Who is Aaron Alexis, the gunman in the Washington Navy Yard shooting

From sporadic run-ins with the law, including at least two previous occasions when he may have been involved in gun-related offences, to Buddhist chanting along with members of a Thai community, a complex profile has emerged of 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, the slain gunman in the Washington Navy Yard shooting. The former Navy reservist who was discharged from service after what some reports referred to as act of misbehaviour, was employed with a defence subcontractor, a company affiliated with Hewlett-Packard, that was in charge of servicing the Navy’s Intranet system. During his time in the Navy, his specialty was fixing electrical systems on airplanes. On Monday, he was reportedly armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene. As an employee of a subcontractor working on a project, he had a valid pass to enter Washington Navy Yard. According to a report on CNN, though no motive had been established yet for the shooting, a friend reportedly said Alexis was “locked in a dispute over money with the company that contracted him to work for the Navy”. Run-ins with the law Though he was awarded a National Defense Service Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal (these are described as “standard military honors”), a series of run-ins with seniors led to his discharge in 2011, it was reported. A New York Times report called it a “pattern of misbehaviour”. In 2004, Alexis reportedly used a.45-caliber pistol to fire three rounds into the tires of a construction worker’s car, reportedly upset about the parking arrangements at the construction site. He later called it an “anger-fuelled blackout” and said he didn’t remember firing the weapon. His father then told investigators that Alexis had suffered form PTSD since 11 September, 2001. Another report said his immediate family, including his sister and brother-in-law, had reportedly not spoken to him for five years. [caption id=“attachment_1114315” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Alexis was killed by security forces. AP[/caption] Another incident involving a firearm took place in 2010 when his neighbour living above him in an apartment complex found a bullet that had been shot into her floor from below.  Alexis had earlier complained about the levels of noise from her home. He reportedly told police the gun had gone off accidentally while he was cleaning it and he had believed the bullet did not go through. He received a “general discharge” from the Navy in 2011, based partly on the 2010 incident, according to the Washington Post. A general discharge usually refers to a blemished performance, the report said, sometimes making it difficult to find a civilian job afterwards. “But Alexis, 34, had no such trouble. He moved from Fort Worth to Washington about a month ago, friends said, and was hired as an hourly tech employee for The Experts, a Hewlett-Packard subcontractor…” according to the same report. According to the Washington Post, Alexis was also arrested in 2008 for disorderly conduct in DeKalb County, Ga. “He spent two nights in jail, police said, but they had no other details,” the report said. Buddhist, Thai culture Alexis had recently lived in a bungalow in the woods near a Buddhist temple in Fort Worth, Texas.  He had several Thai friends who he often joined in meditation and chanting at the Wat Busayadhammavanara, a Buddhist Temple in White Settlement, according to the New York Times report. He even dated a Thai girl, according to some reports. “He had Thai friends, adored Thai food and said he always felt drawn to the culture," said Pat Pundisto, a member of the temple answering the phone there on Monday. Alexis was a regular at Sunday services, intoning Buddhist chants and staying to meditate afterward. On celebrations like the Thai New Year in April, he helped out, serving guests dressed in ceremonial Thai garb the temple provided, according to New York Times. The owner of a Thai restaurant, Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, Alexis’ friend from the temple, also shared a home with him for some time in 2011. Speaking in detail to the Washington Post, Suthamtewakul recounted an incident when Alexis fired his gun, which he had “at all times”, through the restaurant wall and said he “always hit on girls”. In fact, the restaurant owner had to chastise his friend for bring too “forward” with female customers. (Read the entire report and Suthamtewakul’s account of the friend who shared his residence for most part of the last two years here.) “He’s a 13-year-old stuck in a 34-year-old body,” said Suthamtewakul told the paper. His family, friends An aunt in Brooklyn where Alexis grew up and a sister had both reportedly not seen him in years. However, Alexis visited the Buddhist temple twice a week and was seen often studying Thai, helping people, but largely staying quiet. He is said to have understood about 75 per cent of what was spoken in Thai. Acquaintances were quoted as being shocked that he chose to open fire to randomly murder. Alexis was also pursuing an online degree in aeronautics and was enrolled with the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. For a timeline of events that led to the killing of 12 victims in the Washington Navy Yard, see here.