Police: Navy Yard gunman previously arrested in Seattle

The gunman suspected in the killing of 12 people at a Washington D.C. Navy yard lived in the Seattle area for six years and was arrested for shooting the tires of a car in 2004 in Seattle.

Officials say the gunman has been identified as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis. He died during Monday’s shooting.

Seattle Police say Alexis shot a construction worker’s car in what Alexis described to detectives as an anger-fueled “blackout.”

Police say Alexis walked out of a home he was staying at on Beacon Hill on May 6, 2004, pulled a gun from his waistband, and fired three shots into the rear tires of a Honda before he walked back to the house.

The manager of a nearby construction site told detectives Alexis was seen staring at workers every day over the previous month. He said he thought Alexis was angry over the parking situation around the work site.

Alexis was arrested June 3 outside his home and booked into King County Jail for malicious mischief. He told police he thought the construction workers were “mocking” him and they had “disrespected him.” He said he couldn’t remember firing his gun at the car.

Alexis told police he was at “the tragic events of September 11, 2001.” His father told police Alexis had post-traumatic stress disorder and that his son had been part of rescue attempts on Sept. 11, 2001.

According to law enforcement sources, Alexis lived in Seattle from 2003 to 2007, and moved to Bellevue where he lived until 2009. Sources said he has a nursing license in the state of New York.

Mayor Gray said a motive for the shooting at the Navy Yard has not been determined.