Friend Says Alexis Was Videogame Fan, Heavy Drinker

Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, owner of the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, said in an interview that he met Aaron Alexis, the suspect in the Navy Yard shootings, roughly three years ago at an area Buddhist temple. Mr. Alexis had recently converted from Christianity to Buddhism, he said.

Mr. Suthamtewakul, who is actually a Christian, not a Buddhist, said the two became friends and drinking buddies. When Mr. Alexis told him he was fighting with a neighbor at his apartment over noise issues, Mr. Suthamtewakul said he invited Mr. Alexis to move in with him and his wife, and personally helped Mr. Alexis move out of the apartment.

“He cursed a lot, but I [didn’t] see him angry very much,” Mr. Suthamtewakul said.

Mr. Alexis was a “hardcore drinker,” he said, and was also skilled in videogames, which he would play for marathon sessions that lasted hours. {snip}

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An African American, Mr. Alexis sometimes complained he was the victim of discrimination and racial bias. Noticing that Mr. Alexis did not have steady employment, Mr. Suthamtewakul invited him to work at the restaurant, where Mr. Alexis, who spoke fluent Thai, made a positive impression on customers.

But Mr. Suthamtewakul recalled that once, when Mr. Alexis was moving around in the restaurant, his shirt lifted up, revealing a gun in his waistband. Mr. Suthamtewakul said he told Mr. Alexis that he couldn’t show a weapon inside the business.

Mr. Alexis moved out of the home around May of this year. Mr. Suthamtewakul said there was some friction between his wife and Mr. Alexis over the family’s cats, which Mr. Alexis disliked. {snip}

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