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Read the press release here.

Mother of Washington Navy Yard Shooter Apologizes to Victims

By Trevor Kapp | September 18, 2013 12:37pm
 Aaron Alexis, 34, the man that federal authorities went on a rampage at the Washinton Navy Yards, once carried an NYPD rifle permit, sources say.
Aaron Alexis, 34, the man that federal authorities went on a rampage at the Washinton Navy Yards, once carried an NYPD rifle permit, sources say.
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FBI/Getty Images

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The mother of the ex-Navy reservist who went on a murderous rampage at the Washington Navy Yard before being shot dead apologized on Wednesday to the victims’ families, according to reports.

“Our son Aaron Alexis has murdered 12 people and wounded several others," Cathleen Alexis told reporters from her Bed-Stuy home, according to reports.

"His actions have had a profound and everlasting effect on the families of the victims. I don't know why he did what he did, and I'll never be able to ask him why. Aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone, and for that I am glad.

"To the families of the victims, I am so, so very sorry that this has happened," Alexis added, according to reports. "My heart is broken."

Alexis made the remarks after her son’s stepfather, Frank Calderon, told the Daily Mail that Alexis changed following 9/11, when he helped first responders pull survivors from the rubble.

“He was on his way to his shift,” Calderon told the website. “The planes had hit the towers, but Aaron said he was on the escalator coming up from the subway station when he saw the building come down. It was right in front of him, and he said he saw it collapse.”

Calderon, 47, said the Aaron Alexis who police say killed innocent people was not the man who had a place in his heart.

"What happened in Washington was not from the Aaron I knew and loved,” he said. “Growing up, he was a loving boy. He was a kind boy. There was not violence. In all the years I was with him, there was no hint of any violence.”