WASHINGTON - A man shot and wounded two security officers at an entrance to the Pentagon near a busy commuter rail station on Thursday before being fatally wounded in a shootout, officials and media reports said.

The gunman, identified in media reports as 36-year-old John Patrick Bedell of California, was apparently trying to gain entry to the giant US Defense Department headquarters, Pentagon police chief Richard Keevill told reporters.

The security officers' wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, Pentagon officials said in a statement. "He walked up very cool," Keevill said. "He had no real emotion on his face."