Washington gunman was an ex-serviceman

• Born in New York City in 1979; last known address was Fort Worth, Texas
• IT worker for defence department subcontractor The Experts
• Full-time US Navy reservist from 2007 till discharge in 2011, ranked petty officer 3rd class
• Awarded National Defense Service medal and Global War on Terrorism Service medal
• Said to have been Buddhist convert, had gun-related brushes with law in 2004 and 2010

The 34-year-old does not at first sound like the type who could carry out America's latest gun outrage.
But as so often with such mass shootings, although the motive is a mystery, there seem to have been warning signs in the suspect's troubled past.
Aaron Alexis was born in 1979 in New York City, according to the FBI. He grew up in the borough of Queens, the New York Times reported.
Little is yet known about his life before 2004, when he was arrested in Seattle for shooting the tyres of a construction worker's vehicle, in what Alexis later described as an enraged "blackout".

Journalist Bud Kennedy describes Aaron Alexis as "serious" and "popular"

Alexis, who held a licence to carry a concealed pistol, told police he believed the builders had "mocked" him on the morning of the incident.
Court records show he was released on the condition he avoided contact with the workers.
His father told Seattle detectives after the incident that his son suffered anger management problems caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.
Algernon Alexis said this stemmed from his son being an "active participant in rescue attempts" in New York after the 11 September 2001 attacks.
Defence officials said Alexis had joined the Navy as a full-time reservist in 2007. After training in Illinois, he was posted to Fort Worth, Texas, where he worked in the fleet logistics support squadron.
He achieved the rank of petty officer 3rd class in December 2009, his highest rank in the reserves.
Alexis was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal during his stint in the reserves. Both are issued to large numbers of service members who have served abroad and in the US since the 9/11 attacks. 
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