A deadly rampage by suspected gunman Aaron Alexis at the Washington Navy Yard Monday morning left 13 dead. He entered the complex's cafeteria just before 8.30 a.m. brandishing an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, shotgun and handgun and began shooting. During his rampage witnesses said he appeared to fire at selected targets and not randomly. Witnesses described a gunman opening fire from a fourth-floor overlook, aiming down on people in the cafeteria on the main floor. Washington Post cites investigators as saying that Alexis got one of his weapons from a victim as he shot a security guard and took the man's handgun with him as he progressed through Building 179.
After the first shots were heard, calls started streaming into police and officers were on the scene within two to three minutes of those calls.
Navy Yard worker Patricia Ward told said that she had been in the cafeteria when she heard what sounded like 'pop, pop, pop'.
'Everybody just panicked at first,' she said. 'It was just people running, running, running.'
When Metropolitan Police officers arrived on the scene, the internal security team had already determined who was firing the shots and directed them towards Alexis.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that from that point on, there were 'multiple engagements' between police officers and the suspect and their back-and-forth lasted for 40 minutes.
Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway of their building on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.
''No words. He raised the gun and started firing. He said nothing,' witness Todd Brundidge said.
Alexis, a 34-year-old veteran who, according to NBC, obtained the assault rifle he used from a gun safe on the naval base, was killed in a shootout with police. He had been an hourly employee of a subcontractor of Hewlett-Packard called The Experts. Despite initial rumors of additional suspects, authorities are “comfortable” that Alexis worked alone. As of Monday night, 2,000 civilians were still being held at the Navy Yard, as investigators worked to interview each one before releasing them. D.C. officials stated at a press conference Monday evening that those killed ranged in age from 46 to 73.
Alexis had been discharged from the Navy two years ago, and the circumstances are unclear. A Navy official told ABC Alexis’s departure was due to a number of misconduct problems. “Discharge from the military does not automatically disqualify a person from getting a job as a military contractor or a security clearance. It depends on what the circumstances are,” the company's CEO, Thomas Hoshko said. “Obviously he was well qualified. This really came out and shocked all of us.” He was a peaceful Buddhist, friends say.
The 34-year-old veteran was born in Queens, New York, and grew up in Brooklyn. Before moving to the nation’s capital four or five months ago, according to a former roommate, his last known residence was in Fort Worth, Texas. A year prior to leaving the Navy, Alexis was arrested for allegedly discharging a firearm within the city limits of Fort Worth.
According to the police report, a neighbor called 911 after a shot was fired into her apartment. “June told me that she is terrified of Aaron and feels that this was done intentionally,” the responding officer wrote. Alexis said he was cleaning the gun when it accidentally discharged into the ceiling, and he was taken into custody for questioning. It appears charges were never filed, but his landlords began an eviction process against him shortly after.
In 2004, Alexis was arrested in Seattle for allegedly shooting out a man’s car tires in what police say he called “an anger-fueled ‘blackout’” and claimed not to remember. A detective wrote in the police report that in speaking to Alexis’s father, he learned Alexis “was an active participant in rescue attempts of September 11th, 2001.” The father also said his son had anger management problems that were thought to stem from PTSD.
According to Alexis’s landlord, friends, and a former roommate, Alexis was a practicing Buddhist who frequented a temple in Fort Worth to meditate and help out. He had begun learning Thai and recently returned from a trip to Thailand. The owner of a restaurant where he once worked expressed disbelief, calling Alexis “a 13-year-old stuck in a 34-year-old body” and telling a reporter that Alexis was a heavy drinker who played video games and always carried a gun. (He also had a concealed-weapons permit.)
