Posted on 09/18/2013 11:00:32 AM PDT by kristinn
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 said senior officials were investigating.
Aaron Alexis, 34, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday.
"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.
A former Navy reservist, Alexis was working as a technical contractor for the Navy and had a valid pass and security clearance allowing him entry to the highly secure building in south-east Washington DC.
He entered the building about 8:15 local time (12:15 GMT) and opened fire. He was later killed by police who stormed the building.
But 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.
According to a Capitol Police source, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Washington DC's main municipal force, told the Capitol Cert officers they were the only police on the site equipped with long guns and requested their assistance in searching for the gunman.
When the Capitol Police team radioed in to their superiors, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene, the BBC was told.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
My thoughts exactly!!! If the Capital has only one 4 man QRF they are truly in a sad state.
Thankfully Bill Clinton made all those buildings safe by making them “gun=free” zones. The sign should have stopped the shooter. Right?
*
Thanks. Some better but still.....
Why is it the British whose country is going to hell are the only integrity left in the press when it comes to digging dirt on US government politics?
A revenge thing for 1776, or payback for Barry’s Churchill slight?
Their desire to assist is what we want from law enforcement.
Entering a complex of buildings under this scenario and operating with other teams in this dynamic situation...teams that you have not trained with and may not be able to communicate with via radio....and who are getting intelligence updates at different times...not a good scenario.
You really don’t want to have multiple moving elements operating in this type of scenario unless they have trained together and have a unified incident command structure.
Anyone hear from Homeland Security yet????? Looks like the Gorelick Wall is still intact.
What, is STAND DOWN the only thing in the Washington playbook?
Exactly!
“Obama needed a disaster so he could implement gun control by execturive order”
People wondered why they had SWAT teams in Colorado when those two dopes shot up Columbine; I guess now they realize they are not to deal with lone gunmen but larger-scale civil unrest. After watching the Branch Davidians whip their asses in their staged assault on their compound, I’m convinced these SWAT teams are just to fatten the ranks and pockets of our gubmint worker class.
What’s a few more lives compared to a political scheme?
Yep...That is what I would be inquiring into: Who was allowed to be killed? Did any of the 12 victims have a history with Benghazi? Passport office? Point of interest?
Real wars sometimes become turf wars...
You do remember that the only SWAT man killed in Waco had been Hitlary’s body guard in Arkansas? And that he was killed by friendly fire?
“Why is it the British whose country is going to hell are the only integrity left in the press when it comes to digging dirt on US government politics?”
It is not that the British press has so much integrity. It is that it has always had considerable *diversity*, and everyone knows what the biases are for the different outlets. (most thought the BBC was kinda, sorta, objective, until they have proved themselves to be decidedly leftist)
In the U.S., nearly all the MSM is in lockstep in support of President Obama and the politically correct insanity the “Progressives” have morphed into.
They can't seem to stop themselves.
That aside, the lone shooter was killed fairly quickly.
Not fast enough to save any of the 12 murder victims, obviously, but the danger was all done before any of the other elite government “rent a cops” could get in on the “action”, and possibly pollute the crime scene.
I don’t know the specifics, but watching those Branch Davidians shoot those SWAT/ATF guys right through the walls didn’t make the gubmint look too bright.
Based on all the armed police at the scene, this was probably a good thing, based on what terrible shots these officers are.
SWAT bodily harm might have been avoided.
Didn’t it take 30 mins for them/police who were allowed in, to bring Aaron Alexis down? Wonder how many shots were fired from the police units?
“Benghazi stand down equivalent. Let Servicemen die.”
No, I have to disagree, you know how many soldiers were on that base with empty weapons in their possession!!!
I know, I was in, and routinely carried an M16 on base with no ammo. The SWAT team would have created another layer of tragedy.
Let the military deal with on-base incidents....
Not an easy call, but the right call, IMHO.
Don’t you know?
Swat teams are only supposed to go into citizens homes, shoot them and their dogs and get home safe?
They aren’t for these situations anymore!
Sadly, that may be an on the ball and accurate assesment despite it being snark and venom at the idiots in charge.
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