[BBC] 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 coppers 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.
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".
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".
A Capitol Police officer who heard the Cert request over the radio to engage the gunman reported colleagues within the department felt frustrated they were told to stand down. The officer described a culture in which emergency responders are instructed to not extend themselves beyond the Capitol grounds for fear of discipline.
"They were relying on our command staff to make the right call," another Capitol Police officer said. "Unfortunately, I don't think that happened in this case."
#1
Mmmmkay...in my ideal world, some actual, y' know, investigative journalists would dig up the source of the stannd-down order. Along with, I dunno, a little delving into the background, governmental connections and political associations of the gunman's shrink(s). And why not a look at the shrinks who treated the shooters from Aurora and Newtown, too...these "random" events and the immediate political/media anti-2nd Amendment feeding frenzies that follow them seem just a little too damn convenient.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/19/2013 1:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
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.
"Fact Review Team".....? Is that anything like an "Accountability Review Board" ?
#5
And why not a look at the shrinks who treated the shooters from Aurora and Newtown, too...these "random" events and the immediate political/media anti-2nd Amendment feeding frenzies that follow them seem just a little too damn convenient.
#7
No tinfoil hat needed. Solid evidence-based medical practice pretty much requires a look at the mental health system with which these shooters had contact.
I wonder if there is a common component (or components) of psychiatric treatment that these particular psychs used - like a particular technique, modality or philosophy of treatment. It would be interesting to compare those for commonalities, and see if possibly systemic or technical issues caused a gap in treatment that the shooters managed to wiggle through. Engineers would be looking at catastrophic failures for commonalities, its how we improve bridges, boats and buildings. Why not MDs and shrinks?
#10
Or was 'advised' by certain persons who will never be named that the WH needs a good mass-killings to exploit.
No, no tinfoil hat this time. After Benghazi I wouldn't put anything past this administration. If (s)he* doesn't have a problem leaving 4 Americans - including the Ambassador to die I think they will have any problems with a few peons...
* - I say she because Its been suggested that Valerie Jarrett ordered Africa Command to 'stand down' and she holds Obama's leash.
The city of Chicago registered more homicides than any city in the nation in 2012, surpassing even New York -- despite the fact that the Second City has only one third as many residents as the Big Apple.
In new crime statistics released Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported 500 murders in Chicago in 2012, up sharply from the 431 recorded in 2011. New York reported 419 murders last year, compared with 515 in 2011.
But residents of Chicago and New York were much less likely to be victims of a homicide than residents of Flint, Mich. Sixty-three murders occurred in 2012 in Flint, a city of 101,632, meaning one in every 1,613 city residents were homicide victims. Detroit, which experienced 386 homicides in 2012, was almost as unsafe; that's enough murders to account for one in every 1,832 residents.
Altogether, violent crime rose by 0.7 percent across the nation, the FBI reported. That's a modest rise after a decade in which violent crime declined precipitously; the 2012 estimated violent crime total was 12.9 percent below 2008 levels and 12.2 percent below 2003 levels. Violent crimes fell by 1.2 percent in the Northeast and 0.3 percent in the South, the data show, but violent crime was up 3.2 percent in the West and 1.5 percent in the Midwest.
While the number of murders and aggravated assaults rose across the nation, the number of robberies declined slightly. And the number of property crimes declined by 0.9 percent, the 10th straight year property crimes have fallen.
The murder rate rose by 9.7 percent in cities with populations between 500,000 and 1 million, the FBI reported. And while the murder rate fell by 5.2 percent among metropolitan counties, it rose 4.7 percent in non-metropolitan counties.
Firearms were used in the vast majority of murders. According to FBI data, 69.3 percent of all homicides involved a gun.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
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#1
Firearms were used in the vast majority of murders. According to FBI data, 69.3 percent of all homicides involved a gun.
More stringent gun legislation is definitely needed. Oh WAIT !!!!!
#2
Isnt there a connection between certain race populations and high crime areas in the US?.
Obama will turn a blind eye to that as they are ALL victims of white oppression.LOL
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/19/2013 5:08 Comments ||
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#3
Yes, doing the job the Klan won't or can't. However, they'll blame the Klan or The Man for their problems. Those problems will never be solved by government, but by a long hard look into the mirror and in a change of behavior that only comes with human free will.
A COUPLE'S dream wedding day was delayed after a man stormed into the church having just hacked his testicles off.
Ouch. Clearly the gentleman felt strongly about something.
Likely he wasn't trying to prove his true love to the bride...
Some guys turn in their Man Card, others their testicles. He was obviously not using them. I dunno. It'd take more testicles than I ever had or ever will have to chop even one of them off. Well, now he really doesn't have to balls to do it!
The vicar and florist were putting finishing touches to All Saints Church, in Hutton, east of London, ahead of the ceremony at the weekend,
The pretty scene is set, foreshadowing a day brimming with love and hope, when suddenly...
when the blood-soaked man entered the church, The Brentwood Weekly News reports. [Gasp!] [Stagger!]
"I'm here!"
"Ummm... You're sure this is the right place?"
A friend of the bride and groom, who did not wish to be named, turned up for the wedding at around 12.45pm to find a police car outside.
"What's that? He couldn't wait?"
He musta wondered, what kind of wedding am I attending?
He was told by the vicar that guests were not allowed to enter the church as a man had injured himself. "A man had injured himself" sounds like the guy stubbed his toe or hit his thumb with a hammer.
The guest said the vicar told him "the man had chopped his testicles off with a pair of scissors and was going berserk, chucking chairs around. I'm surprised he didn't pass out. I'm surprised the vicar didn't pass out. If it'd been me, I'd been stretched on the floor, in a land somewhere beyond the reach of smelling salts.
"When I went in the church, I saw something on the floor which I could only describe as flesh, which I thought was part of his arm but that was one of his testicles."
Not quite the Rocky Mountain oysters promised on the luncheon menu...
The police had wanted to close the church because it was a crime scene "'Ere, now! You can't go in there!"
"I'm with the wedding party!"
"Oh, okay... Raise the tape, Ernie!"
but the wedding went ahead soon after, with the bride none the wiser to the bizarre events.
I don't know what to say.
"Wilbert, what are those crimson splashes upon the floor?"
"Furniture polish, dear." I know what to say: bridezilla
"There was a bit of an atmosphere," the witness said. "The bride didn't know anything about it, I'm sure she does now. "He WHAT? 'Furniture polish,' you said!"
"Ummm... Olde English Red?"
"You lied to me, Wilbert!"
"It won't be the last time, ducks."
"What's that you said, Wilbert!!?!"
"Um, nothing, nothing! Oh my word look at the clock. Time for the reception!"
But it took place. I'm surprised the vicar held it all together."
I'm sure duct tape and a bottle of port also played a part.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
This story brought an ex-fiancee to mind, but the...um...equipment removal in that case was both metaphorical and temporary.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/19/2013 1:22 Comments ||
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#2
some people throw rice, others birdseed, but testicles? That's a new one .....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2013 8:06 Comments ||
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#3
Doesn't loosing your balls usually happen after the marriage?
Posted by: jack salami ||
09/19/2013 9:37 Comments ||
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This is why your run of the mill tyrant gets himself killed in the revolution -- the aftermath is so dreadfully tiresome.
[AnNahar] Thousands of Yemenis demonstrated on Wednesday to demand that ousted president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... be put on trial over killings during a year of protests against his rule.
Demonstrators thronged the road as they headed from western Sanaa to the central Kentucky roundabout, close to Change Square, the epicenter of 2011 protests against Saleh, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent reported.
"No immunity. No guarantee. Saleh and his aides should be put on trial," demonstrators chanted, referring to the immunity given to Saleh under a U.N.-backed deal that eased him out of office in February 2012.
The demonstration was called by a youth organization that belongs to the Islamist Islah party, to commemorate the death of dozens of demonstrators on September 19, 2011.
Hundreds of southern separatists also demonstrated on Wednesday in the city of Aden against reconciliation talks that appear headed towards agreement on Yemen becoming a federation.
The protesters were insisting instead on the secession of the formerly independent south.
Security forces in the southern port allowed the separatist rally to go ahead, a security official said, after organizers pledged to keep the protest peaceful.
"We demand independence and liberation!" and "No talks, no dialogue!" chanted demonstrators in Al-Arood Square in central Aden.
Factions of the Southern Movement demanding complete secession of the south have boycotted the reconciliation talks that began in Sanaa on March 18.
The talks have stumbled over the future of the state, with Saleh's party rejecting a proposed north-south federation, suggesting a union of several regions.
After the former North and South Yemen united in 1990, the south broke away in 1994, triggering a brief civil war that ended with the region being overrun by northern troops.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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The toll from devastating twin storms climbed to 80 on Wednesday as isolated areas reported deaths and damage to the outside world, and Mexican officials said that a massive landslide in the mountains north of the resort of Acapulco could drive the number of confirmed dead even higher.
Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said federal authorities had reached the cutoff village of La Pintada by helicopter and had airlifted out 35 residents, four of whom were seriously injured in the slide. Officials have not yet seen any bodies, he said, despite reports from people in the area that at least 18 people had been killed.
[TENNESSEAN] Vanderbilt University Medical Center is eliminating several hundred more jobs this week as part of its plan to cut up to 1,000 positions by the end of the year.
The cuts are expected to continue for several more weeks, and should be complete by late October.
According to a letter sent to state and city officials, Vanderbilt said the workers receiving notice would be "permanently laid off starting on November 16, 2013 and continuing until or on about December 31, 2013." All affected employees will be given 60 days' notice, the letter said.
"What's happened here at Vanderbilt is today we've started this action, and several hundred people will be leaving the organization," said John Howser, front man for VUMC.
This latest round of layoffs is part of the medical center's plan to cut $250 million from its $3.3 billion operating budget over the next two fiscal years. Jeffrey Balser, head of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has told staff that the restructuring is part of a plan called "Evolve to Excel."
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2013 8:07 Comments ||
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#3
Who's better qualified to look after your health and well-being? A. Doctor, or B. Politician.
B is, of course, the correct answer.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2013 9:49 Comments ||
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#4
Death panels will also lower costs, except for their salaries, bennies, and staff and staff bennies, plus cafeteria privelages and periodic retreats, plus.......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2013 12:55 Comments ||
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They still haven't settled down in Greece, it seems.
It ain't like they work days...
[AnNahar] Clashes erupted between protesters and police across Greece on Wednesday, local media reported, as thousands demonstrated against fascism ...a political system developed in Italy symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about... after a leftist musician was murdered by a suspected neo-Nazi.
Police fired tear gas at groups of protesters in Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and in the western city of Patras, where the city center remained sealed off.
The nationwide unrest was sparked by the death of Pavlos Fyssas, a 34-year-old left-wing hip hop singer, who was stabbed to death early on Wednesday morning outside a cafe in Keratsini, western Athens.
Some 5,000 demonstrators erupted into the streets of Keratsini in protest, according to a police source.
Police officers there fired volleys of tear gas at a group of protesters who pelted them with wooden sticks and stones, the state-run Athens News Agency said.
Police also used tear gas in Thessaloniki, where some 6,000 people marched against fascism, after some protesters shattered shop windows.
In Patras, around 1,000 protesters threw rocks and molotov cocktails at police forces, who responded with tear gas. A retired police officer was injured in the scuffles, according to a police source.
A 45-year-old alleged member of the Golden Dawn neo-Nazi group was enjugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! at the scene of Wednesday's murder. Police say the suspect has confessed to stabbing Fyssas, who wrote music under the nickname Kilah P.
The suspect's wife was later also arrested for giving false evidence to police during the investigation.
Golden Dawn has denied any connection to the murder, which came a few days after a group of Communists were beaten by suspected neo-Nazis.
Government front man Simos Kedikoglou blamed the killing on Golden Dawn, condemning the group's "raw violence" and calling on other parties to "raise a barrier to the vicious circle of tension and violence".
Earlier on Wednesday, some 20,000 people marched in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities in a separate protest against a government overhaul of the public sector.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... plans a major exercise in eastern Europe in November to brush up its conventional warfare skills, but insists it is not practicing with Cold War foe Russia in mind. Exercise "Steadfast Jazz" in Latvia and Poland from November 2-9 shows the 28-nation alliance refocusing on its core task of defending its own territory as it winds down its long combat mission in Afghanistan.
The exercise calls for NATO forces to oust an invader. NATO's military commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, denied it was aimed at repelling a hypothetical Russian invasion. The exercise will also involve a "sizeable cyber threat," said French Major-General Michel Yakovleff, deputy chief of staff for plans at Brunssum, with nations coming under a staged cyber attack.
Europe and Russia are vying for influence in eastern European countries such as Ukraine, which will send an amphibious company to take part in the NATO exercise. Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... stresses the importance of a strong military. Russia and Belarus plan a joint military exercise, known as Zapad, this month.
NATO commanders prefer to stress cooperation with Russia.
"In the interests of transparency and confidence-building, we have invited Russian military officers to visit 'Exercise Steadfast Jazz' as observers and I am pleased to say the Russians have ... invited NATO officials to observe 'Exercise Zapad' which starts later this week," Breedlove said.
#1
I said it long ago but I think we goofed with Eastern Europe. We should have created a neutral military/trade pact out of the ex-East Europe company. No NATO, no Warsaw pact. Convince them to buy Russian equipment to buy off the Russian bear.
Such a neutral group would not scare the Russians or West Europe and might be able to field decent Peacekeepers.
[Dawn] Pakistain is poised to expand its nuclear energy programme to overcome the severe energy crisis it is facing and has sought international support, PAEC chairman said on Wednesday.
God help us all if the world decides to let the crazy country have more nuclear supplies.
"The Pakistain Atomic Energy Commission is required and is poised to launch an expansion programme with more than 55 reactor-year of operation and maintenance behind us, three operating power plants and two more nuclear power plants coming up in next three years," Chairman Dr Ansar Parvez said at the annual general conference of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
"With our very limited accessible conventional energy sources, nuclear power has to form an integral part of our energy portfolio because overcoming the energy crisis is currently an issue of the highest priority for our nation," he said.
He said Pakistain's belief in nuclear power as a viable, safe and environment-friendly resource and its plan to build more nuclear power plants stemmed from the safe and successful operation for more than forty years of the KANUPP, notwithstanding unilateral withdrawal of vendor support.
While the KANUPP (Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Nuclear Power Plant) was still licensed to operate after refurbishments and safety retrofits and performing well, the PAEC has two more units operating safely at Chashma, Dr Parvez said. "We take pride in the fact that nuclear, small in size though it still is, has been the best performing energy sector in the country." Two more units were under construction at Chashma and would be connected to the grid by 2016 -- months ahead of the schedule, he said, adding that all the nuclear plants were under IAEA safeguards.
Along with the growth of nuclear power programme, the regulatory process in Pakistain had also grown in strength and character, he said. "Progressing from a stage where the regulatory set-up functioned under the hat of the nuclear programme developer, we now have a strong, independent regulatory authority known as the Pakistain Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA)".
Referring to the 'Fukushima Daiichi accident', the PAEC chairman said that the accident had been a watershed for the global nuclear industry. "One has to concede that the aftermath of Fukushima has put a damper on what was heralded before March 11 as "nuclear renaissance".
But lessons had also been learnt from Fukushima and extensive mutual consultations and consequent implementation of safety upgrades had brought the nuclear community even closer together, he said.
He said Pakistain had remained alive to the situation in the aftermath of Fukushima and actively engaged in thoroughly reviewing the safety and emergency preparedness of its nuclear power plants.
He said Pakistain had an extensive programme of application of nuclear techniques to socio-economic sectors. The PAEC was operating 18 nuclear medicine and oncology hospitals because there was an annual increase of about 10pc in the number of cancer patients in the country.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
And here, for a moment, I thought we're talking about USA.
#2
If I had a vote(?) I would say help them do it. More electricity will may help bring them into the 20th century. TV, refrigeration, stored food, light to read by, a buildup of the power distribution infrastructure brings utility jobs, etc.
The dark turn of course will be the generation of toxic fissionables and a possible loss of access control, worse than the general insanity we see today.
Balance this risk against the very desirable progress of the first point with the very real likelihood the whole solution will fail in less than 10 years, perhaps disasterously, when the trained Homers forget to activate a cooling pool pump.
All good.
#3
More electricity will may help bring them into the 20th century.
Sorry Skidmark, its Thursday, 15 Dhul Qa'ada 1434 AH for them, and the 20th century won't arrive for them until 2576 AD, bit of a wait don't you think.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
09/19/2013 12:25 Comments ||
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h/t Jerry Pournelle
PROFESSOR Tim Flannery has been sacked by the Abbott Government from his $180,000-a-year part-time Chief Climate Commissioner position, with the agency he runs to be dismantled immediately.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt called Prof Flannery this morning to tell him a letter formally ending his employment was in the mail.
Public service shake-up as heads go
In the letter, Mr Hunt tells Prof Flannery: "The Climate Commission does not have an ongoing role, and consequently I am writing to advise you that the Climate Commission has been dissolved, with effect from the date of this letter."
Former heavyweight champion Ken Norton, who beat Muhammad Ali and later lost a controversial decision to him at Yankee Stadium, died Wednesday at a local care facility, his son said. He was 70.
Ken Norton Jr., a coach with the Seattle Seahawks, confirmed the death to The Associated Press before handing the phone to his wife, too distraught to talk.
Norton had been in poor health for the last several years after suffering a series of strokes, a friend of the fighter said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The city of Chicago registered more homicides than any city in the nation in 2012, surpassing even New York -- despite the fact that the Second City has only one third as many residents as the Big Apple.
A COUPLE'S dream wedding day was delayed after a man stormed into the church having just hacked his testicles off.
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[Dawn] Pakistain is poised to expand its nuclear energy programme to overcome the severe energy crisis it is facing and has sought international support, PAEC chairman said on Wednesday.
