Shooting at the Pentagon: Gunman Identified as John Patrick Bedell; News Conference at the Pentagon on Shooting Incident; Security at the Pentagon: New Screening Procedures in Place after 9/11; Deadly Shootout at Pentagon
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It is Friday, March 5th. We have some breaking news we're going to be covering for you throughout the morning. I'm Kiran Chetry.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jim Acosta. Let's go to the news conference now at the Pentagon on the Pentagon shooting that happened last night.</s>CHIEF RICHARD KEEVILL, PENTAGON POLICE: A lone individual approached the Pentagon metro prescreen area. Almost immediately reached into his pocket, took out a weapon and engaged the Pentagon Police Department, two officers that were on duty at the entrance to the facility. Shots were fired between both. Both of our officers sustained injuries. They were minor, not life threatening. The suspect was struck in the head. His injuries were a lot more severe. All the subjects were transported to George Washington Hospital. Later in the evening, the suspect, Mr. Bedell, passed away. The officers are OK. They are on administrative leave right now pending the outcome of our investigation and healing from their injuries. At this time, I'm going to introduce the folks who are helping us with this investigation. My name is Richard Keevill, k-e-e-v like victor, i-l-l. On this side, I have Mr. Shawn Henry, who's the assistant director of the FBI, Isaac (ph) John Perry, and the incident commander is Carl Datts (ph). We'll answer any questions that you have. This investigation is actually being shared by three jurisdictions. The Pentagon Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Arlington County Police. Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief Keevill, can you confirm the existence of a surveillance video that shows this suspect?</s>KEEVILL: I can. It does.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell us about it. Tell us about it.</s>KEEVILL: We got it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's on it? What does it show?</s>KEEVILL: It pretty much confirms what we've been saying that he acted alone. Something that I didn't know about until late last night is he was very well dressed in a suit. There was no indication based on the way he was dressed that he had possible intent. I believe I told you all last night that he was very calm. There was no distress in his appearance. He walked very directly to the officers and engaged. He was very well armed. I will tell you he had two 9 millimeter semiautomatic weapons and many magazines.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, what can you tell us about, a little more about the suspect? He was from California. And also, did he act alone? Who else was part of this? Are you still investigating a second suspect?</s>KEEVILL: At this time, and I emphasize at this time, there doesn't appear to be anyone else acting in concert with Mr. Bedell. He came here from California. We were able to identify certain locations that he spent the last several weeks making his way from the West Coast to the East Coast. But a lot of this is still preliminary. One of the questions that came up last night was how did he get here. We were able to determine that he drove here. He parked his vehicle in a local parking garage, and we have located that vehicle. It has been impounded. It will be processed as another piece of evidence.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything found in the vehicle? Any further evidence</s>KEEVILL: More ammunition.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about a motive?</s>KEEVILL: Right now, we don't really have one, ma'am. It appears he's had some issues in the past. He has had a couple of contacts with the law. He's a very well-educated individual. Right now, we don't know if we have a motive yet.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about his Internet postings</s>KEEVILL: I'm sorry, I only heard part of that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the Internet postings? We learned from a</s>KEEVILL: OK.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you guys investigated that?</s>KEEVILL: That's one of many things that we're looking into.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that the same guy?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really haven't made a final determination.</s>KEEVILL: We haven't made a final determination. Not yet, ma'am.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think your security procedures need to be reviewed?</s>KEEVILL: I am very pleased. The Pentagon Police Department in the post-9/11 environment has done considerable training. All of you know that the active shooter issues we've had in the country over the last several months have brought a lot of focus on this in every police department, local, state and federal. We're no exception. We serve a very large population. The Fort Hood incident put us on notice that it can happen even in a military reservation. We took the appropriate actions. We trained our officers and it worked. No, sir, I'm not going to change the way we're doing business.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you returned to the investigation, what can the FBI add to this? Is this primarily focused on a domestic issue, or domestic situation, or international situation at this point?</s>KEEVILL: There is no indication at this point that there are any domestic or international terrorism nexus to this at all. It's probably at this time -- or at this time it appears to be a single individual that had issues.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have the officers been treated or released or are they still in the hospital? Can you elaborate on the wounds of the officers?</s>KEEVILL: The question was, can I elaborate on the wounds of the officers? One of the officers was hit in the thigh. The other was hit in the top of his shoulder. Both were superficial. Both have been released from the hospital and I said a few moments ago are on admin leave, which is routine when the officers are involved in a shooting until they heal and our investigation is complete.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the suspect have any body armor on?</s>KEEVILL: He did not.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was well dressed?</s>KEEVILL: No, he was not wearing any body armor.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What type of weapons?</s>KEEVILL: It's not appropriate to say at this time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you say anything at all prior to opening fire?</s>KEEVILL: I was told last night at the scene that there was no exchange but I understand there may have been an utterance. I can't confirm what that utterance is because the person who knows that is now home resting from a gunshot, so I need to wait until I can get one-on-one with him on that. But I was told last night he didn't talk. He just drew the weapon and started shooting.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any idea when the Pentagon metro station will reopen?</s>KEEVILL: Ma'am, it's a complicated crime scene. There were a lot of bullets fired by both persons, our officers and the suspect. It's a crime scene and as such it's going to have to stay closed until we're complete. I know that's a big hassle for a lot of folks, but we'll do the best we can to get it open as soon as possible.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know he lives in California. Anything about the city and how the investigation is going out there, probably interviewed</s>KEEVILL: The FBI has been wonderful through this investigation supporting us because they have national assets. We are checking leads anywhere this man has ever been, which includes obviously California. And that's still very preliminary.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you say what city in California?</s>KEEVILL: No, not right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, were you able to characterize the style of his shooting? Apparently, he almost missed your two officers entirely despite the fact he was in close range. Did he seem to have any</s>KEEVILL: I can't answer that right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did it appear he was trying to make entrance into the Pentagon and what his intentions were?</s>KEEVILL: Ma'am, I have no idea what his intentions were. We can speculate about that I guess a lot. But he was immediately adjacent to the entrance to the Pentagon. He didn't make it. He was at a prescreen facility and he was stopped at the prescreen facility.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any idea how many shots roughly were fired?</s>KEEVILL: No. And that's a truthful answer. I really don't know because they're still counting. It was a real significant number of rounds but I don't know how many.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the suspect shot by one of the two officers who were hit?</s>KEEVILL: Until we get the ballistics back there were three officers engaged him with weapons. The two officers that you know about and one of our officers that came to assist, all three fired at him. I don't know yet and I don't think we'll know for a couple weeks until the ballistics are back which one actually hit him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What a timely question? How long did it take to take him out and neutralize him?</s>KEEVILL: It was less than a minute.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can the FBI just make any comment about how concerned the attorney general is about this and how you all see this whole investigation?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I defer to the chief and his comments. This is just still an ongoing investigation. We're continuing to investigate all leads and I think the chief has done a terrific job really articulating that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two more questions.</s>KEEVILL: Anymore questions? Two.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you release that tape?</s>KEEVILL: Not for a while. Not for a while. A lot of people are interested in seeing it including these gentlemen here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In terms of civilians, who was in that immediate area in addition to the officers? The gunman and the officers involved, were there people right up close to the incident scene?</s>KEEVILL: If you didn't hear the question is, where are the -- are there a majority of the public that use that part of the building? Yes. The metro entrance facility is one of the biggest entrances into the building because obviously the metro station and the train station, I say metro, the buses and train stations are right there. We're lucky.</s>ACOSTA: That's the latest from the chief of the Pentagon police. They're at the Pentagon wrapping up the latest details on this ongoing investigation into that shooting that happened last night. The chief there confirming that the suspect was killed. John Patrick Bedell, 36 year old, from what we understand, from California. And we've got a team of reporters working on this story right now. Barbara Starr is with us here in New York. But we first want to go to our Chris Lawrence who is down at the scene of the shooting that occurred last night. Chris was just listening in on the press conference. And, Chris, what was your impression of what you just heard?</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think -- I think, Jim, in some ways he confirmed what a defense official told me a short while ago, that the two officers were out of the hospital, that they were OK. That this second man that they have talked to or questioned had nothing to do with the actual shooting. He was simply seen near the shooter before the shooting took place. And he confirmed from the medical examiner that the shooter was dead. I think some of the new details that we learned was that he was very well educated. He was very well dressed, and that he had come from California. He had driven his car out and that when they searched that car, they did find more ammunition inside -- Jim.</s>CHETRY: All right. You know, Chris, another thing that was interesting that was asked at this press conference that took place is whether or not this is the same person who was linked to some Internet postings, resentment over the U.S. government, perhaps suspicions about 9/11. They answered that that's something they're looking into right now, and they also did say that they don't believe this is part of any terrorism nexus. But what more do we know possibly about the gunman at this point?</s>LAWRENCE: Based on what we know, Kiran, you know, he has been in contact with law enforcement before as we heard him sort of allude to. We're talking about 2006. There was a court case involving cultivating marijuana, resisting police. And the marijuana angle comes up in some of these audio recordings that we've obtained that we believe were made by the same, you know, John Patrick Bedell. In it, he rails against the government. He talks about government control of the monetary system, about government control of the schools, and he also talks about some conspiracy ideas that he has. Take a listen to what some of the audio recordings are.</s>JOHN PATRICK BEDELL, PENTAGON SHOOTER: To prevent themselves from being enslaved, the powerful masters of our existing government use every means at their disposal, including bribery, theft and murder, to control those governments which are imperfect institutions operated by imperfect individuals. In order to properly address these very serious matters, it is necessary to recognize the importance of enduring principles for setting a positive direction that we can pursue, mindful of the real threats that we must overcome."</s>LAWRENCE: Again, he rails against the government. He talks about a case of a Marine colonel from back in 1991 where it was ruled a suicide, but there was always some suspicion that perhaps the colonel may have been killed to cover up some information that he had about the government. So what you get out of all this is a very anti- government leanings. I can also tell you as he came up to this area of the Pentagon, a lot of people would say how do you get a gun that close to the Pentagon? Well, the thing is the metro station, as you just heard, is used by thousands of people every day. Buses come through there. The underground train system comes through there. And as you come up the escalator, after 9/11 they changed the system where now you come up, there is another layer of security. So, as you come out of the escalator and come out of the metro station, there are these Pentagon police officers standing right there. And every day, you know, I come in with a code. I walk up. I pull out my pass just like thousands of other people do. So, what he did was probably something that these officers see day in and day out every minute of the day. It is incredibly busy. And so when he went to what they thought pull out a pass to get into the Pentagon, and he pulled out a gun, obviously that would have caught them very much by surprise.</s>CHETRY: Absolutely.</s>ACOSTA: Yes.</s>LAWRENCE: Jim, Kiran.</s>ACOSTA: Chris, thanks so much for that perspective at the Pentagon this morning. We'll get back to you as soon as we can. But first --</s>CHETRY: That's one of the questions that they were asking about as well, is the fact that the two officers, thank goodness, had superficial wounds. One grazed in the thigh and one grazed in the shoulder.</s>ACOSTA: Right.</s>CHETRY: But as it appears, I mean, they were shot almost at pointblank range.</s>ACOSTA: That's right.</s>CHETRY: So it's lucky that they have minor injuries.</s>ACOSTA: And that is essentially because of the security setup at the Pentagon. The metro station, the D.C. subway system that lets off right there at the Pentagon allows people some pretty good access to that building. And joining us now is our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. And, Barbara, you know that building well. But one of the tidbits that came out of that press conference that struck me is that the chief said that the suspect had two 9 millimeter semiautomatic weapons and as he put it many magazines.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what's really so astounding that someone could get so close. That you know, this is the post- 9/11 era, isn't it? And these public spaces we saw it at Fort Hood, we see it here, they try and control access as best they can. What they have done at the Pentagon since 9/11 is move the security checkpoint out, further away from the building. So, if anybody does have ill intent, they will be caught away. They won't get inside the building. It's the kind of thing that we're seeing in so many places but in these large areas where thousands of people move through, which essentially is a public space at the metro, it's so tough to catch these people.</s>ACOSTA: And as you pointed out just before we went on the air, this is the first major security incident at the Pentagon since September 11th.</s>STARR: Sure, it really is. You know, like any other place, there are minor incidents along the way that don't really get reported but this is really the most serious incident since 9/11, and obviously something for the people who work in the Pentagon as we do who were there on 9/11 brings back a lot of memories. But the Pentagon police got on it really fast obviously. They say they neutralized this man within a minute. And that's the kind of 9/11 security that they've really instituted there.</s>CHETRY: A lot of questions and a lot more to be discussed as we find out more details about this case and we're going to continue that. We're just going to take a quick break. And when we come back, the latest now that we just heard some new information this morning about that shooting right outside of the Pentagon. We're going to take a quick break. It's 15 minutes past the hour.