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-   -   Paging Paul Dye... (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=17124)

mdredmond 04-20-2007 02:06 PM

Paging Paul Dye...
 
Everything okay down there? Just heard there was a gunman on the loose at JSC...

Ironflight 04-20-2007 03:07 PM

Thanks for asking...

Well, if you are watching on the news, you probably know more than I do. I've been in meetings most of the day, and we know pretty much what y'all know. The incident is going on in one building, which happens to be out in the "back 40", so it is pretty easy to keep isolated. Folks are coming and going at the center pretty much normally, except for that building, which was evacuated.

My biggest concern is for the five news choppers in a tight pattern over the center - hope no one has a mid-air!

Paul

Brian130 04-20-2007 03:09 PM

Isn't that a "gun-free zone?" Surprised there's not a TFR preventing the news choppers from circling.

mgomez 04-20-2007 03:16 PM

Stay safe
 
Well, keep your heads down!

We've had enough disasters for one week with the Virginia Tech massacre. That hit close to home...several of my coworkers are either alumni or have kids there. All safe, fortunately.

DeltaRomeo 04-20-2007 03:18 PM

Holy Cow, Paul, watch your six! I'm watching on CNN and found the building on Google Earth - it does look like a pretty isolated part of the complex.

b,d


Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironflight
Thanks for asking...

Well, if you are watching on the news, you probably know more than I do. I've been in meetings most of the day, and we know pretty much what y'all know. The incident is going on in one building, which happens to be out in the "back 40", so it is pretty easy to keep isolated. Folks are coming and going at the center pretty much normally, except for that building, which was evacuated.

My biggest concern is for the five news choppers in a tight pattern over the center - hop no one has a mid-air!

Paul


Ironflight 04-20-2007 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaRomeo
Holy Cow, Paul, watch your six! I'm watching on CNN and found the building on Google Earth - it does look like a pretty isolated part of the complex.

b,d

I'm already home now, and watching the situation on TV, like most of you. It sounds like they've pretty well isolated things, and we can only hope for a peaceful resolution. The media circus is, as always, entertaining....but it (and all the speculation without any facts) kind of overshadows the situation.

Paul

osxuser 04-20-2007 04:13 PM

Hmm, I know this is not the place for it, but it seems we as americans need to take a little more responsability for our own personal safety. Here is Socal, a kid stole 7 guns & ammo from his parents and went missing. They closed the whole high school he goes to until they find him.

Of course, California's solution is to take away more peoples rights... seriously, it was in the news this morning. "Individual rights must be balenced with the necessity of keeping the public safe." I say allow CCW permits ;).

az_gila 04-20-2007 04:14 PM

That's all....
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironflight
Thanks for asking...

.....

My biggest concern is for the five news choppers in a tight pattern over the center - hope no one has a mid-air!

Paul

Only five!! That's all..... :)

When I lived in Los Angeles an "event" would get about 10 to 12 helicopters.

When the OJ slow speed chase went on, I counted 13 helicopters and 2 fixed wing planes following and crossing near our house (a diversion due to Class B LAX airspace)

At another almost shooting event near our house, I counted about 10 helicopters, and was surprised that they were basically hovering at around 500 ft to 1000 ft.. Sounded like noisy bees droning away... I thought a moving pattern was safer, especially over a city... :confused:

I was impressed with the TV pictures from their gyro stabilized cameras - close-ups of a vehicle from 1000 ft high and 1/2 mile away...

Doesn't Houston have more than 5 TV stations.... :D

Glad to hear you are OK.

gil in Tucson

Brian130 04-20-2007 05:04 PM

It's over
 
Murder, suicide.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18233965/

Quote:

A gunman killed a hostage inside a building at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday, then shot himself to death as police commandos moved in, police said.A second hostage was found alive inside Building 44 on the space center's campus, bound with tape, Houston Police Capt. Dwayne Ready told reporters.

The gunman's suicide brought the afternoon-long drama to a swift close. The building was evacuated after shots were reported to authorities, and for a time the entire space center as well as a nearby school was locked down.

The gunman was reportedly a contract worker for NASA, but Ready declined to speculate on the motive for the shooting. He described the suspect as "a white male, approximately 50 to 60 years old, with one weapon, that being a handgun."Neither the gunman nor the hostages were immediately identified. "I don't know what any of the relationships are at this time," Ready said.

Ready said witnesses told authorities that the gunman entered a second-floor office, and two shots were fired. "We believe that one of the hostages, the male, was shot at that particular moment," he said.

The gunman barricaded himself in a second-floor office with the second, female hostage while SWAT teams surrounded the building. Even as authorities tried to establish contact with the gunman, another gunshot was heard, Ready said. He said that prompted the SWAT officers to move in.

Officers found that the gunman had fatally shot himself in the head, Ready said. They also discovered the dead male hostage and the bound female hostage, he said. The woman was under medical treatment, Ready said.

The gunman worked for a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Group, a contractor for NASA, company sources told KPRC. John Prosser, executive vice president for finance and administration at Jacobs Engineering Group, confirmed to MSNBC.com that he had received those reports ? but he could not provide any further information.

The Tennessee-based subsidiary, Jacobs Sverdrup, does "very extensive" work for NASA, including computer and engineering services, Prosser said.

Initially, NASA advised employees to "shelter in place until further notice." Later in the afternoon, employees were told they could leave the center grounds when their normal workday was over.


Space Center Intermediate School, which is adjacent to the campus, was placed temporariliy in lockdown mode as a precaution ? but the children and staff were eventually allowed to go home.

Building 44 is a two-story communications and engineering office building set off in a relatively isolated area of Johnson Space Center's 1,600-acre campus, some distance from the Mission Control building.

In an advisory, NASA said Building 44 "primarily consists of office space and a few labs to support tracking of spacecraft, such as the international space station and the space shuttle when it's flying."

NASA spokeswoman Eileen Hawley told reporters that the incident caused "absolutely no disruptions to center operations."

A Soyuz craft is due to bring U.S. and Russian astronauts along with billionaire space passenger Charles Simonyi back to Earth on Saturday, but that operation is being managed from Russian Mission Control near Moscow, with the landing targeted for Kazakhstan. Johnson Space Center is also preparing for a space shuttle mission as early as June 8.

President Bush was told about the afternoon's standoff as he flew back to Washington from an event in Michigan, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Perino said the White House stayed in touch with NASA as the ordeal unfolded.


KTM520guy 04-20-2007 06:16 PM

Here in Texas you have to be extra careful when you go on a shooting rampage. A good Texan shoots back. LOL. :D

Mark Burns 04-20-2007 06:32 PM

May not be the right place, but a good read
 
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/com...ent/index.html

gmcjetpilot 04-21-2007 05:43 PM

Yep, 2nd amendment
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Burns

The motor city mad man...The Nugent. yea but I am pretty sure I want the government to do everything they can to keep cars, planes and guns out of crazy peoples hands. Its hard to argue that if we where all packing that these mass rampages would be mitigated.


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