SWAT Team Told to ‘Stand Down’ During Navy Shooting Stonewalled by Authorities

Paul Joseph Watson

infowars.com

Members of a Washington SWAT team who were told to stand down during the Navy Yard shooting have been stonewalled by authorities, while the leader of the elite unit has been replaced.

As we reported earlier this week, the highly trained Containment and Emergency Response Team (CERT) was just minutes away from Building 197 of the headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command when Aaron Alexis began his rampage.

Being the only personnel on site armed with long guns, the CERT team was asked by an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD to aid in hunting down the active shooter.

However, when the CERT Team radioed their superiors to obtain permission to go ahead with the operation, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene.

The CERT team members are expert marksmen and it’s almost inevitable that their involvement in neutralizing the gunman would have saved lives. By the time armed police arrived 30 minutes later, Alexis had already killed 12 victims.

“I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that some lives may have been saved if we were allowed to intervene,” a Capitol Police source told the BBC.

Instead of receiving answers as to why they were ordered to stand down, the CERT team has been stonewalled by authorities.

“Days after the shooting, none of the officers has been questioned by officials or investigators from a special panel that was convened on Wednesday,” reports BBC News, despite standard operating procedure directing that they be debriefed immediately.

The department has also replaced the leader of the unit with no explanation and four members of the SWAT Team have also applied for temporary leave, according to the report.