Latest news with #M-4-style
Time of India
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Heartbroken': Indian-origin Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani reacts to Manhattan office shooting from Uganda; thanks first responders
(Photo credit: Agencies) Indian-origin, Democratic Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani on Monday reacted to the Midtown Manhattan office shooting from Uganda saying he was "heartbroken" by the deadly incident. Sharing a post on X Mamdani said, "I'm heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting in midtown and I am holding the victims, their families, and the NYPD officer in critical condition in my thoughts. " "Grateful for all of our first responders on the ground," he added. Mamdani is currently in Uganda, celebrating his wedding at a heavily guarded private estate in the upscale Buziga Hill area near Kampala. A mass shooting at a Midtown Manhattan office tower on Monday evening left five people dead, including a New York City police officer, and the suspect, with a sixth victim critically injured. The suspected gunman, identified as Shane Tamura from Las Vegas died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities. Mayor Eric Adams called the attack a "senseless act of violence" and said officials are still working to understand the motive. "We lost four souls to another act of senseless violence," Adams said at a late-night briefing, excluding the gunman from the death toll. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed Tamura had a "documented mental health history," but no clear motive has been established yet. "We are working to understand why he targeted this particular location," she added. The shooting unfolded at 345 Park Avenue, a prominent high-rise that houses major institutions including Blackstone, the National Football League, and the Irish Consulate. Surveillance footage showed Tamura pulling up in a double-parked black BMW, stepping out with an M-4-style rifle, and walking into the building. According to Tisch, Tamura immediately opened fire at the entrance, shooting a uniformed officer before turning the weapon on others inside. A woman who tried to flee was gunned down, followed by a security guard behind a desk and another man in the lobby. Tamura was armed with a .223-caliber Palmetto State Armory AR-15-style assault rifle. Police later found a revolver, ammunition, and extra magazines in his vehicle. The shooting took place in a busy part of Midtown Manhattan, just north of Grand Central Terminal and close to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Local television footage showed people evacuating the office building with their hands raised. The building, located on Park Avenue, houses major firms including Blackstone and the Irish Consulate.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Those ‘Hegseth bodyguards' are actually there for the Air Force's ‘Doomsday' plane
A short video of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the normally unremarkable act of climbing a set of stairs launched a wave of internet speculation this week when it also captured two armed guards who looked like they might be assigned to him. Both wore Air Force flight suits, carried M-4-style rifles with tactical vests — a rarely-seen level of firepower on civilian VIP flights — and both were women. Speculation on the pair ranged from incorrect to ridiculously incorrect. Posters on social media immediately labeled the pair as everything from secret Delta Force operators to undeserving 'DEI recruits.' One internet outlet even called them 'Hegseth's Heavily-Armed Female Bodyguards.' Some even compared the two to the ornamental 'Amazon' guards once favored by Muammar Gaddafi. A few internet sleuths got closer to the truth, assuming they were Phoenix-Raven troops, the Air Force's specially-trained security forces squads that fly on large transport aircraft like C-17s and C-130s when they travel to unsecure airbases (Ravens were aboard nearly every flight out of Kabul during the 2021 airlift). It will shock you to learn that in each of those case, someone on the internet was wrong. .@SecDef@PeteHegseth departs DC for his Indo-Pacific tour Hawaii Guam Philippines Japan — Kingsley Wilson (@DepPressSecDOD) March 24, 2025 In fact, the two women were members of a small team from the 55th Security Forces Squadron which is assigned to guard not Hegseth, but the plane he was flying on, the Air Force's secret E-4B 'Doomsday' plane, otherwise known as the National Airborne Operations Center, or NAOC. The security detail, which is specially selected from Air Force security forces at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, flies with the plane everywhere it goes. The rifles and combat gear, an Offutt spokesperson told Task & Purpose, are 'standard protocol' for the team. They were not, the spokesperson said, assigned to guard Hegseth, but rather flew with the plane to Andrews to pick him up for the trip. The E-4B is not one of the Air Force's 'normal' VIP transport planes flown by the 89th Airlift Wing, which are based at Andrews and are generally painted light blue and white. The 89th planes — which include the converted 747s that serve as Air Force One — appear on television regularly carrying a wide range of government VIPs, with very few if any obvious security guards around them. Not so for the E-4B Nightwatch, which is an all-business warplane, built for the President and Secretary of Defense to carry out war plans during major attacks. The plane is not based at Andrews but at Offutt, which is also home to U.S. Strategic Command — the military's nuclear war planners — and the 55th Air Wing, which flies a roster of secret spy planes from the base. And though based in Nebraska, the E-4B is actually operates under the 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, the operational command that oversees all of America's nuclear and strategic bombers. In other words, the NAOC is nobody's VIP shuttle (though to unfamiliar eyes, its white paint job, blue stripe, and similar-scripted 'United States of America' on its fuselage might hold a passing resemblance to Air Force One). Not surprisingly, where the NAOC goes, so goes the 55th's security team, according to Kris Pierce, the Chief of Public Affairs at Offutt. 'The two individuals shown in the photo and video are full-time members assigned specifically to the NAOC Security team,' Pierce told Task & Purpose in an email response to questions on the guards. Piece declined to identify the two women, but said both held the rank of senior airman. 'They serve as fly-away security and are officially designated as part of the aircrew. When supporting an overseas mission involving the Secretary of Defense, they closely coordinate with the SecDef's security team.' The weapons and kit the two carried may have looked excessive on the ceremony-heavy flightline at Andrews, but are about what you might expect for guarding a plane at the heart of America's nuclear arsenal. 'Carrying the M4 and M18 is standard protocol,' said Pierce 'This is part of their authorized lethal loadout and aligns with standing orders for personnel, especially when operating in official capacities such as deployments or movements during missions. There has been no recent change in policy or procedure regarding their weapons posture.' The 55th's NAOC team is full-time at Offutt, and members must both volunteer and undergo a selection process. 'Becoming a member of NAOC Security is a highly selective and competitive process,' said Pierce. 'Once selected, their training intensifies with aircraft-specific instruction designed to build and sustain the specialized skills required for the mission.' In subsequent stops on his trip in Asia, Hegseth met reporters within a few yards of the E-4B several times to address his use last month of Signal to distribute strike plans against Yemen on a chat group. During those press conferences, several different sents of NAOC guards are visible in the background flanking the plane's steps, as the two guards did at Andrews. In a statement to Task & Purpose, the 55th squadron commander confirmed it was his troops that had set the internet off. 'The two Senior Airmen [seen Monday] are among the best of the best from 55 SFS' Recon Raiders, Air Combat Command, and across USAF Security Forces,' said Lt. Col. Andrew Ferguson. 'Only the most professional, most competent, and most lethal members from my squadron get the opportunity to serve on the NAOC Security team. I've personally flown with most if not all our NAOC Security team members on several overseas missions including one of the two pictured. I vouch for my NAOC Security team.' The Army's Master Combat Badges will be coming to soldiers this month Air Force shoots down Houthi drones launched at Navy carrier strike group Medal of Honor recipient depicted in movie 'Glory' erased from Pentagon website 'Saving Private Ryan' didn't make the Army's list of most accurate movie portrayals Army reveals designs for Mountaineering and Mariner Badges
