Aaron Alexis: Navy Yard Shooter Had History Of Gun Incidents

Aaron Alexis had a history of gun incidents even before police say he opened fire at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., killing 12 people.

Within an hour of Alexis being identified as the suspected Navy Yard shooter, media outlets had picked up information about a 2010 gun incident in Fort Worth, Texas. A police report obtained by The Smoking Gun found that on September 4, 2010, Alexis was arrested for allegedly firing a shot through the floor of a neighbor’s apartment.

Aaron Alexis told police he was cleaning the gun when it went off accidentally. Alexis said “that he was trying to clean his gun while cooking and his hands were slippery” and that “he began to take the gun apart when his hands slipped and pulled the trigger discharging a round into the ceiling.”

At the time, a neighbor testified that she was terrified of Alexis and told police she believed that the shot was intentional. Police chose not to prosecute Alexis, however.

Alexis faced another gun charge six years earlier, when he was living in Seattle. A police report said that two construction workers were parked next to Aaron’s home when he emerged and fired a gun at them.

“The victims 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 two rear tires of their Honda before he walked slowly back to his home north of the construction site,” according to SPD Blotter.

Alexis was arrested a few weeks later, and officers found a gun and ammunition during a search of his home. Alexis told police officers that the construction crew had “mocked” and “disrespected” him.

“Alexis also claimed he had an anger-fueled ‘blackout,’ and could not remember firing his gun at the victims’ vehicle until an hour after the incident,” SPD Blotter reports.

Police have not revealed a motive in the attack on Monday. Aaron Alexis was listed among the 13 dead after the shooting.