Saturday September 21 2013
- The gunman who slaughtered 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard stalked his victims as if he was “hunting” them, official said as they painted a chilling portrait of the carnage.
The scene at the Washington Navy Yard mass shooting
FBI Director James Comey said former navy sailor Aaron Alexis, 34, roamed the Navy Yard’s 197 building, randomly blasting victims with a sawn-off shotgun.
Alexis was shot dead by police after being cornered following Tuesday’s bloody spree.
Mr Comey’s account followed analysis of security camera footage taken inside the 197 building, providing the most detailed chronology so far of the massacre.
The FBI chief said after driving into the naval installation in the heart of the US capital, Alexis, carrying a bag, went into building 197 and into a fourth floor restroom.
He emerged holding a sawn-off Remington 870 shotgun and began blazing away.
“It appears to me that he was wandering the hall like hunting people to shoot,” Mr Comey said.
“From the video…he appears to be moving without particular direction or purpose. His movements don’t appear, at least to me, as of he was looking for a particular person or a particular group.”
Alexis later went to the ground floor, shot dead a security guard and seized his semi-automatic Beretta pistol.
He then returned to the third and fourth floors and continued shooting.
Mr Comey said workers were desperately trying to take cover and “were moving everywhere to find safety”.
