Soldier dies after shooting herself at US army base

A soldier has died after barricading herself in an office and shooting herself inside a major command’s headquarters in Virginia. 

Fort Lee officials said the solider was pronounced dead yesterday at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. No other injuries were reported in the morning shooting.

Officials said the soldier went on a rampage in the office, throwing objects.

Fort Lee temporarily went on lockdown while the soldier was barricaded in the headquarters for the army’s combined arms support command. The command is responsible for training more than 180,000 students annually.

About 1,100 people were inside the building as law enforcement officials tried to negotiate with her.

Officials said the soldier was a sergeant who had been in the army for 14 years and at Fort Lee for three. They said her gun was not a service weapon.

Army officials initially labelled the incident an “active shooter” situation.

The Department of Homeland Security uses the term to describe someone actively trying to kill people, usually in populated areas, with no pattern of choosing victims.

The shooting is the fourth violent act at a Virginia military installation this year. In March, a civilian truck driver shot and killed a sailor aboard a navy destroyer at Naval Station Norfolk before he was shot and killed by Navy security.

In June, authorities said a sailor repeatedly stabbed another near Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

The same installation was placed on lockdown in April when a sailor shot and killed himself inside a barracks there.

Fort Lee is 40km south of Richmond and 210km from Washington. Its daily population is about 34,000, with members from all branches, their families, civilians, and contractors.