Security officials at the Navy base that Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis worked at were warned by Rhode Island police that Alexis had been imagining people chasing him and hearing voices; despite saying they would look into the matter in early August nothing was done, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"We faxed it to them that same day, an hour after we spoke to Mr. Alexis," Newport Police Lt. William Fitzgerald said. "They said they would look into it, that they would follow up on it. It was a routine thing for us to give them a heads-up."
On two occasions in the weeks leading up to Monday's shooting Alexis visited VA hospitals. Alexis visited the emergency room at the VA Medical Center in Providence, R.I., on Aug. 23 where he complained of being unable to sleep. After being given medication Alexis visited a VA hospital in Washington D.C. complaining of the same symptoms and his medication was refilled, according to the Associated Press.
"Mr. Alexis was alert and oriented, and was asked by VA doctors if he was struggling with anxiety or depression, or had thoughts about harming himself or others, which he denied," a memo sent to Congress from the Department of Veterans Affairs said.
The reports of Alexis' apparent mental instability combined with the multiple police reports for incidents involving firearms have led many people to wonder how he was able to maintain his secret-level security clearance and why he was able to purchase a shotgun days before the shooting.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has said that the Pentagon will work to identify what mistakes may have been made that allowed Alexis to maintain his clearance, according to the Washington Post.
"Where there are gaps, we will close them; where there are inadequacies, we will address them; and where there are failures, we will correct them," Hagel said. "Obviously, when you go back in hindsight and look at all of this, there were some red flags - of course there were. Should we have picked them up? Why didn't we? How could we? All those questions need to be answered."
Cathleen Alexis, the mother of the gunman, made a statement from outside of her home in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
"I don't know why he did what he did, and I'll never be able to ask him why," Alexis said. "Aaron is in a place where he can no longer to harm to anyone. For that I am glad. To the families of the victims, I am so very sorry that this happened. My heart is broken."
