Aaron Alexis, the heavily armed gunman who calmly opened fire and killed 12 people this morning at Washington Naval Yard before being shot and killed has been revealed to have a prior arrest for letting off a gun when he lived in Fort Worth, Texas in 2010.
The 34-year-old, who worked as a civilian contractor at the military base in the nation's capital, entered the cafeteria of Building 197 just before 8.30 a.m. brandishing an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, shotgun and handgun and began shooting.
After SWAT teams swarmed the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command the FBI said that Alexis was shot dead by officers.
During his rampage witnesses said he appeared to fire at selected targets and not randomly.
While no motive has been given for the shooting, one U.S. official has been quoted as saying Alexis was kicked out of the Navy in 2011 as a direct result of his gun arrest three years ago.
Washington D.C.'s FBI field office also reportedly said that they have 'all assets out' as they search for one other possible shooter they described as a black man in his 40s or his 50s.
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department chief Cathy Lanier said the other potential gunman was wearing a military-style uniform and has greying sideburns.
'It appears that we have at least 13 fatalities … it doesn’t get much more serious than that, obviously,' said Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.
'We have no known motive at this stage. We will continue the investigation to try and figure out what that motive is.'
'We don’t have any reason to suspect terrorism, but certainly it has not been ruled out.’
Previously, Washington D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier said that law enforcement were searching for two individuals, one white and one black.
However, police have said they have identified the white individual and he's not a suspect or person of interest
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