‘What’s going on there? And when will they tell us the name of the killer? ‘
Good questions. Without PO2 Mayo’s timely and heroic intervention this would likely have been another event similar to the Navy Yard shootings this time on a US warship.
Savage used his transportation worker credential to drive a semi truck onto Norfolk Naval Station on Monday night and used the same card to walk through another security checkpoint at Pier 1, where he boarded the guided missile destroyer Mahan.
On the ship, Savage stripped a gun from the petty officer of the watch and shot and killed Petty Officer 2nd Class Mark Mayo, a base guard who responded to the scene. Savage was shot and killed in the scuffle. Mayo returned fire, a source close to the investigation said, but its not clear if it was his shot that hit Savage.
This afternoon, Savage was identified as the shooter by Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
NCIS has confirmed Savage had no reason or authorization to be on base, according to a Navy news release.
The security breach at Norfolk Naval Station raises questions about the card Savage used to get on the base. The Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC, was created a decade ago, primarily to ensure security at civilian marine terminals. The government ID cards are also sometimes used to access military bases.
To get a TWIC card, a worker must provide personal information, including fingerprints, and pass a background check conducted by the Transportation Security Administration. Some felonies disqualify applicants from receiving the security pass, but manslaughter is not listed among them. Savage's conviction for distribution of a controlled substance might have disqualified him had it happened within the past seven years. More than 2 million people hold valid TWIC cards nationwide.
Since the TWIC program was created, it has faced questions about its cost and usefulness, especially because some installations don't have devices to read the cards. Norfolk Naval Station is among them. Instead, guards at gates and security checkpoints make sure the people presenting TWIC cards match the photos on the cards.
According to Navy policy, a TWIC card can only be used to access a base or pier if the card holder also presents proof of official business on the installation. Savage, who drove a semi-truck without a trailer onto Norfolk Naval Station around 11 p.m. Monday, did not have business on the base, Navy officials said.
Truck drivers who regularly pick up and deliver freight at Norfolk Naval Station say gate security procedures vary. Occasionally, the guard will search the trailer or ask to see a work order. But usually, according to truck drivers interviewed by The Virginian-Pilot, a TWIC card alone is good enough to get past the gate and onto the base in Norfolk.
"Normally, the bases that recognize the TWIC, once you show it to them, they wave you right on through," said Charles Dirago, a driver for Sheridan Logistics, which transports military equipment across the country. "They might ask, 'Pick up or delivery?' But they don't usually ask for any proof."
Other military bases, including Fort Hood in Texas, require drivers to "jump through more hoops" to gain access. "There is no universal standard," Dirago said. "It depends on the base."
Kaylin Minton, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, said he would consider further action once NCIS and Norfolk Naval Station complete their investigations.
“The safety of our men and women in uniform remains a top priority for our office,” Minton said. ____
Mayo and Savage's bodies were taken to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, where a doctor from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office conducted autopsies, a spokesman for the examiner’s office confirmed.
Spokesman Paul Stone said a doctor from the office traveled to Portsmouth from the office on Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to conduct the examinations.
He completed them Tuesday, Stone said. The examiner’s findings will now be compiled in an autopsy report and turned over to investigators. Stone said the report would take about six weeks to prepare.
Navy officials informed Mayo's family of his death Tuesday. His body was no longer at the hospital.
Savage's body remains at the hospital. Family has not yet come forward to claim it for burial.
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Savage had been in and out of jail over the years, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2008 in connection with the 2005 death of a 30-year-old man in Charlotte, N.C. He and the victim, Maurice Griffin, were riding in a car and began struggling over a gun, said a spokesman with the N.C. Department of Public Safety. The gun fired and the victim was eventually left on the side of the road, where he died.
Savage fled to his home in Portsmouth, where he was later arrested and returned to North Carolina. Savage was released on those charges in 2009, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Prior to that, Savage served five years in federal prison in Maryland for selling cocaine.
Griffin, 30, had one child and was also from Hampton Roads. In 1996, he pleaded guilty in Chesapeake to charges of distributing cocaine, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, with six suspended.
Eric Loulies, 40, believes Savage lived across the street from him in a townhouse in the Western Branch section of Chesapeake. He said he couldn’t recall ever speaking to Savage, but saw him in passing.
He said unmarked law enforcement vehicles showed up in the complex on Tuesday, the day after the shooting. It started with one sedan, whose occupant staked out the complex from a side street for at least a couple hours. Then, as many as seven other unmarked vehicles joined him, lining up on a street that leads into the townhome community.
At first, Loulies thought they were involved in a drug bust, which he said are not uncommon in the area. But when he called the Chesapeake Police Department to inquire about the situation, he said police weren’t aware of any activity there.
The men stayed for several hours, but it did not appear that they took anything out of the residence, he said.