This story is a summary of events that took place at the Navy Yard on Sept. 16. Sources are cited at the end of the article.

Tragedy struck close to home Monday morning as the D.C area experienced another mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, resulting in the loss of 12 lives, nine men and three women. The victims consisted of civilians and contractors, many of whom were eating breakfast in the cafeteria when they were shot at from a landing above. The perpetrator is now believed to be 34-year-old Navy reservist Aaron Alexis, who was killed in a shooting altercation with the authorities later that day .

Further probing into the life of Alexis has revealed that Alexis was treated at two Department of Veterans Affair’s hospitals this year after claiming to hear voices but was never admitted to the hospital, thus allowing  him to legally purchase a gun, an 870 Remington pump-action, in the state of Virginia. He also had a history of infractions with the law and superiors and was cited eight different times for minor misconduct such as insubordination. In addition, Alexis was discharged from the Navy after applying for an early discharge. After this Alexis was arrested twice, once for firing a bullet into his upstairs neighbor’s floor.

All of these incidents and signs of potential mental instability were overlooked by his employer, The Experts, a company based in Japan as well as the Defense Department who granted him his security clearance. Alexis’ work with this company allowed him a security clearance and access to half a dozen military bases along the East Coast this year, including the Washington Navy Yard. His all access pass granted admission into the Navy Yard to commit his crime.

Despite possible mental health issues Alexis was able to pass background checks necessary to buy a gun as well as a pass from the Department of Defense into the Navy Yard. This incident has brought up yet again the controversy of gun control in regards to conducting adequate background checks on those who have committed heinous crimes.  It should be noted however that although Alexis was able to purchase a gun under Virginia law, he was prevented from buying an AR-15 assault rifle earlier in the week. It seems that Alexis’s issues never reached the point where he was legally determined to be mentally unstable, which is similar to other gunmen including James E. Holmes who committed the Colorado movie theater shooting.

Source:  The Washington Post.