Investigators review erratic behavior of DC gunman

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, an FBI evidence response team vehicle is parked outside Building 197 at the Navy Yard in Washington as evidence is collected Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. A gunman killed 12 people at the base on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Pedro A. Rodriguez)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, an FBI evidence response team vehicle is parked outside Building 197 at the Navy Yard in Washington as evidence is collected Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. A gunman killed 12 people at the base on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Pedro A. Rodriguez)

Bishops Gerald Seabrooks, right, and Willie Billips speak to reporters after Cathleen Alexis, mother of Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis, made a statement at her home in New York’s Brooklyn borough on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Cathleen Alexis said that she does not know why her son did what he did and she will never be able to ask him. Aaron Alexis opened fire Monday, killing 12 people, before he was killed in a shootout with police. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey speak at a news conference at The Pentagon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Hagel is ordering the Pentagon to review the physical security of all U.S. defense facilities worldwide and the security clearances that allow access to them. Hagel ordered the reviews in response to Monday’s shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, where a dozen people were killed. The shooter, Aaron Alexis, also was killed. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Police park next to the home of Cathleen Alexis, mother of Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. The mother of the man who killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard made a statement that said she is “so, so very sorry that this has happened.” (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Bishop Gerald Seabrooks shows a statement made by Cathleen Alexis, mother of Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis, in New York’s Brooklyn borough on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Cathleen Alexis said that she does not know why her son did what he did and she will never be able to ask him. Aaron Alexis opened fire Monday, killing 12 people, before he was killed in a shootout with police. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Buy AP Photo Reprints

WASHINGTON (AP) — Investigators have been focusing on the erratic behavior of a former Navy reservist who law enforcement officials say was grappling with paranoia and had reported hearing voices and being followed before he gunned down 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard this week.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that 34-year-old Aaron Alexis visited two hospitals in the weeks before the Monday morning rampage but denied that he was depressed or having thoughts of harming himself or others.

Alexis, who died in a police shootout after the rampage, complained of insomnia during an Aug. 23 emergency room visit to the VA Medical Center in Providence, R.I. He was given sleep medication and advised to follow up with a doctor. He made a similar visit five days later to the VA hospital in Washington, when he again complained of not being able to sleep because of his work schedule. His medication was refilled.

Alexis appeared “alert and oriented” during the visits and denied feeling depressed or anxious or wanting to do harm, the VA said in a statement presented to lawmakers Wednesday.

Two weeks before his ER visit, for instance, he complained to police in Rhode Island that people were talking to him through the walls and ceilings of his hotel room and sending microwave vibrations into his body to deprive him of sleep. Navy officials said the Newport police reported the incident to officers at the base security office, but nothing more was done about it because he did not appear to be a threat to himself or anyone else at the time.

Despite the apparent concerns over his mental health and past run-ins with the law, Alexis maintained his security clearance as he arrived in Washington in late August for a job as an information technology employee at a defense-related computer company.

Alexis had been a full-time Navy reservist from 2007 to early 2011, and a Navy spokesman said his security clearance, at the “secret level,” was good for 10 years from when he got it.

On Monday morning, he used a valid badge to gain access to the sprawling Navy Yard and Building 197, bringing with him a sawed-off shotgun on which the cryptic messages of “better off this way” and “my ELF weapon” were scrawled, according to a law enforcement document reviewed by The Associated Press. The meaning of those words wasn’t immediately clear.

The motive of the shooting also remains unclear, though investigators have focused on Alexis’s mental health and alarming behavior displayed in the weeks before the massacre.

Alexis had enrolled in VA health care in February 2011, and received monthly disability payments of $ 395 for orthopedic problems and ringing in his ears, according to the VA. He never sought an appointment from a mental health specialist and either canceled or failed to show up for primary care appointments he had scheduled at VA hospitals, the department said.

Meanwhile, Alexis’s mother said Wednesday she does not know why her son opened fire on office workers and police. Cathleen Alexis read a brief statement inside her New York home, her voice shaking. She did not take questions from a reporter.

“Aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone, and for that I am glad,” Cathleen Alexis said. “To the families of the victims, I am so so very sorry that this has happened. My heart is broken.”

Alexis had with him during the massacre a handgun he picked up inside the building and a legally obtained Remington 870 Express shotgun.

The shotgun was brought into the building disassembled and pieced together by Alexis once inside, according to a law enforcement official and a senior defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

That firearm would not be covered under a proposed weapons ban supported by the White House. The ban was introduced in the Senate earlier this year and would prohibit 157 specific firearms designed for military and law enforcement use, and it would exempt more than 2,200 others.

The rampage and shootout spanned more than 30 minutes. One District of Columbia police officer was shot and wounded in the legs but survived. The U.S. Capitol Police, which protects members of Congress and Congressional buildings, announced Wednesday that it has ordered an investigation into the force’s response. The fact review team is expected to look into reports that one of the force’s tactical response teams arrived within minutes of the shootings and was told by a Capitol Police supervisor to stand down. The Navy Yard is less than three miles from the Capitol complex.

Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer said in an email that if the reports are accurate, “It would be an unbearable failure. The Police Board will conduct a review of all facts related to our response.”

The shooting also raised questions about the adequacy of background checks for government contractors who have access to sensitive information. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has also ordered two sweeping reviews of military security and employee screening programs, acknowledging Wednesday that “a lot of red flags” may have been missed in the background of the Washington Navy Yard shooter.

“Obviously, there were a lot of red flags,” Hagel told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. “Why they didn’t get picked, why they didn’t get incorporated into the clearance process, what he was doing — those are all legitimate questions that we’re going to be dealing with.”

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, meanwhile, announced Wednesday night that he wants three rapid reviews completed by Oct. 1, including whether a contracting company should inform the Navy if it decides to review a worker’s security clearance.

That order raises questions about whether the company that employed Alexis, the Florida-based IT consulting firm The Experts, had decided to review his clearance. A security clearance often is critical for contractors working in defense jobs.

The Navy Yard, located in southeast Washington, reopened and returned to mostly normal operations Thursday, although Building 197 and the gym, which is being used as a staging area for the FBI, remained closed. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are expected to attend a memorial service for the shooting victims Sunday.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Lolita C. Baldor, Laurie Kellman, Alicia A. Caldwell and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Investigators review erratic behavior of DC gunman

Investigators look into pairing of Asiana pilots

The wreckage of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen on a tarmac in front of the San Francisco skyline at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Investigators are struggling to piece together what went wrong in an accident that left two of the 307 aboard dead and close to 20 seriously injured. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The wreckage of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen on a tarmac in front of the San Francisco skyline at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Investigators are struggling to piece together what went wrong in an accident that left two of the 307 aboard dead and close to 20 seriously injured. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The tail of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen in front of a span of the Bay Bridge on a tarmac at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Investigators are struggling to piece together what went wrong in an accident that left two of the 307 aboard dead and close to 20 seriously injured. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The tail of Asiana Flight 214, which crashed on Saturday, July 6, 2013, is seen on a tarmac at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Investigators are struggling to piece together what went wrong in an accident that left two of the 307 aboard dead and close to 20 seriously injured. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Buy AP Photo Reprints

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As Flight 214 descended over San Francisco Bay, both Asiana Airlines pilots were trying something new.

In the left seat of the cockpit sat Lee Gang-kuk, a 46-year-old pilot with 35 hours of experience flying a Boeing 777 who was landing the big jet for his first time at San Francisco International Airport. At his right was Lee Jeong-Min, a trainer making his first trip as an instructor pilot.

While the two men had years of aviation experience, this mission involved unfamiliar duties, and it was the first time they had flown together. The flight came to a tragic end when the airliner, which came in too low and too slow, crash-landed on Saturday, killing two passengers and injuring many others as it skittered and spun 100 feet.

Investigators trying to piece together what went wrong are looking at the pairing of the pilots, who were assigned to work together through a tightly regulated system developed after several deadly crashes in the 1980s were blamed in part on inexperience in the cockpit.

They will also be examining their working relationship, said National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman on Wednesday.

“We are certainly interested to see if there are issues where there are challenges to crew communication, if there’s an authority break in where people won’t challenge one another,” she said.

Pilots are trained to communicate their concerns openly, she said, “to make sure that a junior pilot feels comfortable challenging a senior pilot and to make sure the senior pilot welcomes feedback in a cockpit environment from all members of the crew and considers it.”

The NTSB has now concluded interviews with all four pilots who were aboard the plane.

Hersman said Wednesday the pilot trainee told investigators he was blinded by a light at about 500 feet, which would have been 34 seconds before impact and the point at which the airliner began to slow and drop precipitously. She said lasers have not been ruled out. It was unclear, however, whether the flash might have played a role in the crash.

Hersman also said that a third pilot in the jump seat of the cockpit told investigators he was warning them their speed was too slow as they approached the runway.

And she said when the plane came to a stop, pilots told passengers to stay seated for 90 seconds while they communicated with the tower as part of a safety procedure. Hersman said this has happened after earlier accidents and was not necessarily a problem. People did not begin fleeing the aircraft until 90 seconds later when a fire was spotted outside the plane.

Hersman stressed that while the trainee pilot was flying the plane, the instructor was ultimately responsible, and thus the way they worked together will be scrutinized.

“That’s what the airline needs to do, be responsible so that in the cockpit you’re matching the best people, especially when you’re introducing someone to a new aircraft,” former NTSB Chairman James Hall said.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology aeronautics professor Mary Cummings said it’s common for two commercial pilots who have never worked together before to be assigned to the same flight.

But she said the military tries to have crews work together more permanently.

“Research would tell you that crew pairing with the same people over longer periods of time is safer,” she said. “When two people fly together all the time, you get into a routine that’s more efficient. You have experience communicating.”

Jeff Skiles, a US Airways first officer, said that with the right training it should not matter if a pilot new to a plane is paired with a pilot making his first trip as a training captain.

“Everybody had to have their first time,” Skiles said. “You can’t show up and have 500 hours experience in aircraft.”

Skiles was the co-pilot of the “Miracle on the Hudson” jet that lost thrust in both engines after colliding with a flock of geese. The skillful flying of captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and teamwork between Skiles and Sullenberger was credited for a water landing on the Hudson River that saved the lives of all aboard.

The January 2009 accident happened after the pilots had been paired together only four days.

Details emerging from Asiana pilot interviews, cockpit recorders and control-tower communications indicate that Lee Gang-kuk, who was halfway through his certification training for the Boeing 777, and his co-pilot and instructor, Lee Jeong-Min, thought the airliner’s speed was being controlled by an autothrottle set for 157 mph.

Inspectors found that the autothrottle had been “armed,” or made ready for activation, Hersman said. But investigators are still determining whether it had been engaged. In the last two minutes, there was a lot of use of autopilot and autothrusters, and investigators are going to look into whether pilots made the appropriate commands and if they knew what they were doing, she said.

When the pilots realized the plane was approaching the waterfront runway too low and too slow, they both reached for the throttle. Passengers heard a loud roar as the plane revved up in a last-minute attempt to abort the landing.

The two pilots at the controls during the accident had also been in the cockpit for takeoff. Then they rested during the flight while a second pair of pilots took over. The two pairs swapped places again about 90 minutes before landing, giving the trainee a chance to fly during the more challenging approach phase.

The investigation is ongoing, and Hersman cautioned against speculating about the cause. But she stressed that even if the autothrottle malfunctioned, the pilots were ultimately responsible for control of the airliner.

“There are two pilots in the cockpit for a reason,” she said Wednesday. “They’re there to fly, to navigate, to communicate and if they’re using automation a big key is to monitor.”

As the trainee pilot flew, she said, the instructor captain, who is ultimately responsible for flight safety, was tasked with monitoring. The third pilot was in the cockpit jumpseat also to monitor the landing.

Crash survivor Brian Thomson, who was returning from a martial arts competition in South Korea and walked away physically unscathed, said he’s not concerned about the pilot’s lack of experience with the airliner.

“At some point you have to start at hour one, hour two. It’s just natural. Everyone starts a career someway, somehow. Starts a new plane someway, somehow. They have to have training,” he said.

The flight originated in Shanghai and stopped over in Seoul before making the nearly 11-hour trip to San Francisco.

A dozen survivors remained hospitalized Wednesday, half flight attendants, including three thrown from the airliner during the accident. One has been identified as 25-year-old Maneenat Tinnakul, whose father told the Thairath newspaper in Thailand she suffered a minor backache.

Another flight attendant, Sirithip Singhakarn, was reported in intensive care.

Meanwhile, fire officials continued their investigation into whether one of their trucks might have run over one of the two summer camp bound Chinese teenagers, Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyuan, killed in the crash.

Citing similarities to a February 2009 fatal U.S. airline crash near Buffalo, N.Y., two New York Democrats — Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins — on Wednesday called on the Federal Aviation Administration to issue long-delayed safety regulations that would require pilots to undergo more extensive training on how to avoid stalling accidents.

“While the (Asiana) investigation is still ongoing, one thing is clear, this crash and the other recent crashes like Flight 3407 demonstrate a troubling pattern in which pilots are mishandling air speed, which can lead to fatal stalls,” Schumer said.

___

Associated Press writers Joan Lowy in Washington and Haven Daley in Scotts Valley, Calif., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Martha Mendoza at https://twitter.com/mendozamartha .

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Investigators look into pairing of Asiana pilots

AP PHOTOS: Investigators seek cause of SF crash

In this photo provided by the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB), NTSB investigators conduct a first site assessment overnight of the Asiana Airlines flight 214 that crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Saturday, July 6, 2013. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed while landing after a likely 10-hour-plus flight from Seoul, South Korea. The flight originated in Shanghai and stopped in Seoul before the long trek to San Francisco. (AP Photo/NTSB)

In this photo provided by the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB), NTSB investigators conduct a first site assessment overnight of the Asiana Airlines flight 214 that crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Saturday, July 6, 2013. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed while landing after a likely 10-hour-plus flight from Seoul, South Korea. The flight originated in Shanghai and stopped in Seoul before the long trek to San Francisco. (AP Photo/NTSB)

A United Airlines plane lands next to the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Sunday, July 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Parents of Wang Linjia, center, are comforted by parents of some other students who were on the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 when it crashed at San Francisco International Airport, while they gather and wait for news of their children at Jiangshan Middle School in Jiangshan city, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Sunday July 7, 2013. Chinese state media have identified the two people who died in the plane crash at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, 16-year-old students at Jiangshan Middle School in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

This photo provided by the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB), shows the flight data recorder, left, and cockpit voice recorder, right of the Asiana Airlines flight 214 that crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Saturday, July 6, 2013, in Washington on Sunday, July 7, 2013. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed while landing after a likely 10-hour-plus flight from Seoul, South Korea. The flight originated in Shanghai and stopped in Seoul before the long trek to San Francisco. (AP Photo/NTSB)

This image released by the National Transportation Safety Board Sunday, July 7, 2013, shows NTSB workers near the Boeing 777 Asiana Airlines Flight 214 aircraft. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. (AP Photo/NTSB)

U.S. Headlines

AP PHOTOS: Investigators seek cause of SF crash

Some Facts About Criminal Background Checking

Why you do need to have criminal background checks? The benefits of comprehensive employment criminal background screening include: increased applicant and new hire quality, reduced workplace violence, reduced negligent hiring liability, reduced losses from employee dishonesty, making the right hire the first time, and avoiding negative publicity. The bottom line is that pre-employment background checks help an organization be more successful. That means greater profits to for-profit organizations and greater impact for non profits. For more about the benefits of background checks for non profits, see Non Profit Background Checks: Employee & Volunteer Screening.

Searching for a country records, local police records, or a state correctional records are the best ways to start with. Country records can give way to a various public records such as divorces, marriages, arrests issues, and some property ownerships. Police records can give detailed information all about criminal records, or course. They can also connect with the other police departments to ask information that is related to what you are looking for. The state correctional records can give you also a criminal history like not willing to pay small fees.

In giving yourself an extra hand to look for an informative informant to give you credible evidences and records. The private investigator is a good way to have. They will feel the person who are they are interviewing or while they are asking questions. This type of a criminal background check can be sure a more accurate than others. On the other hand, in background check websites it has a chargeable fee for every individual checks. But they do have a wide assortment of information into a single record you entered. This type of background check can be not tiresome to as what an investigator does.

Criminal background check also caters with the personal history and references. Which was the academic history and personal references because when a potential employee completes an application, he is normally required to provide a variety of details about his personal history. The company can take this chance to contact previous employers and verify the job, as well as ask questions about the employee. In addition, employers can contact academic institutions to verify dates of attendance and graduation. Finally, personal references give the employer a chance to communicate with those who know the employee personally and can offer a more personal sense of who this individual is.

Criminal searching in social networking can be an advantage to you. A quick and instant search can mostly give you an attention-grabbing result about unsure employee\’s background. Social networking sites has a wide range of information like if the employee has a MySpace and FaceBook.com account you as the employer can also take a peak in their account to know them better.

When you need to hire executive protection specialist and someone to conduct some criminal background checking on suspicious employees then click here to contact APEX – executive protection California.. Free reprint available from: Some Facts About Criminal Background Checking.

Some Facts About Criminal Background Checking