3 Shot Dead by Marine at Quantico Marine Base

Though the military is being predictably tight-lipped about the incident, there is some news to go on regarding the Marine who shot and killed two of his fellow service members at a Virginia base Thursday night before killing himself, as reported by the Associate Press. Though no names have been so far given, Marine Corps spokesman Agustin Solivan explains the situation as perhaps involving a relationship. The gunman shot a man and a woman, both were staff members of the school. Two of the bodies, including that of the gunmen, were found where the shooter barricaded himself inside the staff barracks of the Officer Candidate School.

“It’s been a long night,” said Col David Maxwell, the base commander, Friday. The base was put on lockdown, which ended early Friday, a few hours after it began. There was no stand-off. After two hours of being locked in the barracks, the shooter was found with the female victim in the same room as him, both fatally shot.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, “was saddened to learn of the shootings at Marine Crop Base Quantico,” said Pentagon Spokesman George Little Friday, according to CNN. “This tragedy, as well as the tragedy in Nevada earlier this week, took the lives of Marines who volunteered to serve their nation. His heart and his prayers are with them and their family. He believes that he legendary strength of the United States Marine Corps will ensure that they are forever remembers.”