Another lone gun man goes on a rampage—this time at the Washington Navy Yard

Aaron Alexis, 34, a civilian contractor from Fort Worth, Texas, was identified by officials as the shooter who was killed in a gun battle with police responding to Monday morning’s attack at the Washington Navy Yard that left 12 employees dead.

Alexis’ father claimed that his son was a first responder on September 11, 2001. He did not mention in what capacity. But he said his son suffered dark moods from PTSD, and his otherwise friendly nature could turn violent. The discharge for misconduct may have triggered this incident.

Alexis, who killed 12 people at Navy Yard building 197, had been suffering a host of serious mental issues, including paranoia and a sleep disorder, law enforcement officials said. He had been a Navy reservist on duty before being given an honorable discharged, despite a string of misconduct problems

Alexis had also been hearing voices in his head, a classic symptom of schizophrenia, and had been treated since August by the Veterans Administration for his mental problems, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation in the case was continuing.

The attack began just after 8 a.m. Alexis died later as he traded shots with responding police, although it was unclear if he killed himself or was brought down by police.

He most likely gained entry into the facility with a CAC card, or a common access card. The system does not require workers to pass through a metal detector and usually only requires employees to show the card. Senior military officials said that he most likely shot his way into building 197, because that building requires a separate pass he did not have.

Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said that there was still no motive for the shootings and no indication of terrorism “although we haven’t ruled that out.” The evidence was the terrible state of mind Alexis was in. He was crazed and brutal as a result, as witnessed by his shooting through his apartment’s ceiling at a neighbor above whom he thought made too much noise. Alexis also had an incident in which he shot a car’s tires out over a parking issue.

Alexis also complained about the Navy, saying he felt he was a victim of discrimination. This is a real issue that generates fear, paranoia and a fight/flight state of mind.

Naval officials say Alexis had bouts of insubordination, disorderly conduct and was sometimes absent from work without authorization. The offenses occurred mainly when he was serving in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2008–2011, and were enough to prompt Navy officials to grant him an early discharge through a special program for enlisted personnel.

Officials said the bad conduct was enough to make it clear Alexis would not be a good sailor, but not enough to warrant a general or less-than-honorable discharge.

Late Monday, police searched a Residence Inn hotel in Southwest Washington, where Alexis had been staying for at least two days prior to the shooting. It was reported that he had been staying with a group of five other civilian contractors, four of whom had been interviewed by police. The station also reported that Alexis’ rental car had been found near the scene of the shooting and authorities were working on obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle.

In New York, the FBI interviewed Alexis’s mother at her home in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Bed-Sty happens to be one of Brooklyn’s most violent, gun-friendly neighborhoods. And to grow up there would be to grow up with guns. Joining the Navy must have been a great escape from Bed-Sty, at least for a while.

In Fort Worth, Texas, where Alexis lived for part of his Navy stint, those who knew, or claimed to know, the gunman put forth their own theories. One told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Alexis was upset with the government because of a dispute over benefits, another reason for the shooting, unfair treatment, real or perceived. Another acquaintance corroborated that Alexis would complain about being a victim of discrimination.

An acquaintance, Oui Suthametewakul, said Alexis lived with him and his wife from August 2012 to May 2013 in Fort Worth, but that they had to part ways because he wasn’t paying his bills.

Others expressed wonder that Alexis would be linked with such a crime at all.”Oh boy, I can’t believe this,” Somsak Srisan, Alexis’ former landlord said. “He was always very polite to me.”

After leaving the naval reserves, Alexis worked as a waiter and delivery driver at the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant in White Settlement, a suburb of Fort Worth. A convert to Buddhism who had visited Thailand in the past, Alexis was able to converse with Thai customers in their native language and made several friends in the local Thai community.

Hewlett-Packard issued a statement Monday saying that at the time of the shootings, Alexis worked for The Experts, a subcontractor on an HP Enterprise Services contract to refresh equipment used on the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet network. The FBI said he had legitimate access to the Navy Yard “as a result of his work as a contractor.”

Mayor Gray said those killed ranged in age from 46 to 73. Eight others were injured—three by gunshots and the other five by non-shooting causes like stress and falls.

Alexis was a Navy aviation electrician’s mate, third class, who spent time in Texas and Illinois before leaving the Navy in early 2011.

As mentioned earlier, Alexis was arrested in Seattle for shooting out the tires of a construction worker’s car in an incident he later described as “an anger-fueled blackout.”

At least three people, including a city police officer, suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds inside building 197 at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters. Hospital officials said all three were expected to recover. Authorities said five other people suffered minor non-gun injuries.

Hundreds of workers in the Navy complex were forced to hide in their offices or flee for safety while gunshots echoed from a gunman firing a shotgun into the cafeteria and other parts of the building.

Gray Humes, a programs manager with the Navy, was entering the buildings where the shootings took place around 8:20 A.M. when he was met by people fleeing and warning of a shooter inside. He and more than 100 others ran to into the US Navy Museum across the street. “I decided to go in to work a little late this morning,” he said “I guess God was with me.”

Internal security at the Navy Yard building had already “identified and engaged the shooter” by the time the first D.C. police arrived,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.

She said police exchanged gunfire with the shooter “multiple times” before the final gun battle. “It’s one of the worst things we’ve seen in Washington, D.C.” Lanier said.

A surveillance video of the shooting was being reviewed and scores of investigators were interviewing hundreds of witnesses.

Alexis was an online student at the Fort Worth campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University pursuing a bachelor’s of science in aeronautics, the school said. Alexis must have had some real intelligence to be involved in subjects this difficult. That was the other part of his personality.

With the city on edge, the Secret Service arrested a man for tossing firecrackers over the White House fence late Monday. The Secret Service locked down the White House when the incident happened, fearing the pops could have been gunshots.

Thus, this becomes another tragic slaughter of the innocents, following at least a half dozen incidents within several years, involving individuals going on shooting rampages.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.