US Navy gunman was a Buddhist
Aaron Alexis seems a study in contradictions: a former Navy reservist, a Defence Department contractor, a convert to Buddhism who was taking an online course in aeronautics. But he also had a temper that led to run-ins with police over shootings.
While some neighbours and acquaintances described him as “nice,” his father once told detectives in Seattle that his son had anger management problems related to post-traumatic stress brought on by the terrorist attacks of September 11. He also complained about the Navy and being a victim of discrimination.
At the time of the shootings, he worked for The Experts, a subcontractor on an HP Enterprise Services contract to refresh equipment used on the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet network.
His life over the past decade has been chequered.
Alexis lived in Seattle in 2004 and 2005. In 2004 he was arrested for shooting out the tyres of another man’s vehicle in what he later described to detectives as an anger-fuelled “blackout.” Two building workers had parked their car in the driveway of their worksite, next to a home where Alexis was staying. They say him walk out of his home, pull a gun from his waistband and fire three shots into the rear tyres of their car before he walked slowly back.
They told police Alexis had stared at workers at the job site daily for several weeks prior to the shooting. The owner of the construction business told police he believed Alexis was angry over the parking around the site.
Police eventually arrested Alexis, searched his home, found a gun and ammunition in his room, and booked him for malicious mischief.
He told detectives he perceived he had been “mocked” by construction workers the morning of the incident. Alexis also claimed he had an anger-fuelled “blackout,” and could not remember firing his gun until an hour after the incident.
He also told police he was present during “the tragic events of September 11, 2001” and described “how those events had disturbed him.”
Then, on May 5, 2007, he enlisted in the Navy reserves, serving until 2011.
A Navy spokeswoman said he received the National Defence Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal during his stint in the reserves. Both are issued to large numbers of service members who served abroad and in the United States since the 9/11 attacks. Alexis’ last assignment was as an aviation electrician’s mate 3rd class at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth.
It was while he was still in the reserves that a neighbour in Fort Worth reported she had been nearly struck by a bullet fired from his downstairs apartment.
In September 2010, police questioned him about the neighbour’s report. He admitted to firing his weapon but said he was cleaning his gun when it accidentally discharged.
He was arrested on suspicion of discharging a firearm within city limits but the case was not pursued after it was decided the gun discharged accidentally.
After leaving the reserves, Alexis worked as a waiter and delivery driver. converted to Buddhism and prayed at a local Buddhist temple.
