The deceased gunman responsible for the shooting that took the lives of at least 12 other people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday has been identified as 34-year-old Navy veteran Aaron Alexis, according to the Washington Post.
Police still do not know if Alexis, who was killed at the scene, was acting on-his-own or if someone assisted him in the shooting. A search is ongoing for at least one other possible suspect; a black man in his 40s wearing an olive-drab military uniform, according to the Washington Post.
More information about the shooter and his intentions may be coming out in the future but here are five things that we currently know about the gunman.
1. Alexis was in the Navy from 2007 until 2011
Alexis worked as an aviation electrician's mate, 3rd class while in the service. Alexis was most recently stationed at the Naval Air Station Fort Worth in Texas. Alexis had told friends that the reason he had left the Navy was that he disliked having to wake up early, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
2. Alexis was arrested for discharging a firearm in a municipality in 2010
Police were called to the apartment complex Alexis lived in when the woman who lived upstairs from him heard a pop and saw that a bullet had been shot into her apartment. The woman had been confronted in the past by Alexis for making too much noise, according to the Star-Telegram.
"He said that he was trying to clean his gun while cooking and that his hands were slippery," the police report said. "He told me that he began to take the gun apart when his hands slipped and pulled the trigger, discharging a round into the ceiling."
Alexis was taken into custody and released the following morning. He was never formally charged, the Star-Telegram reports.
3. Alexis was a Buddhist
Friends of Alexis who spoke with the Star-Telegram described him as a Buddhist who was enamored with the faith.
"He loved to go to temple, go to meditate in Thai and English," an anonymous friend told the Star-Telegram. "He could do both of them.
4. Alexis worked at a Thai restaurant in Fort Worth
The owner of Fort Worth's Happy Bowl Thai, Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, considered Alexis to be his best friend and lived with him for a bit.
"He lived with me for three years," Suthamtewakul told the Star-Telegram. "I don't think he'd do this. He has a gun, but I don't think he's that stupid. He didn't seem aggressive to me."
5. Alexis may have used someone else's ID to access the Navy Yard
While Alexis is thought to have been working for a defense contractor based on the comments of people who knew him it has not been verified by the Navy. In order to gain access to the Washington Navy Yard Alexis may have used the ID card of Navy petty officer Rollie Chance, according to the Washington Post.
Chance's ID card was found near the body of Alexis after the incident. A relative of Chances told the Post that Chance was not at the Navy Yard and was not considered to be a suspect in the case.
