Veterans chairman demands all VA records on Navy Yard gunman

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) on Wednesday requested that the Department of Veterans Affairs preserve all records it has for Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis. 

“The tragedy at the Navy Ship Yard raises a number of troubling questions,” Miller wrote in a letter to department Secretary Eric Shinseki, obtained by The Hill. 

The chairman requested that the VA quickly disclose all information it has regarding the care and benefits Alexis received from the VA. Alexis, who was killed at the scene of the shooting, registered with the department in 2011 after being honorably discharged from the Navy. 

“All records, documents, emails, and any other material in VA’s possession related in any way to Aaron Alexis should be delivered to the Committee pursuant to our oversight and investigation jurisdiction,” Miller wrote. 

Miller said no records should be “destroyed, modified, altered, deleted, removed, relocated, or other negligently or intentionally handled.” 

{mosads}VA officials also briefed Miller by phone Wednesday afternoon about the Navy Yard shooter, according to a committee staffer. The congressman, the source said, is still not satisfied with the VA’s response.  

After the letter was sent, the VA released more details about Alexis’s recent medical history. 

Alexis twice checked into emergency rooms at different VA medical centers in August, five days apart, which The Hill reported Wednesday. Alexis was treated by the VA in Rhode Island and again in Washington, D.C., for insomnia, and was prescribed medication. 

Records indicate he never sought an appointment from a mental health specialist, however, the VA said. Alexis also either canceled or failed to show up at VA medical centers for primary care appointments and examinations required to submit disability claims. 

Alexis was not being treated by the VA for any mental health issues, despite reports that he demonstrated such behavior including ‘hearing voices’ and thinking people were after him.  

Law enforcement officials say they still trying to determine Alexis’s motive for the deadly rampage, which killed 12 people.