Navy Yard: Swat team ‘stood down’ at mass shooting scene

Debbie Siegelbaum
BBC News
18 September 2013

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…

…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…

 

Read the complete article at BBC News.

 

Related:   ‘If We Had the Ammunition, We Could’ve Cleared that Building,’ Son at Navy Yard Told Dad

 

Judge Napolitano: Military Officers Should Be Able to Defend Themselves

…“Candidly, we have a problem with the military. If you cannot trust military officers to carry weapons on a military base after Ford Hood and after this, then people don’t believe in the Second Amendment at all.”…

 

Probe launched over claim that elite Capitol Police unit blocked from Navy Yard massacre

 

 

Update:   This Is Why Most Military Personnel Aren’t Armed on Military Bases — and It’s Not Clinton’s Fault

Monday’s deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard has renewed interest in why most military personnel are forbidden from carrying firearms on military bases. In the aftermath, some have pointed fingers at former President Bill Clinton, but is he really to blame?

Not according to what we found.

The question of why military members aren’t armed on base garnered attention back in November 2009 when Army Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire at Ft. Hood and killed 13 people. He was sentenced to death on August 28. Now, nearly four years later, many are asking the same question.

So what’s the answer? …

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