Aaron Alexis, the deceased suspect in Monday’s Washington Navy Yard shooting, was also involved in an earlier gun-related incident in 2004 in Seattle that he blamed on a “blackout.”
In response to “numerous inquiries about the incident,” Seattle police on Monday released a summary of the May 6, 2004 case where Alexis was arrested for allegedly shooting out the tires of another man’s car. The summary also included details about Alexis’ apparent involvement in rescue work after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York City.
“At about 8 am that morning, two construction workers had parked their 1986 Honda Accord in the driveway of their worksite, next to a home where Alexis was staying in the Beacon Hill neighborhood,” a post on the Seattle Police website said of the 2004 incident. “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 the summary, the construction workers told police Alexis had “stared” at workers at the site “every day over the last month prior to the shooting.” They believed he was angry over parking near the site.
When police arrested Alexis, he told them the workers “mocked” and “disrespected” him, leading to an anger-induced “blackout.” Alexis also said he was “disturbed” by Sept. 11. His father told police Alexis had worked in the rescue effort after the attack.
Police reports from Fort Worth, Texas showed Alexis also was arrested there in 2010 for allegedly shooting a bullet into an apartment occupied by a neighbor he had disputes with. His name was also linked to a Texas police report from July of this year after his roommate said he thought his “roomate put unknown substance in gas tank” of a vehicle he owned “to damage” it. It was unclear whether Alexis was the roommate accused tampering with the car in that case.
