An employee relieved of duty opened fire on a United States Navy base in Millington, Tennessee, according to The Huffington Post. The suspect is an Army National Guardsman, but his name is being withheld due to anonymity protocol. He randomly opened fire near Naval Support Activity Midsouth which is a human resources center for the U.S. navy. More than seven thousand five hundred people work there, including military, civilian, and contract personal. Several people were shot, including two National Guard soldiers; one was shot in the leg and the other was shot in the foot. The two soldiers were taken to a nearby hospital and though their condition was not made public, they are expected to be released without serious injury. They have been identified as Major William J. Crawford and Sergeant Major Ricky R. McKenzie. They were shot as they disarmed the gunman. The men shot were also based in Jackson, Tennessee. The naval base went into lock down as the shooting unfolded, but has been lifted since the suspect was taken into custody.
The shooter used a small handgun, but no weapon was found on him when he was apprehended. Millington Police Chief Rita Stanback commented, “I’m sure there could have been more injury if they hadn’t taken him into custody.” The gunman and the men he shot were recruiters. The shooter was a sergeant first class and served in the National Guard for six or seven years. His victims were also his superiors. Major General Max Haston commented, “You never think something like this is going to happen on your watch or in good old Tennessee here.”
The navy armory building is headquarters to the Navy Personnel Command, Navy Recruiting Command, the Navy Manpower Analysis Center and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center. Local law enforcement blocked off the streets across from the armory and on Thursday yellow crime scene tape remained, closing in around the front of the army base building.
In September there was another Navy-related shooting when Aaron Alexis opened fire on the Washington Navy Yard. He was responsible for killing twelve people and injuring eight people. No motive was revealed because it simply is unknown. Random shootings seem to be a common occurrence of everyday life, especially in these supposedly safe and civil modern times, but one thing is for certain – they need to stop. How many people need to die in vain before we can find some kind of common peace? With the increase in school shootings or even the movie theater shootings, the state of the world we live in is an on-going question. The question is simple – Why? If only the solution could be as easily stated.
Image Credit: The Huffington Post
