Naomi Alexis, sister of Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, the man who shot and killed 12 people and injured three others last year, told CBS News' Vincente Arenas that her brother's longstanding mental health issues were never addressed, in an interview that was broadcast today, Nov. 24, 2014 on CBS THIS MORNING (7:00-9:00 AM) on the CBS Television Network.
"There are so many - so many instances where this could've been addressed," Naomi told
CBS News in her first and only television interview, adding that there were many warning signs over time.
She said that her parents felt "a sense of shame, or just - or maybe helplessness" with regard to dealing with their son. "They didn't know what to do," said Naomi, "They didn't know how to address the situation without, you know, labeling my brother mentally ill."
A partial transcript of the interview is below.
VINCENTE ARENAS: Good morning. The man Naomi Alexis describes when she talks about her brother is a man with a dark and dangerous past. A past so haunting that Naomi and her sister weren't surprised when they found out Aaron was the shooter.
NAOMI ALEXIS: About 2:00 in the afternoon, someone called her cell phone and said, "Do you-would you like to make a statement about your brother?"
ARENAS: And your thought at that time?
ALEXIS: I Googled his name, and saw that it was him.
It was Sept. 16 of last year when Aaron Alexis went on a shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard. 12 people were killed and several others were wounded, before officers shot the 34-year-old contract worker. His two sisters, including Naomi Alexis, heard about the shooting on the radio and had a feeling their brother was involved.
ALEXIS: There was a report of an assailant and-he was a six-foot African American male. And my sister and I were at home and she said, "It would be crazy if that was Aaron."
Naomi believes Aaron suffered from severe mental problems that started when he was an adolescent. She says he would violently beat her when she was just 12 years old.
ALEXIS: It was unprovoked a lot of the time. And a lot of time it was just over silly things. Like, I spoke while he was on the phone so he would, you know, punch me in the face, or-
ARENAS: Like hit you hard?
ALEXIS: Oh yeah, I mean, I was swelling.
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