Aaron Alexis, the Navy Yard shooter responsible for killing 12 people last week, lied about a previous arrest and failed to disclose thousands of dollars in debts when he applied for a security clearance in the Navy, The Associated Press reported. Federal investigators had dismissed the omissions, all the while deleting any reference to his use of a gun in the same arrest.
These gaps enabled Alexis to work in the Navy building, before shooting to death other workers. Because of this flubs, Navy Secretary Ray Mebus recommended that the Navy improve its management of evaluations and firtness reports by "assigning more senior officers to oversee them," news reports said.
New details concerning Alexis' Navy service were revealed, which included his failure to reveal the 2004 arrest over a parking disagreement in Seattle. In that incident, Alexis shot out the tires of another person's car. The report from the Office of Personal Management said that Alexis had "deflated" the tires.
Officials acknowledged that mistakes were made that enabled Alexis to maintain his secret-level security clearance, despite these incidents of behavorial problems.
Another "police report included information about the gun and said Alexis was arrested, charged with malicious mischief and fingerprinted and spent the night in jail. But when he appeared in court the charges were dismissed and he believed the incident was erased from his record," The AP reported.
There were other released deails concerning his service record, like two efforts by his commander to impose non-judicial punishments for different infractions.
The 34-year-old Alexis opened fire at the Navy Yard around 8:15 a.m. on September 16, killing12 people while wounding 14 others. Alexis reportedly shot people with a shotgun from a fourth-floor overlook and third-floor hallway into a glass-walled cafeteria where employees were eating their breakfast, the Huffington Post also reported.
Those killed ranged in age from 46 to 73, according to D.C. Police.
