THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995               TAG: 9503110304
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF & WIRE REPORT 
DATELINE: ARLINGTON                          LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

MAN SHOOTS 2 CO-WORKERS, KILLS SELF AT NAVY OFFICE DURING AN ARGUMENT IN ARLINGTON, THE MAN WENT BERSERK.

A civilian Navy employee shot and wounded two co-workers in their office Friday after an argument, then killed himself in front of other office employees.

Ernest J. Cooper Jr. twice shot a young superior, Nils F. ``Fred'' Salvesen, after a confrontation at Salvesen's desk, police said. Cooper immediately turned to the next cubicle in the cramped Navy office and shot Navy Cmdr. Harry F. Molyneux four times.

Cooper, 58, then pointed the .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun at his head and fired once, police said.

``All of a sudden there were noises, gunfire,'' said Dorinda Schutte, who was a few feet away when the shooting began in the 10th-floor office at the Naval Air Systems Command in Crystal City. The offices house naval aviation research and development programs.

Schutte said she heard no shouting before the 8 a.m. shooting. ``This was a total surprise.''

``They all work together and they apparently had some argument this morning - we're not sure over what,'' police spokesman Tom Bell said. ``And one guy just went berserk.''

Salvesen, 30, of Edgewater, Md., was in critical condition at Washington Hospital Center after surgery for wounds in his neck and left side. A defense official said one of Salvesen's kidney's had to be removed.

Molyneux, 39, of Alexandria, was in fair condition with wounds to his right shoulder, left side, left arm and hand.

Salvesen, a program manager in the Air Combat Electronics Program Office, has worked at the command since 1987. Molyneux is a deputy program manager who has been at the command since 1991.

Cooper, of Waldorf, Md., a logistics expert and Air Force retiree, had worked at the command since 1986. He worked for both wounded men.

It was not clear if Cooper brought the gun to work with him Friday or whether it was already hidden in his desk.

Guns are not allowed inside the building but it has no metal detectors, said Marine Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, who oversees the facility. by CNB