7 killed in US Navy Yard shooting

Washington Police chief Cathy Lanier told a news conference that one of the shooters was dead and authorities were searching for a white man and a black man. "The big concern for us right now is that we have potentially two other shooters that we have not located at this point," Lanier said.

"We have no information to believe that either of these folks are military personnel, but we do have information that those individuals are wearing military-style uniforms," she said. ABC News reported a gunman, identified as a 50-year-old Navy employee whose employment status had "recently changed", had died at the scene.

Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama condemned the "cowardly" shooting. Terming it "yet another mass shooting" in the US, Obama said his administration would make sure that "whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible." "These are men and women who were going to work, doing their job protecting all of us. They're patriots, and they know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they faced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home," he said. Security at the Capitol was enhanced and several nearby schools and offices were locked down.

The shooting reportedly began at about 8:20 am when several shots were heard from inside the yard which maintains warships and submarines for the navy. Security agents rushed to the scene of firing and a US Admiral Jonathan W Greenert, the chief of Naval Operations, and his wife were evacuated to the Pentagon from his residence at the yard soon after the shooting began, officials said. Two law enforcement officials were among the killed. Officials at the nearby Reagan National Airport briefly stopped planes from taking off or landing because of the shooting.