Navy Base Shooter Arrested Over Guns Before

A defence contractor and former Navy reservist who shot dead 12 people at a US naval yard had been arrested twice before for shooting incidents, it has emerged.

Aaron Alexis, 34, was killed in a gun battle with police following his rampage at the US Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington DC on Monday morning.

Alexis, from Forth Worth, Texas, was arrested over gun-related incidents in 2004 and 2010 in Fort Worth and Seattle and was described in police reports as "seething with anger".

The police report also said Alexis - who was discharged from the Navy in 2011 - had been traumatised by being present at the 9/11 attacks. 

Despite his run-ins with the law, Alexis had access to the highly secure Navy Yard as a defence contractor for IT giant Hewlett-Packard and used a valid pass to enter the base to carry out the shooting, the FBI said.

Police ruled out the possibility Alexis had an accomplice

Police have named seven of his 12 victims as Michael Arnold, 59; Sylvia Fraser, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Frank Kohler, 50; Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46, and Vishnu Pandit, 61.

Another eight people - including three who were shot - were also injured in the shooting.

Mayor Vincent Gray said the motive of the shooter - who appears to have acted alone - was not known.

But Mr Gray said there was no indication it was a terrorist attack, but that possibility had not been ruled out.

"This is a horrific tragedy," he said.

Alexis was discharged from the Navy in 2011

Seattle police said in May 2004 Alexis shot out the tyres of a car, claiming he had been traumatised by the 9/11 attacks.

According to the report, Alexis claimed men on a construction site had been mocking him and he had suffered an "anger-fuelled blackout".

The report said: "Alexis also told police he was present during 'the tragic events of September 11, 2001' and described how those events had disturbed him.

"Detectives later spoke with Alexis' father, who lived in New York at the time, who told police Alexis had anger management problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that Alexis had been an active participant in rescue attempts on September 11, 2001."

In April 2010, Alexis was arrested for shooting a bullet through his apartment ceiling in Fort Worth, according to a police report.

He claimed the weapon went off accidentally when he was cleaning it.

Alexis had been a full-time Navy reservist from 2007 to early 2011, leaving as a petty officer third class, the Navy said.

The Navy did not say why he left, but his four-year stint in the Navy was reportedly troubled.

A helicopter evacuates a man from the base during the shooting

After being discharged, Alexis - a convert to Buddhism who grew up in New York City - worked as a waiter and delivery driver at a Thai restaurant in Fort Worth.

At the time of the rampage, Alexis was employed as an IT subcontractor for a company called The Experts, which was working on a Hewlett-Packard contract to upgrade equipment for an intranet network used by the US Marine Corps and Navy, HP said in a statement.  

It was unclear if the military or HP had been aware of Alexis' brushes with the law, including reportedly two shooting incidents, before he was hired for the IT job.

Witnesses said the gunman opened fire from the fourth floor of Building 197 at the sprawling naval yard at around 8.20am on Monday as people arrived for work.

The shooting happened as people arrived for work at the naval yard

He was carrying three weapons during the shooting - an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene, officials said.

"It's unbelievable that someone could get a rifle in there," David Stevens, a Navy contractor who was on the third floor of Building 197 when the shooting began, told The Washington Post.

The shooting sparked a massive show of force as police and federal agents descended on the Navy Yard, which is less than 3km (2 miles) from the Capitol.

Flights out of the nearby Reagan National Airport were briefly delayed and several schools were locked down.

The US Senate adjourned for the day as a precaution.

Alexis's brother-in-law Mr Little spoke outside the Alexis home in Brooklyn

Outside the Alexis family home in Brooklyn, Alexis's brother-in-law Anthony Little said his relatives were distraught.

"Very stressed out. Tears. You know they just didn't see it coming, it's very hurtful. And their hearts are going out more to the victims who got hurt because you know it's more lives lost and we don't need that right now," Mr Little said.

US President Barack Obama lamented "yet another mass shooting" in America and paid tribute to the rapid response of emergency personnel on the scene.

In the confusion, police said around midday on Monday that they were searching for two accomplices who may have taken part in the attack.

But as the day wore on, police dropped the others as suspects.

Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said: "We do feel comfortable we have the single and sole person responsible for the loss of life on the base."

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Navy Base Shooter Arrested Over Guns Before

Dengan url

http://malurasanya.blogspot.com/2013/09/navy-base-shooter-arrested-over-guns.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Navy Base Shooter Arrested Over Guns Before

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Navy Base Shooter Arrested Over Guns Before

sebagai sumbernya