The Telegraph wrote:Alexis, 34, who was shot dead on Monday after killing 13 people at Washington's Navy Yard, also carried a .45 handgun tucked in his trousers with no holster "everywhere he went" because he believed people would try to steal his belongings.

He also felt racially discriminated against, and believed he had been financially "screwed" over a contracting job in Japan at the end of last year, friends said. They also said that he was working in a nearby building when the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center went down following the September 11 terrorism attacks.

The addiction to violent video games and guns was at odds with his devout commitment to Buddhism, which saw Alexis spending half the day every Sunday meditating at the Wat Busayadhammvanaram temple in Fort Worth, Texas over a period of several years. He also spent a month in Thailand in April, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Friends said he appeared to have a "chilled" personality and enjoyed watching American Football on television. He spent last Christmas Day singing karaoke and bursting into Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love."

The two sides to Alexis's personality revealed themselves as he spent the last three years living in the Texan suburb of White Settlement.

Much of that was spent in several different homes with his best friend Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, 31, his wife Kristi, 35, and Mr Suthamtewakul's parents.

Mr Suthamtewakul, who runs the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant, described Alexis as being like his "big brother." He told The Daily Telegraph: "I first met him at the Buddhist temple. He had been in the Navy but he was unemployed. I saw he was struggling with his finances, and I said why not move in and you can just pay the electricity bill? He was doing online school, something about electronic stuff and aircraft

"He never got angry with us. He was always very nice to us. He had a couple of issues with being black. He felt he hadn't been treated right, not by the Navy, just generally. He didn't have a lot of friends - me, my wife and family, and people from temple."

Thai was spoken in the house and over time, with the help of watching Thai dramas, Alexis became fluent.

Looking dazed as he stood outside his restaurant, and several times referring to his former friend in the present tense, Mr Suthamtewakul said: "When I first met him he couldn't speak Thai. He picked it up really fast. He's a smart guy. If he wasn't dead he would be standing right here and we'd be talking in Thai. He believed that meditation would give him wisdom."

Alexis was supposed to be Mr Suthamtewakul's best man at his wedding last December, but instead spent the end of the year in Japan working. His wife picked Alexis up at the airport when he returned from Japan.

Mr Suthamtewakul said: "He got this job and had to go to Japan to do a military business. He missed my wedding but he was very sorry.

"Then, after he came back from Japan, he was telling me he didn't get paid the right amount. He got screwed."

He played down an incident in 2010 when Alexis was arrested for allegedly firing his gun through the ceiling of their home.

He said: "It didn't go through the ceiling, it went through a wall. I was in the bedroom and I heard the gunshot. I jumped up and said "What the..." and Aaron came in and was really sorry. He said 'I was cleaning my gun.' I said 'Put the safety on so you don't kill people in here.' He said 'I'm sorry man.' It was just an accident."

The darker side to Alexis's character saw him playing violent "zombie" video games in his room, sometimes from 12.30pm until 4.30am.

Mr Suthamtewakul said: "He could be in the game all day and all night. I think games might be what pushed him that way. He always had this fear people would steal his stuff so that's why he would carry his gun all the time. He would carry it when he was helping out in the restaurant which scared my customers."

But he did not believe Alexis had a grudge against the government. Mr Suthamtewakul said he saw mail that indicated Alexis was receiving regular cheques from the government for "some problem with his feet."

His wife Kristi, who also spent time living in the house with Alexis, said: "I remember him talking about 9/11. he was there and when he came outside one of the buildings was gone already.

"All of a sudden the second building came down. He was an angry American, angry with the terrorists. I think maybe there was PTSD.

"But he was very chilled. He loved Thai culture, Buddhist culture, he just loved to hang out and help out. He always had the gun tucked in his pants in the restaurant but it didn't concern me because he had a licence.

"My heart breaks for the people he killed. These images are going to flash in my mind forever."

 djones520 wrote:
They aren't the only ones. All the big news channels on tv at work this morning were playing the video game angle.

 djones520 wrote:
Well, I'm playing GTA V right now, and I own guns, so I guess that means I'll be committing mass murder sometime soon.

 reds8n wrote:

NBC News correspondent Pete Williams is reporting Alexis purchased a shotgun in Lorton, Virginia during the past week or so.

Washington Naval Yard gunman Aaron Alexis suffered a host of serious mental illnesses prior to his shooting rampage on Monday that claimed the lives of 12 people U.S. law enforcement officials revealed today.
Gunman: Accprding to NBC Washington, this man Aaron Alexis, 34, from Fort Worth, Texas is the Navy Yard shooter
Gunman: According to NBC Washington, this man Aaron Alexis, 34, from Fort Worth, Texas is the Navy Yard shooter. A background check has revealed that this is the police mugshot for Alexis who was arrested but not charged for firing a gun in his apartment in 2010
Alexis, 34, sought treatment at the Veterans Administration for paranoia, insomnia and possible schizophrenia in August - but despite his psychiatric problems the Navy had not declared him mentally unfit which would have rescinded his security clearance and impacted his ability to purchase firearms.
Indeed, Alexis had 'secret' clearance and was assigned to start working at the naval yard as a civilian contractor with a military-issued ID card, his firm's chief executive Thomas Hoshko said today.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing criminal investigation, law enforcement officials said that Alexis' family were aware of his mental problems, which included hearing voices in his head.
Sources with the investigation into the mass shooting told CNN that Alexis had recently made contact with two Veterans Administration hospitals for his psychological issues.
In the past Alexis has previously claimed to be suffering from PTSD after helping rescue efforts in New York following the 9/11 terror attacks

 djones520 wrote:
New word is that an AR-15 was not used. That he was recovered with a shotgun and two handguns (taken from officers he shot).

 Hordini wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
New word is that an AR-15 was not used. That he was recovered with a shotgun and two handguns (taken from officers he shot).

I'm surprised the media isn't suggesting he was influenced by Biden's advice to buy a shotgun. It might fill up a few more minutes of airtime when they get done blaming video games.

 whembly wrote:

I'm surprised the media is harping about the AR-15 shotgun.

Can someone tell me where I can get one?

EDIT: here's a screencap:

 whembly wrote:

 Hordini wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
New word is that an AR-15 was not used. That he was recovered with a shotgun and two handguns (taken from officers he shot).

I'm surprised the media isn't suggesting he was influenced by Biden's advice to buy a shotgun. It might fill up a few more minutes of airtime when they get done blaming video games.

I'm surprised the media is harping about the AR-15 shotgun.

Can someone tell me where I can get one?

EDIT: here's a screencap:

 whembly wrote:

 Hordini wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
New word is that an AR-15 was not used. That he was recovered with a shotgun and two handguns (taken from officers he shot).

I'm surprised the media isn't suggesting he was influenced by Biden's advice to buy a shotgun. It might fill up a few more minutes of airtime when they get done blaming video games.

I'm surprised the media is harping about the AR-15 shotgun.

Can someone tell me where I can get one?

EDIT: here's a screencap:

 Hordini wrote:
I'm surprised the media isn't suggesting he was influenced by Biden's advice to buy a shotgun. It might fill up a few more minutes of airtime when they get done blaming video games.

 Ouze wrote:

 whembly wrote:

I'm surprised the media is harping about the AR-15 shotgun.

Can someone tell me where I can get one?

EDIT: here's a screencap:

Jesus H Christ. You know, I'm not really big on banning weapons (although I am in favor of tightening up licensing) but, if there is one thing I am sure of, it's that a shotgun that shoots AR15s should totally be banned, no exceptions.

 Frazzled wrote:
I am 100% behind Ouze in banning AR15 shooting shotguns.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 whembly wrote:

 Hordini wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
New word is that an AR-15 was not used. That he was recovered with a shotgun and two handguns (taken from officers he shot).

I'm surprised the media isn't suggesting he was influenced by Biden's advice to buy a shotgun. It might fill up a few more minutes of airtime when they get done blaming video games.

I'm surprised the media is harping about the AR-15 shotgun.

Can someone tell me where I can get one?

EDIT: here's a screencap:

Aren't journalists at least supposed to have some idea what they're talking about? It's gone from every firearm being a machine gun or AK to every firearm now being an assault rifle

 Hordini wrote:
Not really. Modern journalism is more about speed than accuracy, and getting more viewers or readers in a shorter amount of time. Most of the news pieces are targeted to viewers who are assumed to know basically nothing, so it doesn't matter if the journalists writing the piece or making the report don't possess any specialized knowledge of things like firearms. If you have a relatively exclusive scoop that other news outlets don't have, it is more likely to bring you more viewers or readers very quickly, even if it later turns out to be inaccurate. If you report the wrong thing and it brings in a ton of viewers, you still get to enjoy the ratings boost.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

Agreed, I'm not a specialist with weapons, but I'm fairly certain that a shotgun is not an AR15, if nothing else, video games have taught me that.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

Agreed, I'm not a specialist with weapons, but I'm fairly certain that a shotgun is not an AR15, if nothing else, video games have taught me that.

Yeah but according to the media that also makes you a psychopath in waiting If only they put half as much effort into Googeling something as they do with Tweeting inaccurate information.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 Hordini wrote:
Not really. Modern journalism is more about speed than accuracy, and getting more viewers or readers in a shorter amount of time. Most of the news pieces are targeted to viewers who are assumed to know basically nothing, so it doesn't matter if the journalists writing the piece or making the report don't possess any specialized knowledge of things like firearms. If you have a relatively exclusive scoop that other news outlets don't have, it is more likely to bring you more viewers or readers very quickly, even if it later turns out to be inaccurate. If you report the wrong thing and it brings in a ton of viewers, you still get to enjoy the ratings boost.

No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 Hordini wrote:
Not really. Modern journalism is more about speed than accuracy, and getting more viewers or readers in a shorter amount of time. Most of the news pieces are targeted to viewers who are assumed to know basically nothing, so it doesn't matter if the journalists writing the piece or making the report don't possess any specialized knowledge of things like firearms. If you have a relatively exclusive scoop that other news outlets don't have, it is more likely to bring you more viewers or readers very quickly, even if it later turns out to be inaccurate. If you report the wrong thing and it brings in a ton of viewers, you still get to enjoy the ratings boost.

No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

Alfndrate wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
No one is asking for specialized knowledge, but a working knowledge would be fantastic. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

Agreed, I'm not a specialist with weapons, but I'm fairly certain that a shotgun is not an AR15, if nothing else, video games have taught me that.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Journalism is supposed to be about reporting facts, and reporting the accurately. This current trend of hasty stories patched together and packaged for a target audience (complete with biases) stands against that.

 Hordini wrote:
Sorry, by "specialized knowledge," I didn't mean that a journalist should be a firearms specialist. I just meant working knowledge of a subject that could be considered somewhat specialized, such as firearms, or even video games. I think we can all agree that the majority of journalists at major news outlets don't have anything close to a working knowledge of firearms, or if they do it certainly doesn't show.

 Hordini wrote:
I agree with you that this is an ideal worth striving for, but except for maybe a few individual exceptions, it is an ideal that has generally never been realized.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Too late I'm afraid.

Alex Jones is already on the case.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/16/alex-jones-navy-yard-shooting-may-be-false-flag/195895

 Wilytank wrote:
According to Chicago Tribune, he had an AR-15, a shotgun, and a handgun. So three guns. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-navy-yard-shooting-20130916,0,1484333.story