Quantico Shooting Findings

Monday, August 18th, 2014

Weapons Man examines the Quantico shooting of March 2013:

A male Marine who moved from off-post into barracks had a torrid affair with a female Marine. She broke it off and immediately took another male Marine to her bunk. The first guy shot and killed his ex and her new beau in the barracks, then turned the pistol on himself. (As is customary in these triangle cases, he killed himself when his mission was complete). USMC investigators said nothing about the barracks environment of the unit, apparently the 1710th Relentlessly Shagging Battalion, but faulted commanders for not grilling the shooter abour weapons ownership, and disarming him when he moved on post.

Lessons learned:

  • A violent shooter can complete his criminal mission before police can arrive and stop him.
  • The incident ended, as usual, abruptly. This occurred when the shooter completed his intended murders, and killed himself.
  • The cost-benefit profile of a workplace dalliance needs to include edge cases like this.
  • He never was confronted by armed authorities. The victims’ lives were taken when there was no one there but themselves. Only the victims could have saved themselves — and only if they were armed themselves.

Gun Free Victim Disarmament Zone body count:  2. Wound count: 0.

Leave a Reply