I don't think playing a video game, even for 16 hours at a time, would cause him to become a mass murderer.
Aaron Alexis: Washington navy yard gunman 'obsessed with violent video games'Aaron Alexis played violent video games including Call of Duty and Resident Evil for up to 16 hours at a time.
By Nick Allen, Fort Worth, Texas
11:30AM BST 17 Sep 2013
Alexis, 34, who was shot dead on Monday after killing 13 people at Washington's Navy Yard, also carried a .45 handgun tucked in his trousers with no holster "everywhere he went" because he believed people would try to steal his belongings.
He also felt racially discriminated against, and believed he had been financially "screwed" over a contracting job in Japan at the end of last year, friends said. They also said that he was working in a nearby building when the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center went down following the September 11 terrorism attacks.
The addiction to violent video games and guns was at odds with his devout commitment to Buddhism, which saw Alexis spending half the day every Sunday meditating at the Wat Busayadhammvanaram temple in Fort Worth, Texas over a period of several years. He also spent a month in Thailand in April, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Friends said he appeared to have a "chilled" personality and enjoyed watching American Football on television. He spent last Christmas Day singing karaoke and bursting into Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love."
The two sides to Alexis's personality revealed themselves as he spent the last three years living in the Texan suburb of White Settlement.
Much of that was spent in several different homes with his best friend Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, 31, his wife Kristi, 35, and Mr Suthamtewakul's parents.
Mr Suthamtewakul, who runs the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant, described Alexis as being like his "big brother." He told The Daily Telegraph: "I first met him at the Buddhist temple. He had been in the Navy but he was unemployed. I saw he was struggling with his finances, and I said why not move in and you can just pay the electricity bill? He was doing online school, something about electronic stuff and aircraft
"He never got angry with us. He was always very nice to us. He had a couple of issues with being black. He felt he hadn't been treated right, not by the Navy, just generally. He didn't have a lot of friends - me, my wife and family, and people from temple."
Thai was spoken in the house and over time, with the help of watching Thai dramas, Alexis became fluent.
Looking dazed as he stood outside his restaurant, and several times referring to his former friend in the present tense, Mr Suthamtewakul said: "When I first met him he couldn't speak Thai. He picked it up really fast. He's a smart guy. If he wasn't dead he would be standing right here and we'd be talking in Thai. He believed that meditation would give him wisdom."
Alexis was supposed to be Mr Suthamtewakul's best man at his wedding last December, but instead spent the end of the year in Japan working. His wife picked Alexis up at the airport when he returned from Japan.
Mr Suthamtewakul said: "He got this job and had to go to Japan to do a military business. He missed my wedding but he was very sorry.
"Then, after he came back from Japan, he was telling me he didn't get paid the right amount. He got screwed."
He played down an incident in 2010 when Alexis was arrested for allegedly firing his gun through the ceiling of their home.
He said: "It didn't go through the ceiling, it went through a wall. I was in the bedroom and I heard the gunshot. I jumped up and said "What the..." and Aaron came in and was really sorry. He said 'I was cleaning my gun.' I said 'Put the safety on so you don't kill people in here.' He said 'I'm sorry man.' It was just an accident."
The darker side to Alexis's character saw him playing violent "zombie" video games in his room, sometimes from 12.30pm until 4.30am.
Mr Suthamtewakul said: "He could be in the game all day and all night. I think games might be what pushed him that way. He always had this fear people would steal his stuff so that's why he would carry his gun all the time. He would carry it when he was helping out in the restaurant which scared my customers."
But he did not believe Alexis had a grudge against the government. Mr Suthamtewakul said he saw mail that indicated Alexis was receiving regular cheques from the government for "some problem with his feet."
His wife Kristi, who also spent time living in the house with Alexis, said: "I remember him talking about 9/11. he was there and when he came outside one of the buildings was gone already.
"All of a sudden the second building came down. He was an angry American, angry with the terrorists. I think maybe there was PTSD.
"But he was very chilled. He loved Thai culture, Buddhist culture, he just loved to hang out and help out. He always had the gun tucked in his pants in the restaurant but it didn't concern me because he had a licence.
"My heart breaks for the people he killed. These images are going to flash in my mind forever."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10314585/Aaron-Alexis-Washington-navy-yard-gunman-obsessed-with-violent-video-games.html
