First Aid for Mental Illness Shows Promise

Could an eight-hour class prevent tragedies triggered by psychiatric disorders?

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On the morning of September 16, 2013, a 34-year-old U.S. Navy technology contractor named Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people inside the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard before being killed by police. The media barrage that followed the shooting focused largely on Alexis's credentialed access to a government facility and on the military's process for vetting contractors.

Less publicized was the fact that a month before, in the early hours of August 7, Alexis had picked up the telephone in a hotel room in Newport, R.I., and called the police for help. He was hallucinating and had changed hotels three times during the night. He claimed that a stranger with whom he had recently and briefly argued had sent three people to follow him, and they were bombarding him with microwaves to keep him from sleeping. The responding officers came to the hotel, spoke with Alexis, called a supervisor and took a report. Then they left.

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