Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The Pentagon allayed fears of an organized attack Tuesday after shots were fired at the building in the wee hours of the morning. No one was injured, according to security officials at the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters.
Security officials were treating the incident as “a random case,” and the Pentagon security agency was working with the FBI and local law enforcement officials to ascertain if it was part of a bigger security threat.
Steven Calvery, director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, told journalists that a sweep of the building was going on and they had found two windows damaged in unoccupied offices.
The bullets had shattered but not penetrated the reinforced-glass windows, Calvery said, adding that parts of bullets have been found. He could not shed any light on the weapons used, noting, “I am not a ballistic expert,” and that investigative teams were working on it.
Elaborating on the incident, Calvery cited a police officer who heard the shots fired at approximately 4:50 a.m. in or near the south parking area of the Pentagon.
“We did take prompt action, immediately closing down the reservation–vehicular access as well as access to the building–pretty quickly when the report of shots fired was verified,” said Calvery.
There were visible signs of heightened security and officers with canines were seen sweeping the areas.
Moreover, parts of southbound I-395 along the southern end of the Pentagon were shut down as police searched for possible evidence such as shell casings.
Calvery said that the investigating teams were interviewing the officer who heard the shots as well as construction workers who said they heard shots.
Authorities are reviewing surveillance videos and are also looking for videos from the nearby highways and other neighborhood points.
Calvery noted that investigators are attempting to determine if a weekend incident in which several rounds were fired at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and Heritage Center in Triangle, VA, was related to Tuesday morning’s incident.
The pre-dawn shooting at the Pentagon is the first incident since a March 4 shooting and hopefully the last, noted Calvery.
He was referring to an incident in March when John Patrick Bedell, 36, from California approached a pre-screening checkpoint in the evening, produced a semi-automatic handgun when asked for a pass and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officials.
Two Pentagon Force Protection Agency officers were wounded in that incident but were successful in stopping Bedell, who later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital.
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