Suspected gunman, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, was among the dead. - Source: Reuters
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Several people have been killed, and others injured in a shooting rampage at a US naval yard. - Source: Reuters
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Law enforcement officers at the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. - Source: Reuters
The Washington DC mayor and the city's police chief said there were at least 13 fatalities in the shooting that began at about 8.30am local time (12.30am NZT) at the heavily guarded site.
The suspected gunman, identified as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, was among the dead.
A navy official declined to detail the types of misconduct in Alexis' record. The US Navy Secretary told CNN Alexis was a civilian contractor in the information technology area.
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said police engaged in a gun battle with Alexis, and "there was no question he would have kept shooting".
Ms Lanier said a police officer was wounded in an "engagement" with the gunman at Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters.
Alexis was born in New York and lived in Fort Worth, Texas. Reports say he served in the US Navy Reserve from May 2007 to January 2011.
Police say they are not searching for anyone else in relation to the shooting and they had not identified the victims of the attack.
The motive was unknown, authorities said, but there was no indication it was a terrorist attack.
Ms Lanier said the first active shooter response team was on site within seven minutes. Fire alarms had sounded and the 3000 civilian and military employees were ordered to shelter in place".
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said "there are probably a dozen or more who are wounded".
'Run, run, run'
Patricia Ward, who works at the yard, said she heard three shots that went "pa-pa-pa-pow" and then four more shots after a pause.
Security guards told people to "run, run, run", she said.
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President Barack Obama said the US was "confronting yet another mass shooting".
"They know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they face the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home," he said.
The US Senate and its adjacent office buildings on the Capitol grounds were locked down following the shootings at the nearby navy yard.
Among the injured was a metropolitan police officer, who has gunshot wounds to his lower extremities. The hospital said he was currently undergoing surgery and was expected to make a full recovery.
A doctor for the hospital said the officer wanted to talk to his mother when he arrived.
Another woman was also undergoing surgery and was expected to recover.
A second woman, who received a gunshot wound to her head and hand, had been "very lucky", the hospital said, as the bullet had not penetrated her skull. The hospital said she would recover and did not need surgery.
At George Washington University, a man in his 60s died of a single gunshot wound to his head, said Babak Sarani, head of trauma surgery.
The man was shot in his left temple and the injury "was not survivable by any stretch," Mr Sarani said.
Fort Hood
The shooting hit the military establishment less than three weeks after US Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for murdering 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down unarmed soldiers in what he later called retaliation for US wars in Muslim countries.
Dozens of police and emergency vehicles surrounded the complex in southeast Washington, which is about 1.6km south of the US Capitol. Helicopters circled the headquarters with some touching down on the building's roof.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it briefly suspended departures at Reagan National Airport. The District of Columbia Public Schools have put six schools and an administration building on lockdown as a precaution.
The Washington Navy Yard is the oldest shore facility of the US Navy. A former shipyard and ordinance plant, the facility in southeast Washington is currently home to the Naval Sea Systems Command, Navy museum and other facilities.
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