Runners in Sunday’s Marine Corps Marathon will be racing amid heightened security, as the FBI investigates four recent shootings at military facilities in Northern Virginia.
After the most recent incident — bullet holes discovered at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on Friday morning — the FBI said the gunman likely has a grievance against the Marines, but is not trying to hurt anyone.
John Perren, the FBI’s acting assistant director, also said the person responsible for overnight shootings this month at the Pentagon, a Chantilly Marine recruiting station and an earlier incident at the Marine Corps museum is probably affiliated with the Marines, but would not elaborate.
Ballistics testing showed the same weapon was used in each of the shootings. All took place in the middle of the night when the buildings were unoccupied, and no one was injured.
Perren said authorities are working on the assumption that the second shooting at the museum is related.
Police and military officials said security at Sunday’s marathon would be heightened because of the shootings. But the race isn’t being canceled because the gunman has shown no intention of hurting anyone.
“There’s no reason to believe there’s going to be an incident at the marathon,” said Marine 2nd Lt. Agustin Solivan.
Authorities declined to specify what additional security measures would be taken at this year’s marathon, which has a field of 30,000 runners.
The most recent shooting occurred at the museum sometime between 6 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday.
Several shots were found in the same area of the building — on its west side, which faces Interstate 95 — as the first incident on Oct. 17, said Maj. Mike Crosbie of the Prince William County police.
It’s not known how long ballistics tests will take to determine whether that shooting is linked to previous incidents, FBI spokeswoman Katherine Schweit said.
The first shooting at the museum was discovered Oct. 17. Two days later, six shots hit the Pentagon. And Tuesday morning, employees at the Marines recruiting station in Chantilly discovered bullet holes in window of the strip-mall building.
Authorities will not say what type of weapon was used in the first three incidents. But after the Pentagon shooting, authorities said the shooter is believed to have used a high-powered rifle.
Perren said the gunman appears to have a complaint against the Marines, but not individuals serving.
“We would like to know what that grievance is,” he said.
