Friday, September 26, 2014

Navy Veteran Sets Fire to Chicago Air Traffic Control Facility




A former Navy man, early this morning, cut radar feeds and set them on fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control center. The action brought two of the nation's busiest airports, O'Hare and Midway airports, to a halt.

The veteran was a contract employee. He was found with multiple self-inflicted knife wounds and burns at the center. According to ABC News Chicago,  the man had routine access to the facility and intimate knowledge of radar. He was in the Navy from 1996 to 2000.

By late afternoon, nearly 1,800 flights in and out of Chicago alone had been canceled. A few flights began taking off and landing again around midday, after a nearly five-hour gap. The planes were moving at a much-reduced pace, officials said, and no one could be sure when full service would resume.

Southwest -- the nation's largest discounter -- decided to cancel its entire schedule Friday at both Chicago Midway and Milwaukee.

1 comment:

  1. So this guy spends 4 years in the Navy (1996 to 2000) and then 14 years later does something nutty, and the focus on describing him is "former Navy man" and "the veteran". If there is a connection to what he did in the Navy and the fire he set, I'd like to see that called out. Instead the narrative reinforces the idea that veterans are all a bunch of dangerous nut jobs about to go PTSD at any moment.

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