Pentagon Shooter, John Patrick Bedel, Dead: Resented U.S. on Internet Postings


Video outside the Pentagon Metro subway station immediately after the shooting.

Two Pentagon police officers were shot outside the Metro subway station near the Pentagon about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. A third person — a civilian — has also been shot. The attack occurred at the subway entrance near the main entrance to the Pentagon. Three people were transported to Georgetown University Hospital, just across the Potomac River. The suspect died overnight.

He just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting. He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion on his face.

— said Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police.

A male offender calmly and cooly approached the officers Thursday, before pulling a gun out of his pocket and grazing them, authorities reported. The two Pentagon Force Protection Agency officers returned fire with their semi-automatic weapons, mortally wounding him. The offender is identified as John Patrick Bedell, 36, of Hollister, California.

In an Internet posting, a user by the name JPatrickBedell wrote that he was “determined to see that justice is served” in the death of Marine Col. James Sabow, who was found dead in the backyard of his California home in 1991. The death was ruled a suicide but the case has long been the source of theories of a cover up.

The user named JPatrickBedell wrote the Sabow case was “a step toward establishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions.”

No people were allowed out of the Pentagon or into the Pentagon during the lockdown. Later, people were allowed to leave the Pentagon at exits that were not near the Metro station.

Transit Hub Closed Friday for Investigation
An investigation Friday into the shooting of two police officers outside the Pentagon subway station will close the transit hub Friday, affecting the commute of thousands of Washington-area residents.


View GlobalConflictMap.com — Global Conflict Map by Region showing approximate shooting location at Metro Station Near Pentagon in a larger map