BREAKING : focuri de armă la Pentagon

Official: Shooting at Pentagon appears to be a 'random incident'  

By Larry Shaughnessy, CNN Pentagon Producer

October 19, 2010 -- Updated 1653 GMT (0053 HKT)

Shots fired at Pentagon

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Several shots were fired early Tuesday into an unoccupied part of the Pentagon
• A top Pentagon security official is calling the shooting "an isolated incident, so far"
• Two bullet fragments have been discovered, and the investigation is ongoing

Washington (CNN) -- A Pentagon official said he believes the shooting early Tuesday at the U.S. Defense Department headquarters was a "random incident."

"We are looking at all the possibilities," Steven E. Calvery, director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, said at a press conference late Tuesday morning. "What we have is an isolated incident, so far."
Pentagon police officers, as well as several construction workers in the area, heard at least five shots fired around 4:50 a.m., Pentagon officials said.

As of midday Tuesday, authorities had discovered two bullet fragments in third- and fourth-floor windows on the south side of the building, said Calvery. That part of the Pentagon was empty at the time of the shooting, as it is in the process of being renovated. The bullets shattered but did not go through the windows, which are bulletproof, according to Calvery.

The early-morning shooting prompted a 40-minute shutdown of the entire Pentagon, and authorities conducted an interior sweep of the building shortly after 6 a.m.

Calvery said authorities were unsure who fired the shots and with what kind of gun, though he said he believes they came from a rifle.

A portion of Interstate 395 -- which runs along the south side of the Pentagon -- was also shut down temporarily to conduct a search in the investigation. Maj. Chris Perrine, a public affairs officer for Defense Press Operations, said that other temporary road closures may be necessary as the probe continues.

Several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Pentagon police, are looking at surveillance footage and doing ballistics tests of the bullets found thus far, among other measures.

Tuesday's shooting follows a similar incident overnight Sunday at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, near the entrance of Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Lin Ezell, the museum's director, told CNN on Tuesday that investigators have determined that one or more assailants used rifles to fire ten bullets at the building -- five hitting glass windows, the rest hitting metal panels. Authorities haven't pinned down exactly where the shots were fired from, though they believe they came from Interstate 95 or nearby.

No one was hurt in that incident, which occurred between 12:15 a.m. and 5 a.m. when the building was unoccupied, Ezell said. No one has claimed responsibility and there were no known threats prior to the shooting, she added. Military police and the Prince William County Police Department are investigating that incident.

Asked if there were any ties between that and the Pentagon shootings, Calvery said, "We are aware of that incident. But we have no information that they are connected."

Tuesday's shooting was the first such incident at the U.S. Defense Department headquarters since March, when John Patrick Bedell pulled a gun from his pocket and began shooting. Bedell, who had a history of mental health problems, was later shot and killed, while two Pentagon police officers received superficial injuries in the incident.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/19/dc.pentagon.shots.fired/?hpt=Sbin