports that the Pentagon’s exits and entrances have been reopened except for the one closest to where the shooting occurred.
Fox5 reports that the WMTA’s Blue and Yellow lines –lines that run through the Pentagon Metro station — are running, but that trains are not stopping at the station. Below is WMTA’s map of the station:
7:30 PM ET — “Pentagon Police” shot. A spokesman for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency has told CNN that 2 of the agency’s officers are believed to be injured in the shooting. The spokesman also told CNN that he believes 1 suspect is in custody.
7:20 PM ET — Three people injured. D.C. TV station FOX5 reports that three people have been injured in the shooting at D.C. metro station adjacent to the Pentagon:
Few details were immediately available, but the Pentagon was reportedly locked down after the activity at the Metro station. The three people who were injured were taken to George Washington University Hospital’s emergency room.
7:00 PM ET — Pentagon on lockdown. The Pentagon is on lockdown after a shooting at a nearby D.C. Metro station, according to BreakingTweets, a Twitter account maintained by MSNBC.
Tags: john patrick bedell, pentagon, pentagon lockdown, pentagon metro shooting, pentagon news, pentagon shooting, shots fired at pentagon
