Gunman killed after shooting 2 Pentagon police

Suspicions over Sept. 11 terror attacks have surfaced in writings by Californian attacker.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pentagon metro station311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Pentagon metro station311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
The gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers was heavily armed andspent weeks driving to the Capital area from the West Coast,authorities said Friday.
Resentment of the US government andsuspicions over the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks have surfaced inwritings by the Californian identified as the man fatally wounded in ahail of return fire.
John Patrick Bedell, 36, of Hollister,California, was identified as the shooter and authorities said he'd hadprevious run-ins with the law.
Investigators have found noimmediate connection to terrorism, and the attack at the massiveDefense Department headquarters appears to be a case of "a singleindividual who had issues," Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police,said in a press conference.
Keevill described Bedell as "verywell educated" and well-dressed, saying Bedell was wearing a suit,armed with two 9 millimeter semiautomatic weapons and carried "manymagazines" of ammunition. There was more ammunition in Bedell's car,which authorities found in a local parking garage, Keevill said.
Bedell, 36, died Thursday night from head wounds received in a volley of fire with police.
Keevillsaid the two injured officers and another officer who came to theirassistance fired upon Bedell at the subway entrance into the Pentagonbuilding in Arlington, Virginia.
"He came here from California,"Keevill said. "We were able to identify certain locations that he spentthat last several weeks making his way from the West coast to the Eastcoast."
The exchange of fire lasted less than a minute but,numerous shots were fired, Keevill said, adding that he didn't know howmany because investigators were "still counting." Bedell was notwearing body armor, he added.
The two officers injured have beenreleased from the hospital. One suffered a thigh wound and the otherwas hit in the shoulder. Keevill said both were superficial injuries.
Keevill said he did not know the shooter's motive.
"I have no idea what his intentions were," said Keevill, who had late Thursday described the attack in this way:
"Hejust reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting" atpoint-blank range. "He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion onhis face."
Signs emerged that Bedell harbored ill feelingstoward the government and the armed forces, and had questioned thecircumstances behind the 2001 terrorist attacks.
In an Internetposting, 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 homein 1991. The death was ruled a suicide but the case has long been thesource of theories of a cover up.
Keevill said Friday that authorities had not made "a final determination" that the shooter was the same Bedell.
Theuser named JPatrickBedell wrote the Sabow case was "a step towardestablishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions."
Thatsame posting railed against the government's enforcement of marijuanalaws and included links to the author's 2006 court case in OrangeCounty, California, for cultivating marijuana and resisting a policeofficer.
Court records available online show the date of birthon the case mentioned by the user JPatrickBedell matches that of theJohn Patrick Bedell suspected in the shooting.
The subway station is immediately adjacent to the Pentagon building, afive-sided northern Virginia colossus across the Potomac River fromWashington.
Since a redesign following the 2001 terrorist attackon the Pentagon, riders can no longer disembark directly into thebuilding. Riders take a long escalator ride to the surface from theunderground station, then pass through a security check outside thedoors of the building, where further security awaits.