WASHINGTON — Alexander Alazo is being held without bond, accused of shooting up the Cuban Embassy in D.C. with an assault rifle. But now, Alazo's wife is pleading with the D.C. jail to help her husband.
Mary Alazo said her husband and the father of her two children is delusional, and not getting his medicine nor any psychiatric help in a jail that's struggling with the coronavirus pandemic.
Miraculously, no one was hurt on April 30, when Alexander Alazo allegedly fired 32 rounds into the Cuban Embassy.
Mary Alazo is a psychiatric nurse, and said in a Zoom interview Thursday that her husband's mental health is deteriorating as he waits for treatment.
"He's telling me he hears voices, he's telling me he's afraid that someone is going to come hurt him," she said.
Mary Alazo said her husband suffers from a delusional disorder. He had a prescription for Risperidone, an antipsychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia and other mental disorders. But at a jail struggling to deal with the pandemic, she said he hasn't been able to get access to his medicine, nor be moved to the psych unit.
"Every time I talk to him, he seems like he's getting worse," she said.
The D.C. Department of Corrections spokeswoman and the mayor's communication staff have yet to respond to WUSA9's phone calls and emails.
Mary Alazo said her husband was convinced Cuban agents were out to get him.
"He was afraid that he would sneak in the house, that somebody would break in, and kill him in front of us," she said. "And he said he couldn't bear the thought of him dealing with that."
Now she worries his paranoia could turn on people at the jail if he doesn't get medication and counseling.
She said her husband's mental health has been deteriorating for about five years. They have children ages two and three, but they've been homeless, they've slept in a car, and they've moved in with her parents in Harrisburg, Pa.
So why does she stick with him?
"It's been to see him struggle with this, because I know he's a good man," she said. "He's a good father, he's a good friend, and I want him well."
Alazo's public defender asked a judge to release him into the custody of his wife. But a federal magistrate found there was no way to safely let him out while he's waiting to go on trial.