Inside the shooter’s mind: Neighbor talks about Jerry Serrato

ABC-7 spoke with Veteran’s Affairs shooter Jerry Serrato’s neighbor. Mario Montes lived next door to Serrato for three years and tells ABC-7,he believes this shooting could have been prevented.

Montes said Serratowanted to work at the VA. clinic badly. Last year for awhile, he was a nursing intern.Montes said his deep-seated anger became apparent when they let him go.

Montez is a curriculum editor for Sergeant Major’s Academy. He said he knows soldiers, and he’s familiar with PTSD. He said Jerry, his neighbor of three years, suffered from it.

“You know, he had what I believed, and I’m not a psychologist, he had issues getting along with society, social issues. He didn’t have a girlfriend,” Montes said. “He had anger issues. He would get mad this happened at work.”

Intern work at the VA, last year, is what made him most frustrated according to Montes, who said he was let go.

“He got into some problems with the staff, with the doctors,” Montes said.

One doctors in particular, routinely came up.

“He told me about this anger with the doctor and I felt that he was taking it too much,” Montes said. “He felt that he was responsible for him losing his job in the VA.”

And that’s when Montes became emotional.

“And they sent the alert notice of active shooter, and I don’t know for some reason or the other, Jerry just popped into my head,” said Montes.

“It’s sad, because no one could prevent it, yet it was preventable, I think,” Montes said. “I think if he had gotten the help he needed, maybe he wouldn’t have done that.”

Montes said the last time he saw Serrato was Sunday, when Jerry let him know his gate was left open.

Montes described Serrato as very cordial, although not a close friend. And Montes knew Serrato had a shotgun, Serrato has showed it to him, but Montes says he was never worried about it.