Lib Dems wage war on motorists: Minister says cars should be banished from town centres and shoppers encouraged to use public transport

Transport Minister Norman Baker said drivers should be hit with big increases in parking charges

Transport Minister Norman Baker said drivers should be hit with big increases in parking charges

Cars should be banished from town centres, a Liberal Democrat minister has claimed.
Transport Minister Norman Baker said drivers should be hit with big increases in parking charges so they are ‘disincentivised’ from parking near high street shops.
He renewed the Lib Dems’ war on motorists at a fringe meeting at his party’s conference in Glasgow.

Mr Baker admitted that higher parking charges could ‘damage town centres’ but he then claimed that pushing people onto public transport and bicycles would help revive the high street.
He told the meeting hosted by the CentreForum think tank: ‘I was in Southern Germany for a holiday a few years ago.
'I forget which town it was, but there were no cars in the centre at all.
‘The place was heaving with people spending money - and every single shop was occupied.’ 
Asked if that was his aspiration, he replied: ‘I think that can work.’
Mr Baker said he wants the government to give more cash to cycling schemes and public transport.
‘That works,’ he said. ‘Filling towns and cities with cars can’t work.’ 
Signalling that he would like to see swingeing rises in parking fees, Mr Baker added: ‘If we are doing everything to make sure towns are attractive for bikes and public transport, it’s right to say that cars should be disincentivised.’
Senior Tories made clear that Mr Baker has been agitating in government to ramp up parking charges but has been blocked by Conservative Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.
A senior government source said: ‘Norman has been pushing for higher parking charges for some time.

Mr Baker said he wants the government to give more cash to cycling schemes and public transport

'It has been blocked and it’s not going to happen under this government. We don’t want to get rid of cars from town centres.’ Tory MP Peter Bone dismissed Mr Baker’s plans as ‘stupid’ and ‘clueless’.
He said: ‘In Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire we have kept our car parking free of charge because it has helped our businesses do well.
‘This is just the sort of madcap nonsense we have come to expect from the Liberal Democrats.
'I would congratulate Norman Baker on speaking his mind because it proves what stupid things his party says.
‘It must be very frustrating for sensible ministers to have to work with people who come up with completely clueless proposals like this.’

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Shameless treachery: Mr Cable is the most disloyal and dishonest politician of our times

Yesterday, Vince Cable delivered a speech at the Liberal Party Conference which for sheer bile was without precedent in modern times. No Cabinet minister has ever attacked the Government of which he is part in such vitriolic terms.

The wonder is that the dyspeptic Business Secretary should wish to remain a member of a Government dominated by a Tory party that he asserted has ‘reverted to type as the nasty party’, and which, according to him, practises ‘ugly’ policies based on the calculation that ‘fear trumps hope’. 
Mr Cable has regularly used Lib Dem conferences to lash the ‘hated’ Tories. But this speech went much further than the usual crowd-pleasing rant. It was a despicable assault on colleagues and on the Coalition’s record, delivered in tones of insufferable moral superiority.

Yesterday, Vince Cable delivered a speech which for sheer bile was without precedent in modern times. No Cabinet minister has ever attacked the Government of which he is part in such vitriolic terms

What he said amounted to the most shameless repudiation of the long- established doctrine of collective responsibility we’ve ever seen. Next week’s Labour Party conference will not produce anything to rival in sheer unpleasantness any of Mr Cable’s broadsides.
The day began with the expectation that he would embarrass his party leader, Nick Clegg, by refusing to vote for a motion endorsing the Coalition’s economic policies. His aides had intimated on Sunday that the great man had reservations.
Most people might expect the Business Secretary to support the economic measures for which he has been responsible, but they would be underestimating his chronic disloyalty and innate love of rocking whichever boat he happens to occupy.
In the event he did bring himself to vote for the motion, though not without telling journalists later that he had harboured misgivings. His behaviour was justly described by an ally of Mr Clegg as another example of his ‘endless vanity and gross insubordination’.
Mr Cable had reserved his greatest bombshell for his speech in which he berated the ‘Tea Party Tories’ for their views on immigration and Europe, while castigating them for their ‘ludicrous war on windmills’ — by which he means ugly, inefficient and ruinously expensive wind farms.
His hatred of the Tories reached its apogee when — unbelievably — he blamed them more than the Labour Government for ‘the biggest market failure of our lifetime’ — ie, the Great Crash of 2008.
Labour had admittedly ‘fallen asleep at the wheel’, but it was ‘the Tories’ friends and donors who were also at the heart of the greed and recklessness which lay behind that disaster’.

Mr Cable had reserved his greatest bombshell for his speech in which he berated the 'Tea Party Tories' for their views on immigration and Europe, while castigating them for their 'ludicrous war on windmills'

Isn’t this crazy? I mean, really crazy? The Conservatives, who had been long out of power, are held responsible by Vince Cable (a former Labour Party member, by the way) for causing the financial crash simply because some of the bankers who helped to bring it about were allegedly Tory supporters and donors.
Forget the fact it was Labour, not the Conservatives, which chose wildly to de-regulate the City; Labour that knighted Fred Goodwin, the reckless head of RBS; and Labour that gave a peerage to the scarcely less misguided Lord Stevenson, chairman of HBoS, which crashed in 2008. Labour was the friend of the big banks and it was Gordon Brown who boasted of the huge revenues he was milking out of institutions built on sand.
But then, by Mr Cable’s logic, one might as well arraign the Lib Dem financier and multi-millionaire Matthew Oakeshott for having precipitated the crash. Lord Oakeshott is Mr Cable’s busy right-hand man, who yearns to see his hero installed as leader of the Lib Dems and was twerpishly calling for Nick Clegg’s resignation only the other day.

Crazy talk?: The Conservatives, who had been long out of power, are held responsible by Vince Cable (a former Labour Party member, by the way) for causing the financial crash

And perhaps, to follow the loopy trajectory of Mr Cable’s argument, the Lib Dems should renounce their own rich donors for having caused the crash — not forgetting the multi-millionaire fraudster Michael Brown, now serving a seven-year sentence in jail, who gave millions of pounds to the party that it has never returned.
Throughout this unhinged onslaught on the Tories, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, stared at Mr Cable as a couple of psychiatrists might observe a problematic patient on day release who has veered off-piste. They each managed an encouraging half-nod from time to time.
It was notable, too, that the party rank-and-file, who were supposed to be roused to hysteria by this feast of Tory-bashing, were little more than politely lukewarm. There were also a surprising number of empty seats.

What kind of man can sit at the same Cabinet table with colleagues whose party he has described as 'nasty' and 'ugly'? Only a man who wants to hang on to power at all costs

If Mr Cable is in the process of being disowned not only by the leadership of his party but also by some activists, does it matter if he chooses to launch a public attack on Cabinet colleagues? I’m sure it does, for unfortunately this sanctimonious rabble-rouser can’t be written off.
In the first place, he’s not wholly a busted flush politically. As a minister he may be ineffectual — he is fortunate to have acquired a capable number two in the shape of Michael Fallon, a Tory — but he still exerts an influence on Lib Dem policy.
More than anyone else in his party, he has been the champion of the mansion tax, which, according to a recent study, is likely to affect owners of houses well below the £2 million threshold envisaged by the Lib Dems if it is going to yield their target of £1.75 billion.
Owners of quite modest houses on even more modest incomes may find themselves drawn into Mr Cable’s net. I can think of several elderly couples living near me who would be unable to pay the proposed annual 1 per cent levy and in old age would have to leave the houses in which they have lived for many years.
It is, in fact, a tax almost as mad as the Business Secretary’s speech — but that does not mean it won’t one day become law. Mr Cable’s dream, of course, is to team up with Labour as Chancellor in a Lib-Lab Coalition while playing the part of the Liberal Democrat’s new leader.
Don’t rule it out. He will be 72 by the time of the next election, and after yesterday’s performance even Labour could be having second thoughts about having such an unreliable man as a partner, but Vince Cable could be the face of the Lib Dems after May 2015, if Mr Clegg is sacked as leader or loses his parliamentary seat in the General Election. 
The greatest danger that he poses, though, is right now. The doctrine of collective responsibility rests on the notion that governments can’t function properly if its leading lights are at one another’s throats in public. Previous coalitions have observed this convention.
If Mr Cable were honourable, he would have long since resigned so he could criticise the Government from the backbenches. What kind of man can sit at the same Cabinet table with colleagues whose party he has described as ‘nasty’ and ‘ugly’? Only a man who wants to hang on to power at all costs.
He should resign, but he won’t. David Cameron can’t sack him and Nick Clegg daren’t. The presence of a virtual fifth columnist in the Cabinet, seeking to undermine policies that even other Lib Dems accept, is obviously not conducive to good government.
Yet there is perhaps a silver lining. Why is Mr Cable expressing his hatred for the Tories so bitterly at this time? Because he can’t bear the fact that economic recovery is under way as a result of Tory-inspired austerity measures against which he has sniped relentlessly for the past three years.
Of course, it would be a boon for the Coalition and the country if he went. But there is a countervailing compensation in his staying. The more Vince Cable wheedles and whinges, the surer we can be that the Coalition’s economic policies are finally working.

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Expossed: Gunman, 34, who murdered TWELVE in Washington Navy Yard rampage claimed he had 'anger issues' after rescuing victims of 9/11 and was kicked out of Navy after 2011 gun charge

Gunman: According to NBC Washington, this man Aaron Alexis, 34, from Fort Worth, Texas is the Navy Yard shooter. A background check has revealed that this is the police mugshot for Alexis who was arrested but not charged for firing a gun in his apartment in 2010

The Washington Navy Yard gunman who killed 12 today has previously claimed to be suffering from PTSD after helping rescue efforts in New York following the 9/11 terror attacks.
Gunman Aaron Alexis was shot dead by responding officers after he opened fire inside a Navy facility around 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning.


Since he was identified as the shooter, reports have revealed that it was not the first time he was involved in a shooting.
In 2004, he was arrested in Seattle for shooting the tires of a construction worker's car during what he later called an anger-fueled 'blackout.'
'He said that he didn’t remember pulling the trigger of his firearm until about one hour later,' according to the Seattle police report.
Later he said that he felt the intended victim 'disrespected' him.
The report states that his father said his anger issues stemmed back to his time in New York where he helped the rescue efforts following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The shooter's father told police 'that his son had experienced anger management problems that the family believed associated [sic] with PTSD.'
He was arrested in relation to that incident but never charged, an outcome repeated in Fort Worth, Texas where Alexis was living in 2010.
Then, he was arrested for discharging a firearm when his neighbor reported that he fired a shot into her apartment. At the time, Alexis claimed that his hand slipped when he was cleaning his gun while cooking at the same time, and that he accidentally fired the weapon.

Frantic Search: Emergency responders arrive at the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, where several people were killed and others injured when at least one gunman opened fire at the U.S. Navy Yard

Escape: Employees at the naval yard run from the building with their hands in the air following the shooting

Alexis, who had three different types of guns on him when he was shot, killed at least 12 people in cold blood Monday morning at the Washington Navy Yard. No motive has been revealed, but speculation is growing his dismissal from the U.S. Navy for 'misconduct' in January 2011 may have inspired him to commit deadly revenge.
The Pentagon confirmed that he was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal prior to his discharge in January 2011.
Family members of the Washington shooter are 'distraught' to learn that he carried out the massacre, relatives told MailOnline today.
WATCH VIDEO HERE:

The shooter: Aaron Alexis is believed to have brought a shotgun with him on Monday and picked up the other two weapons over the course of his shooting spree at the government facility

Navy Yard shooter suspect named

Despite the lack of an acknowledged motive, one U.S. official has been quoted as saying Alexis was discharged from the Navy in 2011 following a series of incidents of 'misconduct.'
Law enforcement said that his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and that he served in the U.S. Navy between May 5, 2007 and January 31, 2011.
A U.S. Navy spokesman said Alexis was an 'aviation electrician's mate' – ranked as a third class petty officer – and served at the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, Texas.

He is reported to have enlisted in New York. The Brooklyn native graduated from boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois as an airman recruit.

His response: President Obama called the Monday shooting a 'cowardly act'

Throughout the late 1990s until 2002, he was listed as living in Manhattan and Queens in New York City. He is still registered as a voter in New York City.

SHOOTER HAD BEEN HONORED FOR HIS WORK IN THE WAR ON TERROR

Petty Officer Third Class Aaron Alexis was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal prior to his discharge in January 2011. He was stationed at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas.

The military award was created on March 12th, 2003 by President George W. Bush and recognizes those who served in the armed forces and who performed a role in the War on Terror – which began as a direct result of the September 11th attacks.

To become eligible for the medal, 30 days of consecutive duty or 60 days of non-consecutive duty must be completed.

Alexis, who worked as a civilian I.T. contractor at the military base in the nation's capital, entered the cafeteria of Building 197 just before 8:15 a.m. brandishing an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, and began shooting.
It is thought that he used an identification card belonging to another employee of the base to gain entry to the heavily secured building where he carried out his deadly attack.
The FBI said that after SWAT teams swarmed the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command, an officer shot Alexis dead.
Witnesses said that during his rampage he appeared to fire at selected targets and not randomly.
The FBI's Washington Field Office also said that it had 'all [it] assets out' in the field as they searched for one other possible shooter described as a black man in his 40s or his 50s.
According to a deleted Linked In profile, Alexis attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and worked for a tech firm.
A former roommate from Ft. Worth, the owner of Happy Bowl Thai restaurant, told NBC News he had not seen the man in three months.

Tragic shooting: The Medical Examiner wheels a body on a gurney out of the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital shortly after it was announced that the first victim of the shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington had died

Police records reveal that Alexis was arrested for accidently discharging a firearm at his Ft. Worth home in September 2010.
A witness who lived in a neighboring apartment told police that she heard a pop and then to her horror a hole appeared in her floor and ceiling.
Alexis told police he was cleaning his gun when while cooking and that his hands were slippery.
All charges against him were dropped.
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department chief Cathy Lanier said the second potential gunman was wearing a military-style uniform and has greying sideburns.

'It appears that we have at least 13 fatalities … it doesn’t get much more serious than that, obviously,' added Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray during an afternoon press briefing.

'We have no known motive at this stage. We will continue the investigation to try and figure out what that motive is.'

'We don’t have any reason to suspect terrorism, but certainly it has not been ruled out.’

The White House- Washington DC. Outside the White House security presence was elevated after the mass shooting today at the Washington Naval Yard

Military personnel watch over the scene of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, USA, 16 September 2013. Twelve people were killed and several wounded in a shooting at the US Navy Yard

Previously, Lanier said law enforcement was searching for two individuals, one white and one black.
However, police have said they have identified the white individual and cleared him of suspicion.

'The big concern for us right now is that we have potentially two other shooters that we have not located at this point,' Lanier said Monday afternoon.

Witnesses reported one man described as an African-American male dressed in military fatigues and armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle opening fire upon entering the base at the Naval Sea System Command HQ.
Police are investigating whether the ID of a former Navy petty officer called Rollie Chance was used by Alexis to gain entrance to the the Navy Yard compound.
FBI investigators visited Chance’s home Monday but have not revealed how Alexis obtained the identification.
Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway of their building on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.

Reunited: Navy Yard workers evacuated after the shooting are reunited with loved ones at a makeshift Red Cross shelter at the Nationals Park baseball stadium near the affected naval installation in Washington, September 16, 2013

'He just turned and started firing,' Brundidge said.
Patricia Ward, who works at the Navy Yard, described how she was in the cafeteria when she heard 'three gunshots, pow-pow-pow, straight in a row.'
'All of the people that were in the cafeteria, we all panicked, and we were trying to decide which way we were going to run out,” she said to NBC News. “I just ran.'
Tim Hogan, a spokesman for Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada, posted photos to his Twitter account of people helping someone who had been hit by gunfire.

The attacks came three days after al-Qaeda used the 12th anniversary of 9/11 to call for strikes on America.

The mass shooting was the deadliest in the United States since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut last December, and the worst at a military base since 13 people were killed at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.

Release: Office workers who had been under lock down cross M Street to leave the area around the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC, USA, 16 September 2013

Police who responded to shooting at the Washington Navy Yard Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, leave the facility

‘We don’t even know, most of us, ourselves, the identities of the victims at this stage,' said Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.

Three people, including a Washington D.C. police officer, were admitted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center with gunshot wounds.

They are expected to survive, chief medical officer Janis Orlowski told reporters this afternoon during an emotional press conference.

Hundreds of SWAT and FBI rapid response units descended on the nation's capital to deal with the situation which unfolded just before 8.30 a.m. this morning.

Obama mourns 'yet another mass shooting' in Washington

Law enforcement personnel are seen through the gate into the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, on Monday, September. 16, 2013

Capital Attack: The Washington Naval Yard in relation to the Capitol Building and the White House - both buildings have had their security increased in the light of the shootings

Attack Aftermath: Media and emergency response personnel gather outside the US Navy Yard where at least one unidentified gunman opened fire at the US Navy Yard in Washington on Monday

Terror: People hold their hands to their heads as they are escorted out of the building where a deadly shooting rampage occurred at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington on Monday

Shock: Navy Yard workers evacuated during a shooting arrive at a makeshift shelter at the Nationals Park baseball stadium in DC

Terror: A family member of a Navy Yard worker who was evacuated during a shooting arrives hoping to find him at a makeshift shelter at the Nationals Park baseball stadium

District of Columbia Police Chief Cathy Lanier briefs reporters on the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington where at least one gunman opened fire inside a building at the Washington Navy Yard

The number of injured was not clear as of the early evening on Monday, but some reports placed it as high as 16. It was later confirmed to be eight individuals, three of whom were shot.
Initial reports from the scene were that one of the suspects walked up to the facility, opened fire  and then ran inside the building.
'The first call arrived, and ‘within 2 to 3 minutes, MPD officers were on the scene .. within 7 minutes we had active shooter teams … moving inside the building,' said Lanier.
Metro police got into ‘a final gun battle’ that killed the suspect.

‘One of the worst things we’ve seen in Washington, D.C.’

‘There was gunfire still going on’ while officers  searched.
‘There’s no question he would have kept shooting’ if officers hadn’t killed him

Civilians inside the military complex described the frantic scenes that greeted them first thing on a Monday morning.

Officers wearing bullet-proof vest and carrying automatic weapons surround the naval base this morning

Armed police prepare to enter the Washington Navy Yard as they respond to a shooting in Washington, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. At least one gunman opened fire inside a building at the Navy yard

On the move: The naval base descended into chaos this morning after shots were fired around 8.20am

Solemn: A U.S. Capitol Police officer patrols the steps at the Capitol as the investigation continues at the nearby Washington Navy Yard where at least one gunman opened fire on Monday

'There was three gunshots straight in a row,' said Patricia Ward, who works at the Navy Yard, describing how she first heard the gunfire while having breakfast at the headquarters building.
A few seconds later, Ward said she heard four more gunshots. Security guards rushed in and got people out as fast as they could – ''Run, run, run, 'they told people,' Ward told reporters.
NBC News, citing a senior naval officer at the Navy Yard, said at least 12 people had been shot.

'We saw him hold the rifle, and we saw him aim it in our direction,' said one witness to Fox News.
Another Navy official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said more than one gunman may have been involved. The Washington Post reported at one point that there were several gunmen.
The Navy said in a statement the shooting took place at the heavily guarded headquarters, where about 3,000 people work.
The shooting hit the military establishment less than three week after U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for murdering 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down unarmed soldiers in what he later called retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries.
The Navy Yard is believed to have tight security.
Visitors without military ID must have a valid reason for entry and provide some other civilian identification.
The gates are protected by U.S. Marines and civilian security guards.
The National Museum of the U.S. Navy is in the grounds of the Navy Yard – and open to the public. However they must show ID to enter.
One victim was reported to have been shot on the roof of a building, reported News4's Tony Tull.
A U.S. Park Police helicopter lowered a basket to a building and lifted what appeared to be a shooting victim from the roof just before 10 a.m.
Watch Video Here:

D.C. Mayor, Chief of Police update on Washington shooting

Airlift: A police helicopter lifts what appears to be a shooting victim up as it hovers over a rooftop on the Washington Navy Yard campus in Washington, September 16, 2013

Dramatic: A helicopter lifts what appears to be a shooting victim up. The U.S. Navy said several people were injured and there were possible fatalities in the shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. on Monday

Response: Police tactical units leave after responding to a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, September 16, 2013

A Navy Yard employee told MailOnline that she thought the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard was undergoing a Fort Hood-style attack when she heard a total of nine shots on Monday morning, as a gunman opened fire on workers at one of the Navy’s largest facilities.
And she added that she wished she could have carried a gun to work with her.
‘A group of four of us were getting coffee down the hall and we heard three “pop, pop, pop” sounds,’ said Pat – who asked MailOnline not to publish her last name.
‘We all looked at each other and froze. And I said, “Oh, Jesus, here we go again. It’s another Fort Hood.”’
Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 and injured 30 others in a jihad-inspired attack at the Texas military base on November 5, 2009. A military panel recommended a death sentence for Hasan on August 28.
Pat, who lives in a northern Virginia suburb of Washingtno, D.C., said she heard another group of six gunshots after the first barrage.

Armed: Police respond to the report of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, September 16, 2013. A gunman shot and wounded at least one person Monday in a headquarters building at the US Navy Yard in Washington

Mass Emergency Response: A general view shows police and first responder activity on M Street, SE near the Washington Navy Yard on September 16, 2013 in Washington, DC

Heavy Vehicle: Police respond to the report of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC as a gunman shot and wounded at least one person Monday in a headquarters building at the US Navy Yard in Washington

Search: Law enforcement officers are deployed on a rooftop as they respond to a shooting on the base at the Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013

Grief: Obama described the victims of the shootings as 'patriots' as he offered support to those affected by the DC naval yard shooting on Monday

‘They couldn’t have been more than 30 or 40 yards away. We didn’t hear people screaming or anything. I mean, these are military folks we work with. But within a half-minute everyone was rushing down the hall and headed to the emergency exits.’

Terror at the Washington Naval Yard: How events Unfolded This Morning:

08.20am: Shots fired at Building 179 on the Naval Sea
Systems Command headquarters in Washington D.C. where about 3,000 people work.
08.30am: Base police enter the building following reports of an active shooter

08.40am: First responders arrive at the scene as loudspeakers are heard telling people on the naval base to 'shelter in place'
10.00am: The Navy reports one confirmed injury
10.06am: Roads and intersections closed around the Navy Yard as police cars and SWAT teams flood into the area
10.54am: Federal Aviation Agency grounds all flights at National Airport in D.C. due to Navy Yard incident
11.13am: First reports say three civilians, one metropolitan police officer and one officer on the naval base were shot
11.20am: Police report that a gunman has been shot dead
11.50am: Chief Medical Officer at George Washington Hospital confirms that they have taken three wounded – a police officer with bullet wounds to the leg; a female with gunshot wound to the shoulder; and a female with gunshot wounds to the head and hand
Midday: Washington Metropolitan Police Department Cathy Lanier says that one shooter is believed to be deceased at the scene while there are potentially two other shooters at large.
The potential shooters were believed to be dressed in military outfits
12.15pm: Woman who was shot in head confirmed dead, by medical staff at George Washington Hospital
12.20pm: President Obama makes a statement calling those who had been shot at the naval base 'patriots' and expresses his grief at another mass shooting

‘I heard lots of voices saying, “Let’s go! Now!” and in a minute or so I was outside.’
She spoke with MailOnline at a satellite parking lot adjacent to Nationals Park, where family members of Navy Yard employees met their loved ones.
Although she emerged unscathed, Pat said she would have felt safer if she had been permitted to carry her own gun to work.
‘I’m a gun owner, and so is my husband,’ Pat said, ‘but I work in D.C. so I can’t carry a weapon. Now I wish they would let us do it anyway. I felt like a fool walking around unarmed after shots were fired.’
SWAT officers, military police, U.S. Capitol police and Washington city police all rushed to respond.
Monday’s shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. has, currently, 'no known connection to terrorism,' according to an early internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by The Daily Caller.
'Metropolitan Police is responding to reports of shots fired at the Washington Navy Yard Base,' the DHS report reads.
'Multiple units responding including SWAT unit at this time. Subject allegedly has multiple weapons.'
Earlier, according to a source at the Joint Terrorism Task Force there is no evidence that the attack is terror related at this time.
'There are 12 dead including the shooter. The entire JTTF is active on the case. But there is no conclusion that it's terror-related but DHS is leading the investigation and police are searching for two more suspects,' a law enforcement source told MailOnline.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, President Obama said that 'We send our thoughts and prayers to all the Navy Yard who have been touched by this tragedy.'
The president spoke of how the spectre of mass shootings had reared its head in America again and said that despite the Navy Yards housing civilians as well as military personnel,'Today they faced the unimaginable violence they wouldn't have expected at home.'
U.S. Capitol Police said they were stepping up security on the Capitol grounds and the White House.
Washington Metropolitan Police told WRC-TV that nearby schools were being locked down, and that some bridges were closed as a precautionary measure.

A Park Police helicopter carries a sniper to the roof of a building on the Navy Yard complex where a shooting took place early this morning on September 16

Snipers take their positions on the roof of a building at the Navy Yard complex where two gunmen have shot at least ten people

A Park Police helicopter patrols over the Navy Yard as it was reported that the two shooters involved in the attack are 'down'

 

Rapid response: Hundreds of FBI and law enforcement officers flooded the scene at the Naval Yard in the capital

Emergency personnel respond to a reported shooting at the Washington Navy Yard where at least ten people have been shot, four killed

Emergency personnel were quickly on the scene and a 'shelter in place' order was issued for Navy Yard personnel.
President Obama was briefed about the shooting, according to a statement from the White House issued earlier in the morning.
'The President directed his team to stay in touch with our federal partners, including the Navy and FBI, as well as the local officials,' the statement said.
'We urge citizens to listen to the authorities and follow directions from the first responders on site.'
The shooter was 'contained' but not yet in custody, according to a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Helicopters swarmed overhead, schools were on lockdown and airplanes at nearby Reagan National Airport were grounded as authorities swarmed the area in southeast D.C., less than a mile from the Capitol.
Watch Video Here:

Scene video: Dozens shot at Washington Navy Yard

Search: A police helicopter flies overhead as police walk on the roof of a building as they respond to a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington September 16, 2013

Two DC Metro Police officers put their gear up as they respond to a reported shooting at an entrance to the Washington Navy Yard September 16, 2013 in Washington, DC

Witnesses described a gunman opening fire from the fourth floor, aiming down on people in the first-floor cafeteria. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway.
As witnesses emerged from the building, a helicopter hovered overhead, schools were on lockdown and airplanes at nearby Reagan National Airport were briefly grounded. Security was beefed up at the Capitol, but officials said there was no known threat there.
About 3,000 people work at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, which builds, buys and maintains the Navy's ships and submarines and combat systems.
Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway of their building on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.
'He just turned and started firing,' Brundidge said.
Terrie Durham, an executive assistant with the same agency, said she also saw the gunman firing toward her and Brundridge.

Reaction: Police work the scene on M Street, SE in Washington near the Washington Navy Yard on Monday

'He said nothing. He just raised the gun and started firing at us': Eyewitnesses recount terror after gunmen open fire

Terrified workers described how one of the suspects walked calmly into the facility and silently sprayed bullets from an AR-15 assault rifle.
'No words. He raised the gun and started firing. He said nothing,' witness Todd Brundidge said.
Brundidge and his co-worker Terrie Durham were in the Office of Naval Sea Systems Command on Monday morning when a fire alarm went off, followed by orders to leave the building.
'I was on the phone and someone came up to my desk and said, "This is not a drill. Someone had just been shot. There are shots in the building",' Brundidge said, NBC reported.
As chaos swirled around them, they began to leave their offices to escape the path of danger – and when they entered the hallway, they spotted a man about 40 yards away.
'We were standing right outside the door to go to the exit and we saw a man standing down the hall,' Durham said.
'He was a tall man, appeared to have dark skin, looked like he was in some kind of uniform and he had a rifle. And he aimed at us and shot but missed, thank God.'
Navy Yard worker Patricia Ward told said that she had been in the cafeteria when she heard what sounded like 'pop, pop, pop'.
'Everybody just panicked at first,' she said. 'It was just people running, running, running.'
Another worker described the scenes of chaos as people desperately tried to get out of the building.
'Everyone was going down the stairs, people were pushing, people were shoving, people were falling down,' he told Fox News.

Don Andres, a legislative aide to Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada, was driving from his home – which is just a block from the Navy Yard – when he learned something was amiss.
'Folks are scared,' he told MSNBC. 'There was a man lying on the corner... I don't know what happened to him [but] people began running up to him and tending to him.
'People were definitely scared and so was I... There was definitely a sense of panic.'

'He aimed high and missed,' she said. 'He said nothing. As soon as I realized he was shooting, we just said, "Get out of the building."'
Rick Mason, a program management analyst who is a civilian with the U.S. Navy, said a gunman was shooting from a fourth floor overlook in the hallway outside his office. He said the gunman was aiming down at people in the building's cafeteria on the first floor. Mason said he could hear the shots but could not see a gunman.
Shortly after the gunfire, Mason said someone on an overhead speaker told workers to seek shelter and later to head for the gates at the complex.
Police and federal agents from multiple law enforcement agencies responded. Ambulances were parked outside, streets in the area were closed and departures from Reagan National Airport were temporarily halted for security reasons.
Among the wounded was a D.C. police officer, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
A U.S. Park Police helicopter hovered over the building and appeared to drop a basket with a person in it onto the roof.
Officials at MedStar Washington Hospital Center said two shooting victims had been brought there.
District of Columbia schools officials said six schools and one administrative building in the vicinity of the Navy Yard were placed on lockdown. The action was taken out an abundance of caution, schools spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz said.
Janis Orlowski, chief medical officer at George Washington Hospital said that they have taken three people who are seriously injured but have good chances of survival.
The doctor said that all victims are conscious and speaking. She said the first male victim has multiple gunshot wounds to the leg.
The second victim is female and has been shot in the shoulder. The third victim is female and has been shot in the head.
The hospital said that it is expecting to receive more of the injured.
Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the Navy's five system commands. With a fiscal year budget of nearly $30 billion, NAVSEA accounts for one quarter of the Navy's entire budget.
The Navy Yard is along the Anacostia River in Washington, near the headquarters of the Department of Transportation and the Washington Nationals baseball stadium.

Flights were grounded at Washington Reagan National Airport on Monday during the attacks at the Naval Yard

Shooting: The Main Gate into the Washington Navy Yard lies at the juncture of the Eighth Street axis and M Street in Southeast Washington

DC Fire EMS units are on the scene. Fire officials say there are victims, but there is no confirmation of numbers yet

Navy Yard attack ‘could just as easily have been directed at Congress,’ says FBI insider

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over the inquiry into what a source in the bureau’s Washington, D.C. Field Office called ‘a horrible – just ridiculous – attack’ that ‘could just as easily have been directed at Congress.’

The civilian employee said the FBI ‘sprung into action immediately. Any time there’s a serious thing like this in the District [of Columbia], we’re going to wind up leading  the investigation when the dust settles.’

The source wouldn’t address the identity of the dead suspect, nor comment on progress toward locating two persons of interest presumed to be at large. Neither has been confirmed as a suspect.

‘Everyone in the building who’s at least 35 years old remembers the morning of 9/11, when it was “all hands on deck,” and this feels a little bit like that.’

‘Look – when this started, no one knew whether it was another Newtown or Fort Hood, or maybe another 9/11,’ the source added. ‘All we knew that there were shots fired, and then we knew there was an officer down. By then the WFO [Washington Field Office] was already asking questions and talking to naval security guards – and of course the JTTF was looped in, just in case.’

The JTTF is the Joint Terrorism Task Force, an interagency group present in most American metro areas, designed to help law enforcement agencies collaborate on cases that involve domestic terror attacks.

But Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said during a press briefing at 2:00 p.m. EDT that officials ‘have no known motive at this stage’ for the attack, which involved a shooter entering a Navy Yard building and firing into a cafeteria from a fourth-floor walking overpass.

‘It’s never easy hearing about this kind of a horrible – just ridiculous attack,’ the FBI employee added. ‘And the really scary thing is that if the shooter could get that close to military officers, he could have probably gotten inside other government buildings too.’

‘Not the White House or the Pentagon, but this could just as easily have been directed at Congress, and you would probably have had more casualties. Someone who wants to kill people won’t have any qualms about shooting his way in.’

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