You may have noticed the majestic museum as you were driving on I-95 near the Quantico Marine Base. It's a glass and steel building modeled after the Iwo Jima Memorial.
Five bullets hit the double-pained glass windows in the atrium at the National Museum of the Marine Corps sometime between midnight Saturday and early Sunday morning.
"This museum stands very visible from I-95," said museum Director Lin Ezell. "It’s a wonderful billboard itself, but we didn’t expect it to become a target, too."
Investigators believe a rifle was used, Ezell said. They speculate the gunman was near I-95 -- possibly on a knoll on the other side of I-95.
NCIS and Prince William County Police investigating this incident were notified about the shots fired at the Pentagon this morning and are comparing notes.
"Right now, the evidence we have is being looked at in the lab currently," Prince William County Police Officer Jonathan Perok said. "Whatever results we get we have a liaison up there with their investigation, a liaison to give them that information and we get information in turn back from them."
The museum remains open, and visitors are encouraged to visit. Many don’t even notice the bullet impact marks on the window, but others are upset.
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"It's sick," said Bonnie Wood, a visitor from Florida. "It's really a shame that someone would even think about doing it."
"As a retired Marine this is, as far as I’m concerned, sacred ground," James Barrotti said. "It’s unheard of.”
No one was in the museum at the time of the shooting. The museum has hosted about 2 million visitors since it opened in 2006.
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