Lorton Man Reported Victim of Washington Navy Yard Shooting

Michael Arnonld, a 59-year-old Navy veteran from Lorton, was among the 12 victims of the shooter who went on a rampage Monday at the Washington Navy Yard, according to news reports.

According to The Washington Post, Arnold recently joined the government consulting firm LMI; his uncle, Steve Hunter, told The Associated Press that Arnold had been working at the Navy Yard on a team that designed amphibious assault ships.

Hunter said his nephew was also an avid pilot who was building a light airplane.

“It would have been the first plane he ever owned,” Hunter told the AP from Rochester, MI, Arnold’s hometown. “It’s partially assembled in his basement.”

Arnold and his wife, Jolanda, had been married for more than 30 years and had two grown sons, Hunter told the AP

“He was a loving son of his mother and his wife, and great father to his kids,” Hunter said. “It’s tragic. How can you get up in the morning and go to work and have that happen? How do bad things like that happen to good people?”