Washington Navy Yard Killer 'Hearing Voices'

US Deadliest Shootings

Updated: 10:32am UK, Tuesday 17 September 2013

The shooting at the Washington navy yard has been described by Barack Obama as "yet another mass shooting". It is part of a grim list in modern US history.

:: Sandy Hook, Connecticut, December 14, 2012:

Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother before opening fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children and six adults. He then turned the gun on himself.

It is the worst school shooting in America's history and second only to the Virginia Tech massacre in terms of the country's deadliest ever attacks.

Both attacks make up a grim history of mass murders using firearms in the US.

:: Aurora, Colorado, July 20, 2012:

A masked gunman burst in on the Century 16 cinema during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises throwing tear gas before opening fire.

He killed 12 and injured 58. James Eagan Holmes, 24, is the sole suspect and was arrested at the scene. He will appear in court in January.

:: Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas, November 5, 2009:

A 42-year-old US Army Major, serving as a psychiatrist, opened fire inside the US military base killing 13 and wounding 29 in an attack deemed an act of terrorism. Hasan was shot and captured and is paralysed from the waist down.

Before the killing he had been in touch with the late al Qaeda recruiter Anwar al Awlaki to ask whether he would be considered a martyr if he died shooting US soldiers.

:: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 16, 2007:

Seung-Hui Cho, 23, killed 32 and injured 17 in America's deadliest shooting. He launched two separate attacks at the campus two hours apart before killing himself.

Cho had a history of mental illness and was in therapy through his school years.

:: Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2, 2006:

Charles Carl Roberts shot dead five and injured five in an attack at an Amish school. The 32-year-old dish washer at a local restaurant then killed himself.

He was driven by anger at God over the death of his premature daughter.

:: Red Lake Indian Reservation, March 21, 2005:

Sixteen-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's companion before opening fire at Red Lake High School. He killed nine and injured seven, then took his own life.

He blamed years of school bullying for the attack.

:: Forth Worth, Sept 25, 1999:

Unemployed white supremacist Larry Gene Ashbrook opened fire on the congregation of Wedgwood Baptist Church, killing seven and wounding seven. He then turned the gun on himself.

Ashbrook, 47, was a member of a group that advocated killing minorities.

:: Atlanta, July 29, 1999:

Mark Orrin Barton, a trader, opened fire in two investment offices killing nine and wounding 12. He killed himself after a six-hour police manhunt.

The 44-year-old had been upset by big financial losses.

:: Columbine High School, Colorado, April 20, 1999:

Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire on schoolmates after bombs they had planted in the cafeteria failed to go off. They killed 13 and injured 21 before killing themselves.

The students were motivated by their anger at society. Harris had a history of depression.

:: McDonald's, San Ysidro, California, July 18 1984:

Welder James Huberty walked into a McDonald's and opened fire killing 21 people and wounding 19 before being shot by a police sniper.

The 51-year-old thought society was about to collapse. When asked where he was going as he left the house for the killing, he told his wife: "hunting humans".

:: University of Texas, Austin, August 1, 1966:

Engineering student Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, opened fire on students from the 28th floor of the main campus building. He killed 13 and wounded 32 before being shot dead by a police marksman. He also killed his wife and mother.

In a note he said he was suffering irrational thoughts and wanted to relieve his wife and mother from suffering but offered no explanation for the university attack.

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Beijing Airport 'Bomber' In Court On Stretcher

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, in Beijing

The one-day trial of a man who detonated a bomb at Beijing's international airport has taken place in the Chinese capital.

Ji Zhongxing, who is in a wheelchair, set off his homemade device at the arrivals hall of Beijing's International Airport on July 20.

Ji Zhongxing watches as CCTV footage of in incident is shown in court

He is accused of endangering public safety but claims the bomb was detonated accidentally.

He arrived at Chaoyang People's Court in the Chinese capital this morning in an ambulance and was stretchered into the courtroom.

During the trial, which lasted for three hours, he was shown the amateur video footage of the moment his bomb exploded.

In the footage, Ji is seen in his wheelchair sitting just outside the doors where arriving passengers emerge. He argues briefly with a policeman before the bomb explodes.

Remarkably, no one died. Ji himself was badly injured. However, he was already paralysed having been beaten up, allegedly by police, in 2005.

Eight years of being ignored had driven him to this extreme form of protest.

Outside court, which was closed to foreign media, his lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan explained his defence.

"The reason he brought a bomb to the airport was to draw attention to his case eight years ago when he was beaten and paralysed," Mr Liu told Sky News.

Ji Zhongxing was brought to court on a stretcher

"He was holding the bomb but not to commit suicide or even to detonate. When the police arrived, he detonated the bomb by accident."

Ji's father and brother had travelled from Guangdong Province in China's far south for the trial. They were visibly upset as they spoke to us.

"For the past eight years, I have been looking after him since the police paralysed him ... Nobody cared about him," his father said.

"I want the people who beat my brother to receive punishment for what they did. Our family is broken. My brother was about to get married. They broke my family," Ji's brother added.

Ji Zhongxing faces Chaoyang People's Court

The family are yet to receive any justice for Ji's beating. Instead, they watched in court as he was tried for his crime.

Outside, a small gathering of people used Ji's case and the presence of the media to highlight their own tragic stories.

Known as petitioners, they travel from all corners of China to the capital in the hope that someone, perhaps the central government, will listen to their grievances.

"Injustice, injustice ..." one tiny elderly woman screams. She is pulled away by man in a green T-shirt; a plain-clothes policeman.

All of them have their stories written down. One carries a photo of her daughter in her hand.

Cameras record the hearing but it was closed to foreign media

She says her daughter was raped and murdered, and the police, she claims, did nothing.

Another tells us her family house was pulled down by the authorities, a familiar problem in China as land is cleared for new housing.

The woman says her relative was killed in the process.

"We just want our rights," she tells me.

The formal verdict is expected later but Ji will be sentenced in the coming weeks. He will almost certainly be jailed.

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Iran Restores Block On Facebook And Twitter

Iran has restored blocks on Facebook and Twitter after a "technical glitch" briefly removed filters from the social networks overnight.

Iranians gained direct access to the sites for the first time in four years because of a fault, an official said, denying suggestions the government had lifted a ban in place since anti-government protests in 2009, some of which were organised on social media.

Newly elected President Hassan Rouhani has pledged greater engagement with the West and a new openness in Iran.

It has been suggested the "glitch" could point to internal power struggles between groups seeking to reopen Facebook and other social networking sites and hard-liners in the establishment, who remain in control of Internet access.

But Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, secretary of a state committee tasked with monitoring and filtering sites, said problems with some Iranian Internet service providers (ISPs) had allowed the access, and the government was investigating.

"The lack of a filter on Facebook last night (Monday) was apparently due to technical problems and the technological committee is investigating this issue," Mr Khoramabadi was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.

"We are investigating to see which of these companies has done this."

Thaw: Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has set up a Twitter profile

Since Mr Rouhani took office last month, there has been a muted thaw in the restrictions around social media.

Officials, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, have created Facebook and Twitter profiles, raising hopes among some Iranians that the sites would soon be unblocked for them.

Now, many use proxy servers to trick the system into believing they live elsewhere to access their social media accounts.

Arash Tajik, an IT administrator in Tehran, said he thought the blip, which meant he could access Facebook without a proxy server at his office on Monday evening but not from his home on Tuesday, might be a test.

He said: "They are testing what will happen if they remove the filter, and whether they can control the situation or not."

Mr Rouhani has pledged to relax political and social restrictions in Iran, which were ramped up after the disputed election in 2009 sparked protests that were often organised via social media.

Several dissidents and activists have been put in jail or forced to leave Iran since.

However, any move to ease control will first have to be approved by the ruling establishment of conservative clerics and security officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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Costa Concordia Salvage Operation Completed

By Tom Kington, on Giglio

Twenty months after it capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people, the Costa Concordia has risen from the Mediterranean after a successful £500m salvage operation

Dozens of giant pulleys hauled the cruise ship back to an upright position in a 19-hour operation, exposing a section of the white ship's exterior that was stained by rust and algae after months under water.

By 4am on Tuesday, the 950-foot-long, 114,000-ton vessel had been pulled through 65 degrees to stand on a bed of over 1,000 concrete sacks and six huge underwater platforms.

Italy's civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli speaking at a late night press conference on Giglio, where he was applauded and cheered by residents, said: "The rotation has finished its course, we are at zero degrees, the ship is resting on the platforms."

The image shows how the ship was righted overnight

Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer working on the salvage for ship owner Costa Cruises, said: "It could not have gone better than this. It was a perfect operation."

The Costa Concordia grounded near the port of Giglio in January 2012 after its captain, Francesco Schettino, smashed it into coastal rock during a so-called "sail past".

He is now standing trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning his ship.

The ship eventually stood on 1,000 concrete sacks and underwater platforms

Some 4,200 passengers and crew scrambled into lifeboats or plunged into shallow water after the ship ran aground and came to rest impaled on its side on two underwater outcrops of granite.

As it rose out of the water in the early hours of Tuesday, two large indentations could be seen on the side of the ship where it had been pinioned on the rocks.

After the operation started on Monday morning, 6,000 tons of pressure were required to pull the ship free from the rock, which had penetrated 18ft into the hull.

The ship was tilted heavily on its side before the operation

The ship was then slowly turned through the afternoon until 11 massive metal boxes welded to the exposed side of the ship, some the height of 11-storey buildings, splashed into the water.

By midnight, salvage workers were able to switch off the pulleys and open valves in the boxes to allow water in at 1,000 cubic feet a minute, adding the necessary ballast to bring the ship down onto the platforms.

When the ship is deemed stable, metal boxes will also be added to the formerly submerged side of the ship. Then, water will be pumped out of the boxes, floating the vessel so it can be  towed next spring to a port, probably on the Italian mainland, for breaking up.

More than 30 people were killed when the ship hit rocks

Mr Porcellacchia said: "We have already looked at the side of the ship to see where the boxes will go and we will quantify the work to do. The starboard side looks pretty bad, as we expected."

Fears that a polluted slick of paint, residual fuel, small quantities of heavy metal and rotting food would emerge from the ship, proved unfounded, officials said on Tuesday.

Sergio Girotto, the project manager for Italian salvage firm Micoperi, which has managed the salvage with US firm Titan Salvage, said: "Now we will see what support and adjustments the ship needs."

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Colorado Floods: Victims Face Rebuilding Task

Many residents forced to evacuate their homes in Colorado's deadly floods have been allowed to return as the rain finally stopped.

Shanda Roberson shovels flooded mud out of her garage

But with about 19,000 properties either damaged or destroyed, people face many months of rebuilding their lives.

Towns cut off for days have reopened but residents have found cabins toppled over, homes ripped from their foundations and everything covered in a thick layer of mud.

Flood-destroyed vehicles in Longmont

The number of dead in the massive floods was believed to be up to eight, with hundreds still missing, although that number has halved from the previous estimate of more than 1,200.

After days of heavy rain, skies have begun to clear and waters have receded, allowing rescue crews to step up search operations.

Rowen Roberson carries clothes from his flooded garage

Some 21 helicopters have dropped supplies and airlifted those who needed help.

Air crews rescued more than 100 people in Larimer County on Monday.

Once the evacuations end, officials said it could take weeks or even months to search through flood-ravaged areas looking for people who died.

A destroyed house with furniture still intact inside is seen in Jamestown

In the small community of Hygiene, trucks were in ditches and items had been taken as far as two miles downstream in a local creek.

Resident Bill Marquedt said of his home: "My own slice of heaven, and it's gone."

Genevieve Marquez added: "What now? We don't even know where to start. It's not even like a day by day or a month thing.

"I want to think that far ahead but it's a minute by minute thing at this point."

Contents from flooded properties are left outside

Hundreds of homes around Estes Park, next to Rocky Mountain National Park, could be unreachable and uninhabitable for up to a year, town administrator Frank Lancaster said.

The town of Lyons was almost completely abandoned with most of its trailer parks completely destroyed, as emergency crews gave the few remaining residents a final warning to leave.

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Philippines: Troops Rescue Christian Hostages

Philippine troops have rescued nearly 80 of more than 100 hostages being held in the largely Christian city of Zamboanga.

About 64 hostages were freed or escaped during the military operations that took place early on Tuesday, official reports said.

They were followed by another 14 who walked to freedom in separate batches.

It is not known how many hostages remain with the rebels - more than 180 were originally believed to be being held - in a stand-off between government troops and rebels that is entering its second week.

Troops and special police forces have killed or arrested more than 100 Moro National Liberation Front rebels occupying five coastal villages after government forces foiled what officials said was an attempt by the heavily armed insurgents to take control of city hall on September 8.

An armoured vehicle drives past soldiers ahead of the Tuesday offensive

Nearly 82,000 residents have fled the fighting, going into several emergency shelters, including the city's main sports complex.

Troops have tried to contain the clashes in the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga, a bustling port 860km (540 miles) south of Manila and home to nearly one million people.

But suspected rebel mortar fire destroyed a car near the city's centre area on Monday, raising fears the gunmen were attempting to divert the military's attention.

Government troops have recaptured 70% of the coastal areas of the city that were occupied by Muslim rebels.

The Moro insurgents, led by Nur Misuari, signed a peace deal in 1996, but the guerrillas did not lay down their arms and later accused the government of reneging on a promise to develop long-neglected Muslim regions in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

The rebels have become increasingly restless in recent months as they have been overshadowed by a rival rebel group that engaged President Benigno Aquino III's government in peace talks brokered by Malaysia.

The talks have steadily progressed toward a new and potentially larger autonomy deal for minority Muslims in the south.

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Chinese Dissident Arrested After TV Interview

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

An outspoken Chinese dissident has been placed under house arrest a day after he appeared in an interview with Sky News.

Hu Jia, 40, criticised his government in the interview and in a daily stream of blogs on social media.

He agreed to speak to Sky News in the knowledge that he could face arrest, but in a phone interview this morning he said he did not think the interview alone had prompted his arrest.

"House arrest is a norm in my life," he said on the phone from his home. "Having freedom is abnormal for me.

"Like the times when I have been arrested before, I have not been told why I am being detained, nor have I been told when this period of house arrest will end.

"There are four people, sometimes more, in the courtyard of my home. If they see me leave my home they will stop me and tell me I am not allowed to go out. 'Please do what we say' they tell me. This is the most polite way. Sometimes they behave really badly.

"This is nothing new. Just big guys to stop me from going anywhere; making my home into a prison, that's how they do it."

The Chinese government wants to 'drain toxic lies from the internet'

In last week's interview Mr Hu described the Chinese Communist Party as no different from the former Soviet government.

"This country has a regime which rules by fear. Citizens are surrounded by a wall of fear, unable to express themselves," he said.

"I think the Chinese communist government are the same as the former Soviet Union, even the German Nazi Party.

"This is one big prison. I don't want to be inside a prison, I want to be a free man. I will express myself freely. Nothing should stop me from expressing my opinions."

He is used to house arrest having already spent several years unable to leave his own home. That had followed three years in jail as punishment for his outspoken views.

Mr Hu's Sky interview was aired last Friday, but it was filmed several days before. By coincidence, a number of other outspoken individuals were arrested on the same day, prompting some commentators in Hong Kong, where the media operates with more freedom, to refer to it as "Black Friday".

The Chinese government is significantly intensifying its efforts to crack down on those who speak out against it.

The government claims the tighter restrictions are in place to "drain toxic lies from the internet" and to rid social networks of "malicious" and "libellous" content.

However, there is growing evidence that the authorities are simply rounding up critics of the communist leadership at an unprecedented pace.

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Washington Navy Base Killer: An Armed Buddhist

Aaron Alexis, who the FBI said carried out a deadly rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, lived a life of dramatic contrasts.

The 34-year-old was a former Navy reservist, a defence subcontractor for IT giant Hewlett-Packard and a convert to Buddhism who was taking an online course in aeronautics.

But Alexis, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, also had flashes of temper that led to run-ins with police over shootings in Fort Worth, Texas, and Seattle.

Alexis had converted to Buddhism

While some neighbours said he was "nice", others said they were afraid of him.

But authorities are still trying to establish what motivated Alexis to carry out the shooting, killing 12 people before being gunned down by police himself.

It has been reported that Alexis was suffering from mental health issues at the time of the shooting and had been hearing voices.

When Alexis was arrested over a shooting incident in Seattle in 2004, he told police he was present during "the tragic events of September 11, 2001" and described "how those events had disturbed him".

At the time, his father also said his son had anger management problems related to post-traumatic stress brought on by the terrorist attacks.

Seattle police said Alexis was arrested and charged for shooting out the tyres of a vehicle in what he later described to detectives as an anger-fuelled "blackout".

Two construction workers had parked their car in the driveway of their work site, next to a home where Alexis was staying, the police report said.

When detectives interviewed workers at the construction site, they told police Alexis had stared at construction workers at the job site daily for several weeks prior to the shooting.

Alexis shot 12 people dead before being killed by police

The owner of the construction business told police he believed Alexis was angry over the parking situation around the site.

According to the police account, Alexis had also told detectives he thought he had been "mocked" by construction workers on the morning of the incident.

Then in May 2007, Alexis enlisted in the Navy reserve. He was discharged for misconduct in early 2011.

"There is definitely a pattern of misconduct during his service," a US military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told news agency AFP.

But Alexis did receive the National Defence Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Both medals are issued to large numbers of service members who have served since the 9/11 attacks.

It was while he was still in the reserves that a neighbour in Fort Worth reported she had been nearly struck by a bullet shot from his downstairs apartment.

The neighbour told police she was scared of Alexis and felt he fired intentionally because he had complained about her making too much noise.

Police outside the home of Alexis's mother in Brooklyn, New York

Fort Worth police arrested Alexis about the neighbour's report.

Alexis admitted to firing his weapon but said he was cleaning his gun when it accidentally discharged. He was released without charge.

After leaving the reserves, Alexis was a popular waiter and delivery driver at the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant in Fort Worth.

He visited Thailand and learned some of the local language so could speak to Thai customers in their native tongue.

"He was a very nice person. It kind of blows my mind away. I wouldn't think anything bad at all," former co-worker Afton Bradley said.

Other friends say Alexis was contemplating moving to Asia.

A former acquaintance, Oui Suthametewakul, said Alexis lived with him and his wife from August 2012 to May 2013 in Fort Worth.

Alexis died after a shoot-out with police at the Navy Yard

He said they parted ways because Alexis was not paying his bills.

Despite this, Mr Suthametewakul described Alexis as a "nice guy" - but he sometimes carried a gun and would frequently complain about being the victim of discrimination.

Mr Thairintr said Alexis told him he was upset with the Navy because "he thought he never got a promotion because of the colour of his skin. He hated his commander".

Mr Thairintr said Alexis was "very devoted Buddhist" who prayed at a local temple.

"We are all shocked. We are non-violent. Aaron was a very good practitioner of Buddhism. He could chant better than even some of the Thai congregants," said Ty Thairintr, who last saw Alexis five weeks ago.

"There was no tell-tale sign of this behaviour."

In the early 2000s, before he moved to Seattle, Alexis lived with his mother in New York City, said Gene Demby, who said he dated one of Alexis' younger sisters at the time.

"He was insecure. He was like a barbershop conspiracy theorist, the kind of guy who believes he's smarter than everyone else," said Mr Demby, the lead writer for National Public Radio's Code Switch blog about race and culture.

"He also was kind of like perpetually aggrieved, but not megalomaniacal or delusional."

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Austria Siege: Four Shot Dead By Gunman

Special forces are surrounding an gunman who is barricaded inside a farmhouse after shooting dead three policemen and a medic.

The farmhouse has been sealed off by armoured vehicles

The suspect, said to be 55-years-old, has opened fire as dozens of elite armed Cobra officers surround the building.

The man first shot two police officers as they tried to arrest him in woodland near the Lower Austrian town of Anaberg, around 60 miles west of Vienna, late on Monday.

Security forces are taking no chances

The then killed a medic who was treating a wounded officer at the scene, before taking an officer hostage and fleeing in a stolen police car to his home at Kollapriel, near Melk, about 70km (40 miles) away.

One report says the man has hand grenades

That officer was later found dead in the car, according to Austrian media reports.

A police spokesman said: "The gunman keeps shooting at the Cobra forces ... The Cobra forces are working very slowly and very carefully."

Officers have come under fire from the man

At a roadblock he reportedly then shot a second police officer, and took another prisoner before stealing a police car, and driving about 40 miles to his farm at Kollapriel, near the city of Melk.

The Austria Press Agency says that the gunman and police had exchanged fire several times during the standoff. One report said he had hand grenades.

The gunman is said to be known to police as a poacher, often leaving the heads of dead animals on roads.

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Girl, 14, Snatched In Atlanta Break-In

A 14-year-old girl has been abducted by armed men who broke into her home in Atlanta.

Two men apparently entered the house through a back door around 2.15am on Tuesday and snatched Ayvani Hope Perez.

Police said the youngster's mother had tried to hide her two children - Ayvani and a 15-year-old boy.

Officer Phong Nguyen said the two men had demanded money and jewellery from the mother during the break-in.

He added that when she said she did not have any, they kidnapped the child.

One of the men shot and killed the family dog because it started barking, Officer Nguyen went on.

Ayvani was last seen in a grey car - a Dodge Charger or Chevy Malibu - that the men left in in Ellenwood, Clayton County.

Artist's impression of the two suspects. Pic: Clayton County police

Officer Nguyen told Sky News he did not believe Ayvani knew the suspects and it appeared to be a "random act".

The policeman told CBS: "The mother actually tried to hide the two kids.

"There was a little dog in the house that started barking. So the intruder shot the dog.

"They demanded money and jewellery from the mother, at which time she didn't have any money or jewellery, so she told them that. Instead they kidnapped the 14-year-old girl."

Police are now stopping and searching cars and are also using a helicopter in their search for the missing teenager.

A child abduction alert has also been issued by authorities.

The girl is described as Hispanic, with brown eyes and black hair.

She is 4ft 9in tall and was wearing blue and grey Star Wars pyjama bottoms and a blue and grey "Super Hero" shirt.

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