Navy Yard Massacre: Is the government willing to protect you or are they trying for a higher body count for propaganda use? Why isn’t the Admiral in charge not being relieved of command?
It is deeply disturbing when you cannot trust your government to protect you when they clearly have the opportunity to save lives. No, I am not referring to the “stand down” order issued by persons yet unknown when Americans were attacked by terrorists on the 9/11 anniversary in Benghazi, Libya. I am referring to the recent “stand down” order given to a heavily-armed, trained, response team that was present at the Navy Yard when a mentally-ill suspect opened fire and killed 12 people.
What is happening with our government, who gave the stand-down order, and why do we learn of this from the foreign media?
Navy Yard: Swat team 'stood down' at mass shooting 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.
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.
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.
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". 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".
Source: BBC News - Navy Yard: Swat team 'stood down' at mass shooting scene
Where is the Navy’s command?
CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS AND WIFE TAKEN TO PENTAGON
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert lives on the Navy Yard and was at home when the shootings started, a Navy official said. Greenert and his wife, Darleen, were quickly escorted off base and taken to the Pentagon.
This afternoon Greenert issued the following statement: “Darleen and I extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today’s events at the Navy Yard. Our team of Sailors and Navy Civilians at the Navy Yard deserve our care and concern at this time. I applaud the efforts of all who immediately responded to this course of events in order to care for the injured victims and ensure the safety of our personnel.” <Source>
Vice Admiral William French was in the Navy Yard when the shooting began. He has the naval installations command.
"Like any time, you are pretty shocked when you hear gunshots anywhere, so I was on the base when that happened,” he said. “So I went to the emergency operations center. I think frankly most of my focus at that point was trying to make sure we had the right response and coordinating the response to address the issue and that took the better part of a day to deal with.”
Vice Admiral French said he is aware of the concerns of the Navy Yard’s police force and its claim there was not enough manpower or resources to adequately protect the base at the time of the shooting. <Source>
Who the hell is this staff weenie and where are the fighting men? Where are the Marines? NCIS? The rapid deployment force? Why are soldiers being disarmed and herded into “gun free” zones or is their a fundamental problem with the officers like in the Fort Hood massacre? Who is checking credentials and backgrounds?
Bottom line …
I wonder why the Navy did not respond to an attack on their own base. I wonder why civilians were involved. I wonder why the Capitol Police CERT team was told to stand-down. But, most of all, I wonder why incompetents and hyper-politicized people are running government operations.
Personally, I believe that Admiral William French should be relieved of command as this incident occurred on his watch and he clearly did not prepare his installation to respond to this emergency. An incident that could have been foreseen in these troubled times and countermeasures put in place. This man is as culpable as the officers who were relieved of command following an “on board ship fire.”
Turning military installations into gun free zones is crazy and negligent.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS