RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)--After serving 21 years in the US Navy, a career that moved Dave Vachet all the way from Hawaii to Washington D.C., he's reflective and imagining Monday night what it must have been like at the Washington Navy Yard when a shooting rampage broke out.
"I imagine those folks today, they're going to work and that happening and them being so scared," said Vachet.
Vachet can’t imagine how a gunman got so far and was able to cause so much damage.
"Surprised, surprised especially by the lack of security there," Vachet said.
Before Monday, Vachet through his experience would believe the Washington Navy Yard as a secure facility.
"A lot of high ranking military officers are there and a lot of high ranking civilians are there too," Vachet said.
It's for that reason that Vachet is puzzled as to how the gun would have gotten inside armed with a rifle and been able to go up several floors to begin his rampage without being stopped.
"Surprised he was up there and shot so many people, shot at so many people, very surprised," he said.
Vachet claimed for those who have served the Navy, this tragedy means something deeper. It's a sadness he hopes is met with solution, perhaps better security at the yard.
"I think it's a big mistake that we don't have better security on that," said Vachet.
In the meantime, he's still reflecting on what before today would have been unimaginable.
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