Authorities are beefing up security for the Marine Corps Marathon as the FBI confirmed Thursday that the weapon used to shoot at a Marine Corps recruiting station this week was also used in the shootings of two other military facilities.Authorities said there will be a larger-than-normal police presence for Sunday’s 26.2-mile race, which stretches across Arlington, Georgetown and the National Mall. Law enforcement agencies on hand will include members of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Park Police, Pentagon police, Capitol police and Arlington police.
“Given the recent shootings, there is a heightened awareness for the event,” said Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman. “But we are not going into specifics on our security posture for the race.”
FBI lab tests showed that the weapon in the overnight Tuesday shooting at a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly was used in a shooting that shattered two windows at the Pentagon on Oct. 19 and one two days before at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle.
No one has been hurt in the shootings, which involved shots fired at unoccupied areas of the buildings.
The Pentagon was one of the targets of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and in March, a gunman shot and wounded two security officers near an entrance there.
— Scott McCabe
