Walter Reed Security Officer Arrested for Firing Gun

imported post

Walter Reed Security Officer Arrested for Firing Gun
By Allison Klein and Debbi WilgorenWashington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 20, 2007; 10:56 AM

An armed security guard at Walter Reed Army Medical Center unholstered his gun and began firing at another guard during an argument this morning, D.C. police said, shocking employees who were driving through the busy main entrance on Georgia Avenue NW.

No one appeared to have been injured during the dispute, which happened shortly after 8:30 a.m. The guard who did the shooting was taken into custody, said Cmdr. Hilton Burton of the Metropolitan Police Department's 4th District police station.

Burton said the guard fired between six and 10 shots from his service weapon, but the other guard -- who ran onto Georgia Avenue -- was not hit.

The two guards are employed by a private security firm, which is under contract to Walter Reed, an Army hospital in Northwest Washington that treats both veterans and active-duty military, many recently returned from the Iraq war.

Celebrities and top government officials -- including President Bush and members of Congress -- frequently visit soldiers recovering at the facility.

Walter Reed has come under scrutiny in recent months, following Washington Post investigations into its facilities and the quality of care.

imported post

Burton said the guard fired between six and 10 shots from his service weapon, but the other guard -- who ran onto Georgia Avenue -- was not hit.

Click to expand...

Rent-A-Cop's with little to noshooting skills. He's damn lucky nobody else was hit by one of his rounds during that busy time of day.

Put Soldiers and Marines back on the gates.

imported post

BobCav wrote:

Burton said the guard fired between six and 10 shots from his service weapon, but the other guard -- who ran onto Georgia Avenue -- was not hit.

Click to expand...

Rent-A-Cop's with little to noshooting skills. He's damn lucky nobody else was hit by one of his rounds during that busy time of day.

Put Soldiers and Marines back on the gates.

Click to expand...

BobCav I find your comment that security guards are rent a cops and not professionoals to be insulting, seeing as I work as a Armed security officer.

imported post

I wasPinkerton "rent-a-cop" when I was young(er?) and got no training whatsoever, so I, for one, am neither surprised at the events at Walter Reed nor insulted by the term. At least I knew how - and, more importantly, when - to shoot before I took the job (not that it ever came up).

-ljp

imported post

BobCav wrote:

Burton said the guard fired between six and 10 shots from his service weapon, but the other guard -- who ran onto Georgia Avenue -- was not hit.

Click to expand...

Rent-A-Cop's with little to noshooting skills. He's damn lucky nobody else was hit by one of his rounds during that busy time of day.

Put Soldiers and Marines back on the gates.

Click to expand...

I agree...

imported post

Mordis welcome to OCDO, where we tell it like it is. Nothing personal, it was not meant as an insult to youso I seeno reason for you to be insulted unless you choose to be. It's a common slang term and I was talking about those particular guys.

I am not going to start makingevery post sound like a legal document so nobody is insulted or has their feelings hurt. IMHO that "soft speak" is one of the things that's wrong with America today -No straight talk anymore. Everybody's worried about who might be offended.

Maybe I shouldget upset everytime anyone here mentions the word "Mafia" as that's an Italian-American stereotype? Honestly,I'm more offended by so called 'political correctness' than by any stereotype.

For years we had Marines on the gates on the Navy Bases where I was stationed. Then some clown decided that Marines needed only to fightand that it would be a great idea tospread some jobs out to the commmunity, so they put clowns like these on the gates and security went to crap.I had to deal with their unprofessionalism for 20 years.

Todaywe have Marines in continuous combat more than any othertime in history and dealing with all the related stresses and fatigue involved. The right thing for them would be to rotate them to the states for a period of time and put them back on the gates, increasing security and giving them a reasonable break from the stresses of combat, just like we used to do and it worked.But then the bleeding hearts would cry that it's taking away jobs from the civilian sector! Sorry, but IMHO the readiness of the troops that fight our wars and the security of our bases is far more important for me to lose any sleep over that one and if it were up to me the decision would be made in a second.

Nothing personal. Just the business of America.

imported post

i didnt mean to be snappy bobcav, that is my default post response to any rentacop statements i see, its like a relex. I just wish security companys actually gave a shirt about its employees, almost none of the ones i have worked for, including securitas(which owns pinkertons) give any firearms training for there armed employees.

imported post

Understood. Thanks for the reply.

You hit it exactly on the head, there's no screening, no training and this is what happens. I've heard of people who run serious security companies that have very professional staff andonly hire former military or LEO's. The problem is that with that level of quality comes a cost that most places aren't willing to pay for. You get what you pay for. But when it comes toguarding a military base, or in this case Walter Reed whereour servicemen and women come to heal after being wounded in battle, they deserve the very best. Sadly, that'ssomething WRAMC is not very good at as of late.

imported post

What happened to the MP's?

imported post

openryan wrote:

What happened to the MP's?

Click to expand...

There are still some MP's/MAA's but gates are all manned by civilian "base police". I can't tell you the number of times I had to wake up the housing gate guard at Belleview Navy Family Housing in Anacostia...

imported post

That's a typical response from someone from NJ. If the brassholes in the NJ PD's hired people who passes the entrance exams instead of their Italian buddies perhaps more qualified people would be cops rather than "wanna-be's". All the NJ cops I have seen are steroid junkie bullies with last names like Rosetti!

imported post

vermonter wrote:

That's a typical response from someone from NJ. If the brassholes in the NJ PD's hired people who passes the entrance exams instead of their Italian buddies perhaps more qualified people would be cops rather than "wanna-be's". All the NJ cops I have seen are steroid junkie bullies with last names like Rosetti!

Click to expand...

Which reminds me, members should restrain from posting while under the influence of , or if it's more than an hour until"medication time".

imported post

The privitization of a lot of aspects the military has me worried. I don't mind the gate guards here so much; they all seem like nice fellas and all, but...ah, forget it. What BobCav said; I always agree with him (great comments on soft speak, by the way!).