''A
tactical response team of the Capitol Police, a force that guards the
US Capitol complex, was told to leave the scene by a supervisor instead
of aiding municipal officers.
''The Capitol Police department has launched a review into the matter.
''Aaron Alexis, 34, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard.
"I don't think it's a far stretch to say that some lives may have been
saved if we were allowed to intervene," a Capitol Police source familiar
with the incident told the BBC.''
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/24153252
Navy Yard: Swat team 'stood down' at mass shooting scene
On Wednesday, investigators continued to process the scene
One
of the first teams of heavily armed police to respond to Monday's
shooting in Washington DC was ordered to stand down by superiors, the
BBC can reveal.
A
tactical response team of the Capitol Police, a force that guards the
US Capitol complex, was told to leave the scene by a supervisor instead
of aiding municipal officers.
The Capitol Police department has launched a review into the matter.
Aaron Alexis, 34, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard.
"I
don't think it's a far stretch to say that some lives may have been
saved if we were allowed to intervene," a Capitol Police source familiar
with the incident told the BBC.
Assault weapons ready
A
former Navy reservist, Alexis was working as a technical contractor for
the Navy and had a valid pass and security clearance allowing him entry
to the highly secure building in south-east Washington DC.
About
8:15 local time (12:15 GMT), Alexis entered Building 197, headquarters
for Naval Sea Systems Command, which builds and maintains ships and
submarines for the Navy, and opened fire.
Armed
with a shotgun and a pistol he took from a guard he had shot, he
sprayed bullets down a hallway and fired from a balcony down on to
workers in an atrium.
He fired on police officers who eventually stormed the building, and was later killed in the shootout.
Multiple
sources in the Capitol Police department have told the BBC that its
highly trained and heavily armed four-man Containment and Emergency
Response Team (Cert) was near the Navy Yard when the initial report of
an active shooter came in about 8:20 local time.
The
officers, wearing full tactical gear and armed with HK-416 assault
weapons, arrived outside Building 197 a few minutes later, an official
with knowledge of the incident told the BBC.
'A different outcome'
According
to a Capitol Police source, an officer with the Metropolitan Police
Department (MPD), Washington DC's main municipal force, told the Capitol
Cert officers they were the only police on the site equipped with long
guns and requested their help stopping the gunman.
When the Capitol Police team radioed their superiors, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene, the BBC was told.
The gunman, Aaron Alexis, was reported killed after 09:00.
Several Capitol Police sources who spoke to the BBC asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
Capitol
Police Officer Jim Konczos, who leads the officers' union, said the
Cert police train for what are known as active shooter situations and
are expert marksmen.
"Odds
are it might have had a different outcome," he said of Monday's
shooting and the decision to order the Cert unit to stand down. "It
probably could have been neutralised."
Capitol
Hill Police chief Kim Dine has ordered "a comprehensive, independent
review of the facts surrounding the Capitol Police's response to the
Navy Yard shootings".
The
Capitol Police Board responded by establishing what it called a "Fact
Review Team", led by Michael Stenger, a former assistant director of the
US Secret Service.
Earlier,
Capitol Police spokeswoman Lt Kimberly Schneider said its officers had
"offered and provided mutual support and assistance at the Washington
Navy Yard on Monday".
'A blind eye'
Senate
Sergeant-at-Arms Terry Gainer, who oversees the Capitol Police
department, confirmed officials were pulling radio logs from Monday's
incident and interviewing the officers involved.
"It's
a very serious allegation and inference to indicate that we were on
scene and could have helped and were told to leave," he said. "It
crushes me if that's the case."
Mr
Gainer said that while the department's primary responsibility was to
protect the Capitol complex, which houses the US Congress, that mission
did not allow it to turn a "blind eye" when asked for help.
Gwendolyn
Crump, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department, which
protects the city of Washington DC, said allegations that a Capitol
Police Cert team was on scene and later stood down were "not true".
Alexis had a history of mental health problems, previous gun-related brushes with the law, and citations for insubordination.
On
Wednesday, Alexis' mother apologised to the victims and said she was
bewildered by what had motivated her son as everyone else.
"I
don't know why he did what he did, and I'll never be able to ask him
why," Cathleen Alexis told MSNBC from her home in New York.
"Aaron is now in a place where he can never do harm to anyone, and for that I am glad."
"To the families of the victims, I am so, so very sorry that this has happened. My heart is broken."
Meanwhile,
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel acknowledged "there were a lot of
red flags" in Alexis' background that had been missed in the security
clearance process which ultimately resulted in his having access to the
secure building where he undertook the attack.
"Why
they didn't get picked up, why they didn't get incorporated into the
clearance process, what he was doing, those are all legitimate questions
that we're going to be dealing with," he told reporters...........
No comments:
Post a Comment