shooting

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Pentagon Suspect Suspected in Shootings — The man whose arrest prompted authorities to shut down Washington Boulevard during the Friday morning rush hour is now being investigated for a possible connection to a mysterious series of incidents of shots fired at the Pentagon and various Northern Virginia sites linked to the Marine Corps. Yonathan Melaku, a 22-year-old Marine reservist, is currently being held at a Loudoun County jail. [Inside Nova]

Arlington Cabbies Stage Sit-In — Arlington taxi drivers surprised county officials by packing into a Arlington County office yesterday in protest of regulations that they say give the owners of taxi companies too much control over drivers. [Washington Examiner]

Pike ‘Bike Boulevards’ Generate Opposition — Some residents are upset about what they see as a lack of advanced notice regarding Arlington’s plan to build ‘bike boulevards’ on two streets that run parallel to Columbia Pike. Also: more details on how the bike boulevards would work. [Greater Greater Washington]

Bishop O’Connell Teacher Missing — A popular English teacher at Bishop O’Connell High School has gone missing. Tom Duesterhaus was last seen on Friday in Virginia Beach. [Patch]

Photo courtesy James Mahony

Pentagon, Museum Shootings Linked; Extra Security Needed for Marathon?

By ARLnow.com

Local news outlets are reporting that the FBI has just confirmed that the same weapon was used to fire shots at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle on Oct. 17 and at the Pentagon on Oct. 19.

The FBI is also investigating a third shooting, which took place overnight at a Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Chantilly.

Each shooting is believed to have taken place at night, but one wonders whether the pattern of targeting Marine Corps-related sites could be worrisome to organizers of this weekend’s Marine Corps Marathon, which will take runners on a 26.2 mile course through Arlington and the District.

We’re awaiting comment from the Arlington County Police Department and the Marine Corps on whether extra security measures are being put into place.

Update on 10/27 — Citing law enforcement sources, ABC 7 reports that extra security will be in place at the marathon’s start and finish lines. Arlington police tell ABC 7 that they’re taking the recent shootings into consideration, and Pentagon police say they’ll deploy extra officers throughout the area.

Neighbors Say Hopkins Shooter Was a “Quiet Guy” Who “Loved His Mother”

By ARLnow.com

Neighbors say Paul Warren Pardus was an aberration: a quiet, reserved guy in an otherwise open and friendly neighborhood.

Outside Pardus’ home on South Kenmore Street in Nauck tonight, a steady stream of reporters and television news crews stopped by to interview neighbors about the man who just hours earlier was the biggest story on the national news.

Pardus had allegedly shot a doctor in the abdomen at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after becoming “emotionally distressed” about the prognosis for his ailing, elderly mother. Then, as police surrounded the hospital room he had holed up in, Pardus fatally shot his mother, then himself.

“It’s just unbelievable, it really is,” said Pardus’ next-door neighbor, Theresa Green. “He was a really nice guy.”

Neighbor Ronald Day said Pardus lived with his mother, was unmarried, had no kids, and was an only child. He said Day and his mother had lived in the small house on Kenmore Street for at least three years.

“He really loved his mother, he really did,” Day said. “He cared a whole lot about her… the only thing he was his mother.”

Day said the mother had become ill recently, prompting Pardus, a MetroAccess driver, to check on her often.

“He always came back to see if she was okay,” Day said.

But others weren’t as charitable in their assessment of the 50-year-old man who was only seen when coming or going from work or when doing yard work.

“He was just weird,” said Elaine Green. “We kept our distance.”

“It’s very surprising, but I wouldn’t put it past him… you never know what someone’s capable of,” she said.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Pentagon Reviewing Change to Security Checkpoints Near Metro Station — At the behest of local transportation officials, Pentagon brass will be reviewing proposed changes to the security checkpoints near the Pentagon Metro Station. The changes, which follow the March shooting that left two security guards wounded and the suspect dead, would move the checkpoints closer to the station. Local officials worry the move could create long security lines that would disrupt the flow of commuters in and out of the station.

Arlington Spy Suspects Transferred to New York — Say goodbye to the (accused) Russian spies who loved Arlington. A judge has ordered that Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills and Mikhail Semenko be transferred to New York. Attorneys for the three tried to keep them in Virginia, but a federal court judge ordered the transfer yesterday. There’s word that the ten accused spies may be swapped with Russia for an imprisoned nuclear scientist convicted of spying for the United States.

Arlington Artist’s Creation Appears on Popular Blog — On Tuesday, the popular blog Boing Boing highlighted a “giant bike-friendly junk-cyborg” created by Arlington artist Luke Idziak. The pedal-powered kinetic sculpture, called Wheeled Victory, or The Cyborg of Interstellar Justice, was created in 2008 and funded by the Arlington Cultural Affairs Office.

Flickr pool photo by philliefan99.

Crime Report: Shooting Arrest

By ARLnow.com

From this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report we highlight this case of a man who was shot near the Green Valley Pharmacy during an argument.

Police were first alerted to the shooting when the man was dropped off at the Virginia Hospital Center ER with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg. After a short investigation, police were able to find and arrest the suspect — which wasn’t too hard because he was still hanging out near where the shooting occurred.

MALICIOUS WOUNDING-ARREST 05/10/10, 2400 block of S. Shirlington Road. On May 9 at 11:50 pm, two men argued and one man shot the other in the leg. Police located the suspect. Michael Nash, 57, of no fixed address was charged with Malicious Wounding, Use of a Firearm in Commission of a Felony, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted felon. He was held without bond.

The rest of this week’s report, after the jump.

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Pentagon Police Officers Speak Out

By ARLnow.com

The two Pentagon police officers who were shot during Thursday night’s shooting outside the Pentagon Metro spoke out about their experience on several news programs Monday morning

“We were there to do our jobs and that’s what we did,” one of the officers said on the CBS Early Show.

John Patrick Bedell, the alleged shooter, was a brainy and troubled man whose once-promising future was destroyed by deep-seated paranoia and rage, according to the Washington Post.

Also revealed by the article — which features the first interview with a Bedell family member — is the fact that Bedell made a purchase from a Silver Spring gun store shortly before the shooting.

Bedell’s family is planning a private funeral service in California.

Pentagon Gunman Left Rants About 9/11 Conspiracy

By ARLnow.com

Suspected Pentagon Metro gunman John Patrick Bedell, 36, left a trail of 9/11 conspiracy theory and marijuana-legalization ramblings on the internet, according to Gawker.

After parking his car in a nearby garage, Bedell, wearing a business suit, carried two semiautomatic handguns and a large quantity of ammunition with him as he approached a Pentagon entrance outside the Metro station, according to police.

Two Pentagon police officers, both highly-trained former service members, were slightly wounded when Bedell opened fire. The officers, along with a third officer, returned fire, striking and ultimately killing Bedell, according to the Washington Post.

UPDATE – Pentagon Metro Closed, Suspect Dead

By ARLnow.com

The Pentagon Metro will be closed Friday morning as the FBI investigates Thursday night’s shooting. It’s not known when the station will reopen.

Meanwhile, CBS News is reporting that the suspect in the shooting has died. The suspect was shot in the head by police after he shot two officers, various news outlets have reported.

NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski said on NBC4 tonight that police are questioning a possible accomplice in the shooting. Miklaszewski said the second individual may have been carrying ammunition. So far, those details have not been confirmed. Investigators now say an individual seen talking to the suspect on surveillance footage is not connected to the shooting.

BREAKING NEWS – More Details Revealed About Shooting

By ARLnow.com

The press conference outside the Pentagon Metro station has revealed new details about tonight’s shooting. Pentagon police chief Richard Keevill said that a lone shooter approached officers manning a checkpoint near an entrance to the station, calmly drew a hand gun, and opened fire.

He “did not say a word,” Keevill said.

Police officers returned fire. Two were hit and suffered wounds that are not thought to be life-threatening.

Witnesses who talked to ARLnow.com said they heard at least a half dozen shots and then saw people ducking and running from the scene.

Minutes after the shooting Pentagon police officers, with guns drawn, frantically moved to cordon off entrances to the Pentagon reservation.

In a chaotic scene, officers ordered pedestrians and vehicles heading towards the Pentagon reservation to turn around while buses, cars and Pentagon employees streamed out onto Army Navy Drive. Meanwhile, Arlington police officers converged on the Pentagon en masse to assist Pentagon police.

The Washington Post and NBC4 have more on the shooting.

BREAKING NEWS – DoD Statement on Shooting

By ARLnow.com

The Pentagon is currently holding a press briefing on tonight’s shooting. Here’s a statement issued by the DoD:

“A shooting incident has occurred at the Pentagon Metro Entrance this evening at approximately 6:40 p.m. EST. Two Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) officers were injured when an unknown suspect fired at them. The suspect was injured in return fire from the PFPA officers. Injuries to the two PFPA officers do not appear to be life threatening. A suspect is in custody and his condition is unknown [update: ‘very critical’]. All three injured have been taken to a local hospital. All Pentagon entrances were secured for a brief time but have since been reopened with the exception of the Pentagon Metro entrance. The incident is under investigation. More details will be released when available.”

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