Over a harrowing 69 minutes on September 2013, 12 people were shot dead and many more wounded in what was Washington DC’s deadliest mass shooting.
Navy contractor Aaron Alexis terrorised thousands of workers at the Washington Navy Yard. Former FBI Agent Timothy Gallagher led the FBI response to put an end to the killing.
Former FBI Agent Timothy Gallagher shares how the day unfolded on this episode of Crime Insiders.
Crime Insiders host Brent Sanders asked Gallagher if he found a motive from the shooter.
“We went through his writings, we found a flash drive that had his reasoning for it and he thought that the US government was sending radio waves into his brain … and he was gonna get even with the US government for doing that,” Gallagher said.
“And unfortunately, thirteen hard-working civil servants lost their lives that day.”
Gallagher described how hours felt like minutes as he and his colleagues raced against time to find and capture the killer.
“In active shooter situations, most of the time they’re over, you know, within about 5 or 10 minutes. This one the shooter, Aaron Alexis, was on a rampage for an hour and nine minutes,” Gallagher said.
Trucks, cars and helicopters swarmed to the scene after Gallagher called the SWAT team and the FBI’s hostage rescue team.
“This is not someone to walk in off the street. This is someone who was a contractor for the US Navy, who went to work every day and then showed up one day and killed 13 of his colleagues.”
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