A Pentagon police officer has died after he was attacked outside the Pentagon Metro entrance Tuesday morning, officials said. The officer, who was stabbed multiple times in the neck, fired on the assailant after the stabbing began, but it’s not clear whether officer or another one hit the assailant with gunfire, said officials familiar with the matter. The assailant was killed.
The chief of the Pentagon police, Woodrow Kusse, confirmed that a Pentagon police officer was attacked on a bus platform at 10:37 a.m. Gunfire was exchanged, Kusse said at a Pentagon news briefing, and there were several casualties. Kusse added that the scene is secure and that the FBI is leading the investigation, which he said was standard process. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered flags be flown at half-staff at the Pentagon and extended his “deepest sympathies to the family, loved ones and colleagues” of the officer. The Arlington County, Virginia, Fire Department wrote on Twitter that crews “did encounter multiple patients.” Officials have not released details about the extent of their injuries and authorities have released few details about Tuesday’s incident.
About an hour after having tweeted that there had been an “incident at the Pentagon Transit Center,” the Pentagon Force Protection Agency posted that the scene was “secure.” The lockdown was lifted just before 12:15 p.m., according to the agency, which is charged with safeguarding occupants of the Pentagon.
