Pentagon Police Chief Richard Keevill talks to the media outside of the Pentagon after a shooting in Washington on Thursday.
A gunman described by police officials as well dressed, well educated and well armed for his minute-long shootout with police on Thursday just outside the Pentagon has died from his wounds.
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Law enforcement officials said they still had not determined a specific motive for the gunman, identified as John Patrick Bedell, 36, but officials said that he "had issues" and that there were records of previous brushes with law enforcement officials.
Seeking clues for what prompted the suspect to open fire at a Pentagon entrance, police and F.B.I. investigators were examining a series of Internet postings thought to have been his work.
During a 6 a.m. news conference Friday in a parking lot outside the Defense Department, Pentagon Police Chief Richard Keevill said it appeared Mr. Bedell had acted alone.
"There is no indication at this point that there is any domestic or international terrorist nexus," Chief Keevill said, adding that the assessment that the gunman acted alone was supported by surveillance video.
Still, he said, the inquiry was in its early stages.
Two Pentagon police officers -- one who sustained superficial gunshot wounds to the thigh and one who sustained superficial gunshot wounds to the shoulder -- were released from a hospital.
The suspect died from gunshot wounds to his head.
The gunman was wearing a suit as he approached a security checkpoint outside the Pentagon, near the entrance to the Pentagon subway station, during the rush hour Thursday evening. There was no indication before he pulled out a pistol "that he had hostile intent," the chief said. "There was no distress in his appearance."
Officials described the gunman as "well armed" -- he carried two 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistols and had several magazines of ammunition with him. He was not wearing body armor.
A search of his car, found in a local parking lot, revealed more ammunition. Chief Keevill said it appeared that the suspect had traveled to the Pentagon by car from California over several weeks.
One line of the capital's subway system, called the Washington Metro, runs directly beneath the Pentagon. Escalators from the Pentagon subway station rise to the surface just outside the security perimeter of the Defense Department, and the above-ground station is a busy stop for commuter buses.
When the gunman walked up to the station entrance Thursday evening and, without a word, drew his pistol from his pocket and started shooting, police officers quickly returned fire, Pentagon officials said. The injured police officers, whose names were not released, were wearing ballistic vests.
"They said he walked up very cool, like there was no distress," Chief Keevill said Thursday night, quoting the officers. "He had no real emotion in his face."
An armed security officer in the Pentagon Metro Rail station after it reopened following a shooting.
Witnesses told news stations that they heard gunshots and saw people screaming and scrambling to get out of the area.
The police said Mr. Bedell was an American citizen. Military service records were being checked to see whether he had any ties to the armed forces.
Messages posted on the Web under the username JPatrickBedell seemed to share some biographical details with the shooter and pointed to a distrust of the military and the government at large. "I am determined to see that justice is served in the death of Colonel James Sabow, as a step toward establishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions," the user wrote, referring to the suicide of an Army officer in 1991.
A 2006 arrest report for a man identified as John Patrick Bedell, then 33 years old, appeared to connect to the user JPatrickBedell, who wrote: "My desire for justice led me to violate what I think is one of the most unjust laws, cannabis prohibition, by growing 16 cannabis plants on my balcony in Irvine, CA from March 2006 to June 2006."
The Pentagon was briefly locked down after the shooting incident, and the subway entrance was closed for about two hours. Officers with military-style weapons fitted with flashlights could be seen patrolling the area around the Pentagon shortly after the shooting.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, new security measures were put in place at the Pentagon and part of the building was redesigned. Subway passengers are no longer permitted to exit directly into the Pentagon; they must be screened outside before entering the building.
SOURCE: The New York Times
