Aaron Alexis, who yesterday perpetrated a mass shooting incident at the Washington DC Navy Yard, is said to have been "obsessed with violent videogames" and carried a .45 handgun "everywhere he went" according to a report by The Telegraph.
Alexis, who believed he had been "screwed" by a contracting job in Japan last year, played "zombie" videogames sometimes until 04:30 according to friend and restaurant owner Nutpisit Suthamtewakul who said he had a "chilled" personality.
"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."
He is said to have played Call of Duty and Resident Evil for up to 16 hours at a time.
It's unclear when Alexis began to carry a weapon with him but he was discharged from the US Naval Reserve in 2011. In 2010 he was arrested for allegedly firing his gun into the ceiling of Nutpisit's home.
Alexis is not the first mass shooter to have been linked to videogames. Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, was described by police as a "deranged" gamer while Anders Breivik, who attacked a Norwegian youth camp in 2011, was said to have "trained" for the attack using Call of Duty.
After the Sandy Hook tragedy the Obama Administration announced that it would be investing $10 million into researching the possible causes of mass shootings, including videogames.
With the latest mass shooting the debate over violence and potential links to games will almost certainly resurface in the United States.
