Aaron Alexis, the suspected gunman in Monday's deadly shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, was a Buddhist and Thai speaker who "could not have been the shooter," friends and family said. Alexis, a New York native who had recently lived in Fort Worth and served in the Navy, was killed after exchanging gunfire with officers, police said Monday. They still didn't know his motive, but as his background began to emerge, so did speculation. Investigators were looking into claims that Alexis, 34, may have recently been let go from a position as a civilian Navy contractor, in a move that may have touched off his rampage. A spokesman for Hewlett-Packard said Alexis recently worked for a subcontractor working on an HP job to refresh Navy Marine Corps intranet networking equipment. Alexis' father, meanwhile, told Reuters the news of his son's alleged involvement was a "complete shock," while a former roommate of Alexis said he thought his friend "could not be the shooter." Alexis did, however, have two earlier run-ins with authorities over guns, one in Fort Worth in 2010 and one in Seattle in 2004.
