Gunman At Navy Shipyard Was Well-Known for Mental Illness Problems

How could another shooting incident be allowed to happen on a military base after the carnage of Ft. Hood?

The shooter responsible for the deaths of twelve innocent people during a violent shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yards Monday was “obsessed” with violent video games, a new report claims.

A close friend who lived with Aaron Alexis claims he witnessed Alexis playing “zombie” video games in his bedroom frequently. “sometimes for up to 16 hours, until 4:30 am,” which he believes was a main contributor to a violent streak, the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph reports.

Restaurant owner, Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, a friend who first met Alexis at a Texas Buddhist Temple said. He added that Alexis loved to watch football all day on TV and had a .45 caliber handgun with him at all times.

He added that “He always had this fear people would steal his stuff, so that’s why he would carry his gun all the time. He would carry it when he was helping out in the restaurant, which scared my customers.”

Suthamtewakul described the 34-year-old former Navy reservist, as having a “chilled” personality and as “a smart guy” for learning to speak Thai fluently during the time they lived together saying, “He never got angry with us. He was always very nice to us. He had a couple of issues with being black. He felt he hadn’t been treated right, not by the Navy, just generally. He didn’t have a lot of friends including me, my wife and family, and people from temple.”

Suthamtewakul said he never had the feeling the accused murderer had a grudge against the government or the Navy.

Alexis had no criminal record even though he once had an incident in Seattle where he shot out a man’s tires in anger. The prosecutor actually “lost” the paperwork and the case was dismissed.

In another non-charged offense in 2010, Alexis was arrested for firing a gun in his home. As his close friend told reporters, “It didn’t go through the ceiling, it went through a wall. I was in the bedroom and I heard the gunshot. I jumped up and said, ‘What the..’ and Aaron came in and was really sorry. He said, ‘I was cleaning my gun.’ I said ‘Put the safety on so you don’t kill people in here.’ He said ‘I’m sorry, man.’ It was just an accident.”

Suthamtewakul’s wife, Kristi described Alexis as “chilled,” and angry about the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I remember him talking about 9/11. He was there and when he came outside one of the buildings was gone already. All of a sudden the second building came down. He was an angry American, angry with the terrorists. I think maybe there was PTSD,” she said.

Alexis reportedly loved the Thai culture and Buddhist culture. Ironically, his admiration for the peace-loving religion didn’t stop him from even tucking the .45 in his pants when he visited restaurants.

The fact that authorities and the Navy were well aware that Alexis had mental problems will be a huge question in the investigation and how the Navy reservist managed to keep an official ID that allowed him on the base in the first place.

Dwight L. Schwab Jr.

Dwight L. Schwab Jr. is a moderate conservative who looks at all sides of a story, then speaks his mind. He has written more than 3500 national political and foreign affairs columns. His BS in journalism from the University of Oregon, with minors in political science and American history stands him in good stead for his writing.

Publishing

Dwight has 30-years in the publishing industry, including ABC/Cap Cities and International Thomson. His first book, “Redistribution of Common Sense – Selective Commentaries on the Obama Administration 2009-2014,” was published in July, 2014. “The Game Changer – America’s Most Stunning Presidential Election in History,” was published in April 2017.

Location

Dwight is a native of Portland, Oregon, and now a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area.





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