TERRE HAUTE — A Terre Haute North graduate now working at the Pentagon was at the scene of last week’s shooting attack at the U.S. Defense Department headquarters outside Washington, D.C.
Air Force Lt. Col. Rob Jackson, a 1990 North graduate, was leaving work at the Pentagon just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday when he heard a loud bang originating just a few yards away.
“It definitely startled me,” Jackson said. His first thought upon hearing the noise was that a protester had set off a firecracker, he said. But, looking in the direction of the sound, Jackson soon knew it was something far more serious.
“I looked over in that direction where the noise came from and that’s when I saw [an armed attacker] had already shot one [Pentagon] guard with that first shot. When I looked over there, he shot the second guard. I saw him shoot the second guard.”
According to news reports, John Patrick Bedell, 36, of California, calmly approached guards at an entrance to the Pentagon on Thursday evening. Well-dressed in slacks and a blazer, Bedell reportedly shot two guards before being fatally shot by Pentagon security.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, visitors to the Pentagon must pass through an external security checkpoint 50 to 100 yards from the building itself. Jackson was passing through that checkpoint as Bedell was entering the checkpoint just a few yards away. Jackson was parallel to Bedell when the California native opened fire.
“That’s when the chaos really started,” Jackson recalled. Bedell shot the two guards and immediately started toward the main doors of the Pentagon.
“Now his back is to me completely,” Jackson said describing the scene. “At that time, the guards at the entrance of the Pentagon started returning fire. Both of the guards that he shot actually were able to return fire” as well, he said.
The whole incident lasted only about 10 seconds, Jackson said. Bedell died a few hours later at a Washington hospital from two gunshots to the head, according to news reports.
As shots were being fired, Jackson said he dove to the ground for cover. Although wearing an Air Force flight uniform, he was unarmed. Once the chaos had ended, one of the Pentagon guards approached Jackson to ask if he was OK.
“I looked at [the guard] and said, ‘Are you OK?’” Jackson recalled. A flattened slug was clearly visible near the left shoulder of the guard’s protective vest, he said.
Jackson, a veteran of two deployments to the Persian Gulf, said he is trained for combat in the air, not on the ground.
“I’m used to war in the air,” Jackson said. “I’ve been trained for fighting enemies in my airplane. Definitely nothing on the ground.”
Despite coming on the heels of a suicide airplane attack on an IRS building in Austin, Texas, and November’s fatal shooting at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, Jackson said Thursday’s attack at the Pentagon will not alter how he thinks about his work. In fact, the quick response of the Pentagon’s security forces was reassuring.
“It was obvious that they had been trained for those types of situations and they really took charge,” Jackson said. “I was pretty amazed to see what they were able to do in such a short amount of time to secure the area. It was impressive to see their training kick in.”
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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Lt. Col. Robert Jackson, a 1990 Terre Haute North Vigo High School graduate.
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