Officials say shooter had mental problems
WASHINGTON — Through a wall at his Rhode Island hotel, Aaron Alexis could hear them — voices harassing him, wanting to harm him. He couldn’t sleep. He believed people were following him, using a microwave machine to send vibrations to his body. He changed hotels once, then again. But he called police and told them he couldn’t get away from the voices.
On Aug. 7, police alerted officials at the Newport Naval Station about the naval defense contractor’s call. But officers didn’t hear from him again.
By Aug. 25, Alexis had left the state. The 34-year-old arrived in the Washington area, continuing his work as an information technology employee for a defense-related computer company. Again, he spent nights in different hotels. He suffered from serious mental problems, including paranoia and a sleep disorder, and was undergoing treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the law enforcement officials.
But Alexis wasn’t stripped of his security clearance, and he kept working.
On Saturday, he visited Sharpshooters Small Arms Range in Lorton, Va., about 18 miles southwest of the nation’s capital. He rented a rifle, bought bullets and took target practice at the 16-lane indoor range, then bought a shotgun and 24 shells, according to the store’s attorney.
Two days later, as the workweek dawned, Alexis entered the sprawling Washington Navy Yard, a 41-acre labyrinth of buildings protected by armed guards and metal detectors where employees must show IDs to get past doors and gates. Authorities believe he drove a rental car there.
He was equipped with his pass for base access — and the shotgun. Within minutes, it would create mayhem.
He stepped inside the massive Building 197, home to some 3,000 employees. He opened fire around 8:15 a.m., raining shotgun blasts down from a fourth-floor overlook and third-floor hallway. Trained tactical officers arrived, bursting through the building within seven minutes of the first 911 call, and Alexis shot at them, too.
He fired relentlessly not only at police who engaged him but at the workers inside.
Descriptions from witnesses paint a portrait of harrowing gun battles inside — all for more than half an hour. The FBI, which launched a nationwide training program for local law enforcement after last December’s Connecticut elementary school massacre, says the average mass shooting is over within minutes and often ends once police arrive.
But this gun battle kept going. Twelve victims died. Eight were injured, with all expected to survive.
The Navy said several garages and all surface parking lots at the Washington Navy Yard would open today for employees to retrieve their vehicles. Access to Building 197, the site of Monday’s shooting, was prohibited. The motive for the shooting remains a mystery.
