Crime & Safety

Navy Yard Shooter and the Voices He Heard: 'No Problem There'

Gunmen who killed 12 denied mental problems prior to shooting.

A doctor treating Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis before he went on a rampage that killed 12 people concluded he had no mental health issues despite serious encounters with the police, according to The Associated Press.

The AP reviewed more than 100 pages of treatment and disability records for Alexis that covered more than two years prior to the Sept. 16 shootings.

Alexis was apparently a convincing liar. He complained to Veterans Affairs doctors of foot and knee injuries and later insomnia, but just three weeks before the shootings he specifically denied having suicidal or homicidal thoughts when government doctors asked him, according to the AP.

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Alexis visited a government doctor 16 days after telling police in Newport, R.I. that disembodied voices were harassing him at his hotel using a microwave machine to prevent him from sleeping, the AP reported.

Police reported the incident to the Navy, and his employer, a defense contracting company, pulled his access to classified material for two days after his mental health problems became evident, but restored it quickly and never told Navy officials it had done so, The Washington Post reported.

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Medical records show Alexis was found sleeping in the VA waiting room in Providence on Aug. 23 while waiting to see a doctor. 

“Denies any pain except discomfort rt (right) temple,” a nurse wrote on Aug. 23. “Pt (patient) taking no medications including any otc (over-the-counter) medications.”

An attending doctor provided additional details, saying Alexis suffered from fatigue after sleeping only two or three hours every night over the past three weeks.

“Speech and thoughts clear and focused. Denies flashbacks. Denies recent stress. Denies drugs, cocaine, heroin, caffeine product, depression, anxiety, chest pain, sob (shortness of breath), nightmares. He denies taking nap during the day. Denies SI (suicidal ideation) or HI (homicidal ideation),” the doctor wrote.

“He works in the Defense Department, no problem there,” the doctor added.

During that visit he was prescribed 50 milligrams of trazodone, an antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication often used in low doses to treat insomnia.

The FBI later released a chilling video of the Navy Yard shootings and said that the investigation found "multiple indicators" that Alexis held a "delusions belief" that he was being controlled by extra low frequency electro magnetic waves.

One of several etchings on his shotgun read "My ELF Weapon," which investigators believe referenced these electromagnetic waves.

Alexis had left behind a note that read, “Ultra low frequency attack is what I’ve been subject to for the last 3 months, and to be perfectly honest that is what has driven me to this.”

Other etchings on his shotgun included "End to the torment," "Better off this way," and "Not what ya'll say." 


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