U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Robb Chadwick speaks to the media at the main gate at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, in Hawaii, following a shooting. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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By Audrey McAvoy and Caleb Jones, Associated Press

A Navy sailor shot three civilians, killing two of them, before taking his own life at Pearl Harbor just days before thousands were scheduled to gather at the storied military base to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese bombing that launched the U.S. into World War II.

Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick, the commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said the service would evaluate whether security should be upgraded before the annual ceremony. About a dozen survivors of the 1941 bombing were expected to attend, along with dignitaries and service members.

The shooter was identified Thursday as 22-year-old G. Romero, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been made public.

Chadwick said he didn’t know the motive behind Wednesday’s shooting at the naval shipyard within the base. The third victim was hospitalized.

It wasn’t known if the sailor and the three male civilians had any type of relationship, or what the motive was for the shooting, Chadwick said.

“We have no indication yet whether they were targeted or if it was a random shooting,” Chadwick said.

The sailor was assigned to the fast attack submarine USS Columbia, which is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for maintenance.

He was identified as a 22-year-old enlisted sailor, according to a military official speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details that hadn’t been made public

It wasn’t immediately known what type of weapon was used or how many shots were fired. Chadwick said that was part of the investigation. Personal weapons are not allowed on base.

Names of the victims will not be released until next of kin have been notified.

“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and everyone involved. I can say that we are mobilizing support services for naval shipyard personnel as well as everyone else who may be affected by this tragic event,” Chadwick said.

The base went into lockdown at about 2:30 p.m. when the first active shooter reports were received. The base reopened a few hours later. Witnesses were still being interviewed hours after the shooting.

The shipyard repairs, maintains and modernizes the ships and submarines of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which is headquartered at Pearl Harbor. The base is the home port for 10 destroyers and 15 submarines. It also hosts Air Force units.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige said the White House has offered assistance from federal agencies and that the state is also ready to help if needed.

“I join in solidarity with the people of Hawaii as we express our heartbreak over this tragedy and concern for those affected by the shooting,” Ige said in a statement.

 

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47 COMMENTS

        • Yes, even greater than Washington…
          C’mon, calling him the greatest, whilst he still lives and is yet to complete his first term. Sorry, I’ll let this current President stand the scrutiny of hindsight like the rest before declaring him the greatest.

      • He later revised his position saying he would explore the policy as it exists now it’s still up to the installation commander. I don’t envision it changing I’m military LE and I can’t carry on base and off duty.

    • Any millatary place no private weapons. When at Fort Ord we could check out guns and bullets to go to Camp Roberts and shoot wild boar. The base was over run by them. We would go to beach and have a pig roast.

    • I have to go to the Veterans Hospital fairly frequent in Potland Oregon. I hate Potland and scares me a lot. I usually carry. But not allowed a gun on Veterans property. Over years have been checked for them. Not even allowed in Trunk of car. So if go to V.A. can’t carry.

      • To obtain your veteran’s medical benefits, you have to temporarily relinquish your 2A right. You were given a gun to defend this country, but, must make yourself vulnerable to receive the medical care you were promised.

        OK.

        Despite that, thanks to all who serve or have served.

    • Bring your own rifle Fridays on MCBH, last Friday of the month IIRC. Of course, depends on unit training at the time and if the range occupied. On base rifles have to be stored at the armory (bad idea because people will be taking stuff of of it, handling it, playing with it, screwing with your zero, etc.) If you live off base or have a house, much better options.

    • There is no place more anti gun than a military base. Service members have to register them with the base and are not allowed to carry on base. At the gate you have to immediately announce that that you are transporting a gun or risk UCMJ action. Gate guards then have the right to search you and your car. It’s literally better to be under California law.

      • This wasn’t always the case.
        Privately-owned weapons were allowed on base and even in military quarters when I served in the Army.
        We could bring our privately-owned weapons (can I call them POWs?) to the shooting range and have fun target shooting there when off-duty. Lat time I visited the same Army post (the Army called them “posts”, not “bases”), back in 2014, that gun range was still there, and we were invited to bring our own POW’s there to have fun shooting targets again (but I declined to bring mine because I had been invited to speak at the high school on post, and I certainly didn’t want to go to prison for violating the gun-free-school-zone laws).
        Lots of my fellow officers, enlisted men (they were 100% men), and NCOs had POWs. We were supposed to register our POW’s, but one of my fellow officers bragged that his gun was unregistered. One of my fellow officers even brought his privately owned 1911 into the officer’s club when he went drinking, and it only got him teased by his peers, not arrested like it would today.

        But this was back in the 1980s, back when men were men, women were women, Ronald Reagan was our President, and Republicans recognized Reagan’s “evil empire” (Russia) as the enemy that Russia was then, is now, and always will be. This was back when Republicans pledged allegiance to America and its Constitution, rather than pledging allegiance to Russia, Putin, and his treasonous puppet in the White House. Times sure have changed, and not for the better.

    • We now have illegal aliens in OUR military and other immigrants to get FREE CITIZENSHIP. (G. Romero) bet he is one of them.

      We need to clear the communist out of our school system and our military…
      RESTORE the DRAFT!

      • Restoring the draft would destroy the military. It’s a far more efficient fighting force today being all volunteer. It’s also not the military’s job to fix America’s spoiled children. That responsibility belongs to the parents.

  1. I thought the standard was to list the full name including the middle name so the murderer isn’t confused with other people. They don’t even list his first name, so what’s the point?

  2. Still not much info. The left is looking for ways to tighten restrictions even more, especially in Hawaii and military bases where guns are so restricted they haven’t issued a CCW permit in 17 years.

  3. Given Hawaii’s gun laws, the gun “had to” have been registered. Were it purchased in Hawaii, then a state permit was required before purchase. As this was a sailor on a submarine home ported at Pearl Harbor, he likely was assigned to a barracks. Barracks that are subjected to request inspections. This also puts him on post with additional gun control laws.
    Gee, do we need. More gun laws?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Hawaii

    • Got to have more, there will never be enough until the only guns in the US of A are the ones belonging to the police or ones stolen from them. All military armories must be moved out of country to 3rd world shitholes where they can be easily captured. Only then will the children be safe, as will all nuts, dingbats, home invaders and mas murderers. Oh happy day. [Slightly sacastic]

  4. Read in a back channel forum the Sailor was a security watch stander on the sub. He used an M4 to shoot the victims and a M9 to shoot himself. No motive speculated yet.

    • I’m guessing he was a weapons rover, armed 24 seven, reports every half hour to the OOD.

      Many on this list were speculating that the shooter was a haji or a transgender leftist who had lost their mind. Neither appears to be the case, but all the facts aren’t in yet so gender fluidity is still a possibility, right guys?

  5. Besides the shooter being a dirt bag why is the general holding a press conference in the dirt without a cover on his noggin?

  6. The officer doing the briefing is a U.S. Navy rear admiral (lower half = one star, although one can barely see the subdued rank insignia on his chest amongst the camouflage pattern on his utilities – camouflage utilities/fatigues is the uniform of the day in the Armed Forces these days, even for flag officers). His driver is probably holding his cover so the Admiral can appear more accessible to the press. As to the bare dirt patch he is standing on, the grass was probably worn off by generations of junior public relations officers briefing the press about things that go on aboard the base. That the admiral hisownself has gone out to brief the media just shows what weight this shooting has to the Pearl Harbor staff.

    • Oops. Silly me. Only time I wore camo was when I was with the Seabees. Still, outside means covered except underway. If he wanted to look more accessible/friendlier he should’ve worn whites.

        • Nope. He simply removed his cover so the reporters could see his eyes. Easier to make eye contact with the reporters.

        • Do you ever know wtf you are talking about?

          I picture a 12 year old who copies and pastes, then on articles like these you just wing it and fail miserably. Maybe a little older, because a neckbeard is fitting too… I’ll say 17.

  7. The time has come for the federal government to not only sanction suicide,but to provide the facilities needed to facilitate the act. Something along the lines of what was shown in the movie Soylent Green. Take the stigma away from committing suicide. If people want to die. We as a society should stand behind their choice. Allow them counseling if they want it and give them the opportunity to donate their organs if they so choose. Allowing people to die peacefully may in some why help to prevent these types of events. Having known several people who chose to end their lives without harming others. I understand that sometimes people just don’t want to fight the fight any more. Whatever the reason. It is their choice. Let’s find a way to either help them choose life or help them find the death they want. In as peaceful way as possible.

  8. Later article says the shooter used a M4 on the vitims and his Beretta on himself.
    Mini-Mike Bloomberg and Moms Against Everything are missing a bet. These dangerous weapons should be kept from the military since it is primarily composed of young males.

  9. But wait, there’s more!

    “I can confirm there is an active shooter on NAS Pensacola and it’s going on right now,” said Amber Southard, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
    The gates to the station have been “secured,” according to a post on the station’s Facebook page.”

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