“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see” – Henry David Thoreau Alford Examines the Rotting Prison System See Page 25 •
C e l e b r a t i n g 4 8 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 48, No. 49 Sept. 19 - Sept. 25 2013
In Search of Answers
(L-R) Brittnay Carter, 24 of Lanham, Md., and Jibir Johnson, 24 also of Lanham, listen as speakers address the crowd at Freedom Plaza in Northwest during a candlelight vigil in honor of the victims of the Navy Yard shootings on Monday, Sept. 16. /Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah. Inset photo of alleged shooter, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis. /Courtesy Photo
Questions Swirl after Mass Shooting at Navy Yard By Stacy M. Brown and Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writers Residents in the District of Columbia and around the region continue to come to terms with a mass shooting that left 13 people dead and more than a dozen injured at the Navy Yard on
Monday morning. In the aftermath of the Sept. 16 rampage, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have asked the public for information and released background about the alleged shooter, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis. As details of the case are pieced together to de-
termine a motive for the shootings, there remain a number of unanswered questions surrounding what is being called the deadliest event of its kind in the metropolitan area since 9/11. On Tuesday morning, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) suggested in several interviews with national networks that the Sequester
may have been a factor in Alexis passing a background check and being able to gain access to the Navy Yard. “As I look at … sequestration, which is about saving money in the federal government, have we somehow skimped on what would be available for projects like this and then we put people
Visit us online for daily updates and much more @ www.washingtoninformer.com. Gray Veto Pleases Businesses Page 4
Blacks Continue to Spend More, Save Less Page 14
at risk,” Gray mused on CNN. “It’s really hard to believe that someone with a record as checkered as this man’s could get credentials to be able to get on the base.” Through the Sequester, across-the-board budget cuts
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