Aaron Alexis’ Mother ‘Heartbroken’ For Navy Yard Victims: ‘I’m So, So Sorry’

Cathleen Alexis, the mother of Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, expressed her condolences for the families of her son’s 12 victims Wednesday and said that she is grateful that her son can “no longer do harm to anyone.”

In a brief statement, Cathleen acknowledged that her son was the Navy Yard shooter, and, while many questions about his motives still remain, his own mother knows about as much as the rest of us do.

“His actions have had a profound and everlasting effect on the families of the victims,” she told a reporter in New York. “I don’t know why he did what he did, and I’ll never be able to ask him why. Aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone, and for that I am glad.”

She also added a personal statement to the victims’ families:

“To the families of the victims, I am so, so very sorry that this has happened. My heart is broken.”

She refused to take questions after the brief statement.

Others who knew Aaron Alexis were similarly stunned to hear of his involvement in the shooting.

Om Suthamtewakul, a woman Alexis stayed with in Thailand last year, said that he showed no signs of danger during nearly two months of cohabitation. She did say he was “crazy” but “in a positive way, like funny.”

“So I can’t really believe how he can shoot those people,” she said. “He looked kind of like, you know, bonkers, crazy, in a positive way, like funny, but, so I really can’t believe this.”

Evidence of a troubled history has emerged, but authorities are still working to determine motive as of Tuesday.

In response, President Obama called for a massive review of government contractor and employee security among federal agencies. Alexis was employed by the US government as a civilian contractor prior to the shooting. When asked about the possibility of a new conversation about gun control, Obama passed the buck, saying, “ultimately this is something that Congress is going to have to act on.”