Military: Autopsies complete in Navy base shooting

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Autopsies have been performed on a sailor and a civilian who died in a shootout aboard a guided-missile destroyer docked at a Virginia Navy base, an official said Thursday.

The autopsies were conducted at a naval medical center in Portsmouth on Tuesday by a doctor from Dover Air Force Base, where the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner is based, office spokesman Paul Stone said.

The shooting deaths occurred Monday night at Naval Station Norfolk when the USS Mahan was docked pierside. The Navy has said Petty Officer 2nd Class Mark Mayo, a 24-year-old master-at-arms from Hagerstown, Md., was killed by a civilian truck driver who had disarmed the USS Mahan's petty officer of the watch and used her weapon to fire the fatal shots. Mayo was working security on the base and stepped between the civilian and the disarmed sailor to save her life, according to the Navy.

The Navy has not released the name of the civilian, who was killed by Navy security.

Navy officials have said there's no indication the attack was planned or had any link to terrorism. Navy investigators have also said there's no indication the civilian had a previous relationship with the ship or anyone on it. Officials are still searching for answers about why the civilian drove onto base using a transportation credential for access, walked onto a pier and up a ramp toward the ship before being confronted by security. A hospital ship was also docked at the same pier. The Navy has said the civilian shouldn't have been on the installation - the world's largest - the night of the shooting, and investigators are reviewing why he was allowed.

Autopsy results will include a toxicology report that would indicate whether there were any drugs or alcohol involved, Stone said.

It could be weeks before autopsy results are provided to investigators, he added.

It wasn't immediately clear Thursday when the bodies would be released to Mayo and the civilian's families.

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Brock Vergakis can be reached at www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis