Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis' mother apologized Wednesday for her son's actions and said she was glad that he is "now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone."
"I don't know why he did what he did, and I'll never be able to ask him why, Cathleen Alexis said in an audio statement.
"I'm so, so very sorry this has happened. My heart is broken," she said.Her statement comes two days after Alexis killed 12 people at the historic Navy base.
The facility will remain closed to all but "essential" employees again Wednesday as authorities piece together what triggered a military contractor to fatally shoot 12 people there.
The investigation continues as the families of Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims visit Capitol Hill to mark nine months since the tragic mass shooting and call on Congress to act on legislation to reduce gun violence now.
What made him do it?
While no specific reason has been given on why Aaron Alexis went on a murderous rampage at Navy Yard, his overall mindset came into sharper focus Tuesday -- including a history of trouble in the Navy and psychological issues.
That past includes a Newport, Rhode Island, incident on August 7.
Describing himself as a Navy contractor, Alexis told police he believed an individual he'd gotten into a verbal spat with had sent three "people to follow him and keep him awake by talking to him and sending vibrations into his body," according to a police report. Alexis said he hadn't seen any of these people, but insisted they'd followed him between three hotels in the area -- the last being a Marriott, where police investigating a harassment complaint encountered him.
Read the police report
There, Alexis told authorities the unseen individuals continued speaking to him through walls and the floor. He said they used "some sort of microwave machine" to send vibrations into his body to keep him awake.
He added, according to the police report, that "he does not have a history of mental illness in his family and that he never had any sort of mental episode." Nonetheless, a police sergeant alerted authorities at Naval Station Newport to Alexis "hearing voices." Reached Tuesday, officials at the base referred CNN to the FBI, which declined to comment.
It's not known if this incident was related to Monday's shooting spree. Still, it and other details offer insights into the shooter and raise questions about whether he could have been stopped.
The Navy moved to discharge Alexis in 2010 due to what two Navy officials described as a "pattern of misconduct."
There were also run-ins with police, beyond the Newport incident. In Seattle, for instance, Alexis was arrested in 2004 for shooting out the tires of another man's vehicle in what he later told detectives was an anger-fueled "blackout."
DeKalb County, Georgia, authorities said Tuesday they arrested Alexis in 2008 on a disorderly conduct charge.
If you have information regarding Aaron Alexis or the Navy Yard shooting, call 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit the FBI's website.
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