Friday, April 20, 2007

NASA Suicide Killer and Victim Identified After Stand-off at Johnson Space Center

Breaking News: Originally reported Friday 2:30pm EST. Last updated on Saturday at 12:30am EST.

This is the second major security breach of a NASA employee in four months. Who can forget the diaper-wearing astronut who drove 900 and some miles to confront another female astronaut in a love triangle with a male astronaut.

MTB News believes it has obtained another photograph
in addition to the one shown here on the right which was published in The
Houston Chronicle. If we confirmed the validity of the other photograph, it will be published on this page.

Police in Houston have reported that a NASA engineering contractor William A. Phillips, 60, shot and killed himself after killing one male hostage, who has been identified as David Beverly, a 25-year veteran employee of NASA.

At approximately 1:45 pm EST, police received information that the gunman had barricaded himself and taken hostages inside Building 44 on the campus of NASA's world-famous Johnson Space Center.

The gunman's neighbor, Mike Russell, told a local TV station that Phillip's was an "ordinary nice guy that lived down the street" adding that he could have never imagined Phillip's committing such a terrible act.

"I waved to him this morning", Russell said. Watch video

After the call went out this afternoon, the Houston tactical SWAT team entered the building at approximately 5:25 pm EST.

Moments later, SWAT members heard a single gunshot and rushed to where they believed the shot came from.

There they found Phillips dead from a reported single gunshot wound to the head and the body of David Beverly with a gunshot to the chest.

Police said they believe Beverly was shot an hour or longer before the gunman committed suicide.

However, there are no reports yet about what was going on for the nearly three hours that Phillips was barricaded.

A female NASA contractor, Fran Crenshaw, was bound with duct tape, officials say, but was physically unharmed and released from hospital after a medical evaluation.

Dozens of employees could be seen from aerial views leaving Building 44 on the Johnson Space Center's sprawling 1,600-acre campus. Houston police, including a SWAT team, responded to calls that shots were fired at the space station headquarters and responded to the scene at approximately 2 pm EST.

The coroner's office and homicide investigators have roped off the crime scene to examine the bodies and attempt to piece together exactly what happened during the gunman's reign of terror at what should be one of the most secure facilities in the world.

More details as they develop, including official statements, more about the gunman and the victim, the relationship of the two, how security was breached at a "secure facility" and a timeline of events. (Is there something in the Tang?)

Labels: Guman Rampage, JCS News, Johnson Space Center, Johnson Space Center JCS Gunman, Mass Murderers, NASA, NASA Gunman, Space Center, William A. Phillips, Workplace Shootings, Workplace Violence

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Houston, We Have a Problem; Astronaut Arrested

In a bizarre event, Orlando police have arrested a NASA astronaut who was allegedly planned to kipnap and kill a romantic rival for a male astronaut's love.

Spokeswoman St. Barb Jones said that Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, a NASA astronaut, was arrested with the intent "to do serious bodily injury or death.

Jones said a knife, a steel mallet and large garbage bags were found in Nowak's car. Apparently Nowak had also been wearing diapers for a nearly 900-mile drive from Houston to Orlando.

Nowak is a Navy captain and married mother of three children. She has already been charged with attempted vehicle burglary with battery, attempted kidnapping and destruction of evidence.

On Tuesday morning a judge said Nowak could be released on $15,500 bail provided she stay away from the other woman and wear a monitoring device.

Labels: Lisa Marie Nowak, NASA, NASA astronaut Arrested, Strange Stuff, Weird News