The Coast Guard shut down several recruiting stations in the D.C. area yesterday as a precaution after shots were fired at their center in Woodbridge earlier this week. That shooting was just the latest in a string of incidents targeting military installations that have left law enforcement officials searching for answers.
“Obviously, we were concerned about it and we’re continuing to assist the FBI however we can,” Scott Carr, a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard’s recruiting command, told TPMMuckraker on Thursday. “Yesterday we had closed the recruiting office in Potomac Mills, we also went ahead and closed the recruiting offices in D.C. and in Baltimore as a precaution.”
The Coast Guard has also made sure all of their recruiters around the country are aware of the incident and are on alert, Carr said. “Nobody comes into a Coast Guard recruiting station without an appointment, this is just normal policy,” he added. Carr was checking to see if the offices had re-opened today.
All of the incidents — two at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, one at the Pentagon, one at a U.S. Marine recruiting center and one at the U.S. Coast Guard recruiting center — have a few things in common. They all take place in the middle of the night and seem to target military installations but not people.
As NPR reported, an FBI official speaking with reporters late last week seemed at times to be speaking directly to the shooter.
“We’d like to know what this grievance is and what we can do to try help resolve it,” said John Perren, head of FBI’s Washington field office. “We’re willing to listen to him and hear his side of the story.”
Investigators have a rough psychological profile of the individual. They say he is most likely (but not definitely) male, and could be a current or former service member who suffered a setback such as a divorce or a job loss, NPR reported.
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