Gunman In Navy Yard Shooting Was Defense Contractor & Former Navy Reservist

WASHINGTON (WJZ/AP) -- Aaron Alexis seems a study in contradictions: a former Navy reservist, a recent Defense Department contractor, a convert to Buddhism who was taking an online course in aeronautics. But he also had flashes of temper that led to run-ins with police over shootings in Fort Worth, Texas, and Seattle.

Jessica Kartalija has more.

FBI investigators are trying to determine what prompted 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, a Naval reservist and defense contractor, to open fire.

Family members are speaking to the FBI.

Anthony Little says his wife, Alexis' sister, hadn't spoken with her brother in years.

"I mean, everybody is just feeling it right now. It's a shocking experience. Nobody expected this. From what I understand, when they did get in contact, there was nothing to be alarmed about," he said.

A full-time Naval reservist from May 2007 to January 2011, Alexis' record shows a pattern of misconduct.

"He was very nice and gentle and we teach him how to talk Thai," said one acquaintance.

Members of the Buddhist Temple of Fort Worth in Texas say they considered Alexis to be family.

A man claiming to be his best friend spoke with reporters outside a restaurant where the men often ate.

"He's a good guy, from what I know. I can't say he did it or not, but when he was with me, there was nothing to tell me he was aggressive or that he was going to shoot someone," he said.

A profile began to emerge Monday of the man authorities identified as the gunman in a mass shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., that left 13 people dead, including the 34-year-old man. While some neighbors 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 terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

His life over the past decade has been checkered.

Alexis lived in Seattle in 2004 and 2005, according to public documents. In 2004, Seattle police said Alexis was arrested for shooting out the tires of another man's vehicle in what he later described to detectives as an anger-fueled "blackout." According to an account on the department's website, two construction workers had parked their Honda Accord in the driveway of their worksite, next to a home where Alexis was staying. The workers reported seeing a man, later identified by police as Alexis, walk out of the home next to their worksite, pull a gun from his waistband and fire three shots into the rear tires of their Honda before he walked slowly back to his home.

When detectives interviewed workers at the construction site, they told police Alexis had stared at construction 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 situation around the site.

Police eventually arrested Alexis, searched his home, found a gun and ammunition in his room, and booked him into the King County Jail for malicious mischief.

According to the police account, Alexis told detectives he perceived he had been "mocked" by construction workers the morning of the incident. Alexis also claimed he had an anger-fueled "blackout," and could not remember firing his gun at the Honda until an hour after the incident.

Alexis also told police he was present during "the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001" and described "how those events had disturbed him."

Then, on May 5, 2007, he enlisted in the Navy reserves, serving through 2011, according to Navy spokeswoman Lt. Megan Shutka.

Shutka said he received the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal during his stint in the reserves. Both are medals 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 aviation electricians mate 3rd class at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Shutka said.

It was while he was still in the reserves that a neighbor in Fort Worth reported she had been nearly struck by a bullet shot from his downstairs apartment.

In September 2010, Fort Worth police questioned Alexis about the neighbor's report; he admitted to firing his weapon but said he was cleaning his gun when it accidentally discharged. He said he didn't call the police because he didn't think the bullet went through to the other apartment. The neighbor told police she was scared of Alexis and felt he fired intentionally because he had complained about her making too much noise.

Alexis was arrested on suspicion of discharging a firearm within city limits but Tarrant County district attorney's spokeswoman Melody McDonald Lanier said the case was not pursued after it was determined the gun discharged accidentally.

After leaving the reserves, Alexis worked as a waiter and delivery driver at the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant in White Settlement, a suburb of Fort Worth, according to Afton Bradley, a former co-worker. The two overlapped for about eight months before Alexis left in May, Bradley said.

"He was a very nice person," she said in a phone interview. "It kind of blows my mind away. I wouldn't think anything bad at all."

A former 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. He described Alexis as a "nice guy" but said they had some differences.

Suthametewakul said Alexis had converted to Buddhism and prayed at a local Buddhist temple.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which offers online courses in aviation and aerospace, confirmed that Alexis was enrolled as an online student via its Fort Worth campus, started classes in July 2012 and pursuing a bachelor's of science in aeronautics.

"We are cooperating fully with investigating officials," the university said.

Investigators are now tracing guns found at the scene, mapping the trajectory of all the gunshots to gain a better understanding of how this all played out.

Still searching for a motive, the FBI has asked that anyone with information about the shooting or Aaron Alexis to call the bureau.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)