Washington gunman stalked his victims like a hunter: FBI

The gunman who slaughtered 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard stalked his victims like a "hunter," officials said Thursday in the chilling first portrait of how the carnage unfolded.

FBI Director James Comey told reporters that former Navy sailor Aaron Alexis had roamed the offices and corridors of the Navy Yard's 197 building, blasting victims at random with a sawed-off shotgun before being shot dead.

Alexis, 34, was killed in a gun battle with police after being cornered following Monday's bloody spree.

Comey's account of the rampage came after analysis of security camera footage taken inside the 197 building.

The FBI chief said that after driving into the naval installation in the heart of the US capital early Monday, Alexis had headed into building 197 and gone into a fourth floor restroom, carrying a bag.

He came out of the the restroom moments later holding a sawed-off Remington 870 shotgun and began blazing away at anyone who crossed his path, Comey said.

"He emerged from the bathroom a few minutes after 8:00 am with the shotgun and almost immediately started to shoot folks on the fourth floor in a way with no discernible pattern," Comey told reporters.

"It appears to me that he was wandering the hall like hunting people to shoot."

After shooting people on the fourth and third floors of the building, Alexis went down to the ground floor, shot dead a security guard and seized the man's weapon -- a semi-automatic Beretta pistol.

He then returned to the third and fourth floors and continued shooting from the shotgun until he was out of ammunition.

Alexis then began shooting with the slain security guard's gun.

"That continued until the first responders arrived and then our team arrived and cornered him and sustained exchanged fire with him and he was downed and obviously killed at the scene," Comey said.

Comey said Alexis appeared to be selecting his victims at random.

"From the video... he appears to be moving without particular direction or purpose, his movements don't appear, at least to me, as if he was looking for a particular person or a particular group," the FBI chief said.

"When you look at the folks who were shot and the folks who are alive, they're all people from different backgrounds, from all over the building."

US officials acknowledged Wednesday missing "red flags" about the deeply troubled Alexis that may have averted the rampage.

It has emerged that Alexis had a security clearance that granted him access to the Navy Yard despite a record of misconduct in the Navy and run-ins with the law, including two shooting incidents and a Rhode Island police report showing he suffered from severe delusions.

- AFP

Sebastian Vettel won Singapore Grand Prix, marches towards title

Sebastian Vettel delivered a masterful performance to win the Singapore Grand Prix and move closer to his fourth consecutive world title.


Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel cruised to a third straight Singapore Grand Prix victory on Sunday and moved 60 points clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso after a dominant drive under the floodlights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The German led from pole to flag and lapped on average almost two seconds quicker than his rivals to finish 32.6 seconds clear of Alonso and take another big step towards a fourth successive title with six races remaining.

Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off back pain to climb from 13th on the grid to third for Lotus in a challenging race that was held up by one decisive safety car period when Daniel Ricciardo crashed his Toro Rosso into the barriers on lap 26.

"Yes, yes, that's what I call in control," Vettel shouted over the team radio after chalking up his seventh win of the season and 33rd of his career.

"The car felt absolutely fantastic. This is absolutely a team effort."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Vettel, who was again booed on the podium from some in the crowd below, had been in a league of his own after "one of his best ever drives".

Vettel was challenged briefly by fellow-German Nico Rosberg, who was second on the grid, on the run to the first turn but once he held off the Mercedes, he controlled the race.

Alonso again used a charging start and brilliant strategy to climb from seventh on the grid and keep his title hopes alive. He gambled on pitting for a change of tyres during the safety car period and nursing his Ferrari all the way to the flag on medium tyres.

"We knew we didn't have the pace today so we had to invent something with a different strategy from the other teams," said the Spaniard.

"It paid off at the end. We are in a position in the championship where we have nothing to lose."

Raikkonen, who will join Alonso at Ferrari next season, duplicated the Spaniard's strategy and was able to hold on for third place from the fast-charging Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who opted to stay out behind the safety car. Alonso's Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa finished in sixth place with McLaren's Jenson Button and Sergio Perez claiming the next two spots ahead of Nico Hulkenburg's Sauber and Adrian Sutil in a Force India.

Vettel's team mate Mark Webber briefly climbed up to fourth place in the closing stages but his Red Bull lost power on the last lap and he slipped out of the top 10. There was also disappointment for Romain Grosjean, who started third on the grid but retired on lap 33 after his Lotus suffered a pneumatic system failure and was called in by his team to retire in the pits.


- Eurosport