The White House said President Barack Obama had ‘been briefed several times about the unfolding situation at the Washington Navy Yard by Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Lisa Monaco and Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco.’
Defence secretary Chuck Hagel and the US military’s top officer, General Martin Dempsey, were also closely following the incident.
The Navy said shots were fired around 8:20 am (local time) at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington, where about 3,000 people work. The complex also has a residence which serves as the home of the chief of the US Navy.
The exact number of the victims and their conditions were not immediately ascertained, though the Navy said several people had been injured.
Police and federal agents from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene, according to reports. Ambulances were parked outside, streets in the area were closed and flights at Reagan National Airport were temporarily halted.
Police and FBI agents descended on the area in force as helicopters buzzed overhead, amid reports the shooter was armed with an assault rifle and was on the loose in the complex.
A US Park Police helicopter hovered over the building and appeared to drop a basket or a stretcher with a person onto the roof.
A Washington DC police officer and another law enforcement officer had been shot while the gunman had allegedly barricaded himself in a room in a headquarters building, the Washington Post and other media reported.
Police blocked off intersections around the Navy Yard as military troops in uniform stood guard at street corners. Crowds of onlookers stood on sidewalks watching the drama unfold and at a construction site near the Navy Yard.
Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the Navy’s five system commands and accounts for a quarter of the Navy’s entire budget. It builds, buys and maintains the Navy’s ships and submarines and their combat systems.
It was unclear how a man armed with an assault rifle could have penetrated the heavy security that surrounds the Navy Yard, which is located on the Anacostia River, not far from the Capitol building that houses the US Congress.