Some employees who streamed by the red brick wall of the Navy Yard in the early morning sun said it was too soon for them to even talk about the shootings. Others said it will take a while to get past the tragedy.
"I'd rather not be here today," said Judy Farmer, a scheduler from Manassas, Va.
The Navy installation re-opened at 6 a.m. Thursday. Traffic was blocked from reaching the main gate for a time because a tractor-trailer tried to make a U-turn and its load shifted.
"It's a little surreal I guess," said Brooke Roberts, an engineer who works across the street from the building where the shooting happened.
"You don't think this sort of thing can happen to you at your workplace, so you're just not prepared for it, regardless," he said of the shooting as he walked by a blocked off gate he is accustomed to using to enter the Navy Yard. He described himself as feeling "still unsettled," noting the blocked off entrance.
