Suicide by Second Amendment

[level_head]

There is a follow up to the story in the news whereby a young man shot several people -- in two groups hours apart -- then "committed suicide," according to police

Comments

[goodluckfox]

I haven't seen this referred to as a suicide by the anecdotally few news outlets that I manage to catch glimpses of during my regularly daily frantic routine.

I'm going to assume that this is not a jurisdiction where churchase are statutory gun-free zones just like schools and other places are. (gun free zones are a bad idea).

I haven't read his stuff. Are you saying that he was beyond the reach of current therapy and medical techniques? I think a lot of us can look back at being 26 (or 16)and I bet a lot of us (myself included) would look pretty much beyond hope... the right doctor comes along at the right time and prescribes the right drug, and you get a happy ending. If worse comes to usual, you've got a good chance at a tragedy. You don't think this was the case with this boy?

[goodluckfox]

Ah. I see. Breaking news. Coroner reports that while he was shot several times that the fatal shot was self inflicted. Possible I suppose. *shrug* It's newsworthy, but not all THAT important... does this rise to the level of trying to diminish the role of the guard?

[level_head]

No. The Associated Press headline reading "Guard who shot Colorado gunman had been fired from Mpls. force" does.

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[level_head]

Are you saying that he was beyond the reach of current therapy and medical techniques?

I never suggested anything of the kind.

But according to the killer himself, he had been undergoing therapy/counseling, and found it not to be useful. For example:I've already been working with counselors. It's so funny how many people want to help you and love you and counsel you and `work with you through your pain' when there's money involved."
But I do reject that merely making health care available to the person would have solved the problem. Many of the serial killers like this have a history of mental health treatments

[prester_scott]

Anything to deflect attention from the obvious Second Amendment implications of the story. Anything.

Because Gun Control will solve everything.

[prester_scott]

Ees Party Line, Comrades.

Just like Two Plus Two Equals Five.

[level_head]

It seems that the AP story is to place an aura of unreliability around the woman, as though it was inappropriate for her to have had a gun in the first place.

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[wolfp10]

I wouldn't expect anything less from the anti-gun lobby; don't attack the issue, attack the people.

[richardf8]

???

The account I first heard was that he was taken down by the Security Guard. If she was former Law Enforcement, it makes even more sense to me. Whether he was busy killing himself at the time hardly matters.

[deckardcanine]

I think I heard that first and then heard the suicide biz multiple times, thus assuming that the latter was correct.

[level_head]

Yes. He had been wounded, but killed himself.

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[level_head]

He was actually busy killing others. This exercise was interrupted by the rude device of one of the intended victims firing back.

Apparently, after he had been downed by the volunteer security guard, he decided to take his own life rather than be arrested. He died, I've later seen, by a single self-administered bullet to the head -- though he had "multiple" bullets in him at that point.

I just learned that the Omaha mall where the other shooting was (the eight people killed last week) was unusual for having "no guns" signs at all entrances. This must have impressed the killer: perhaps he translated it in his mind to "Shooting Gallery: Welcome!"

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[acelightning]

The concept of "suicide by police" is well-known. A person who is desperate, for whatever reason, commits a crime in such a way as to get caught in the act; then, instead of surrendering, he (it's more likely to be a young male) does something like attacking a cop, thereby insuring that they will shoot him. I'm not saying that this is what happened in these church shootings, but it's a far more common scenario than you might think.

[level_head]

I'm not saying that this is what happened in these church shootings, but it's a far more common scenario than you might think.

I agree that this happens frequently. But one would hardly attack a Christian church during worship as a method of intended suicide; he wasn't expecting it to be heavily defended.

In this instance, he actually did kill himself -- apparently to keep from being arrested.

As it happens, I've now read a a fair amount of his journal writings, and know what bands he liked and what he thought was important in life. (I'm not impressed; I've seen the like many times on LiveJournal.)

As tempting as it might be (to some) to have everyone committed who wrote that way, it would be a bad idea, I think.

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[acelightning]

Sometimes I wonder how any of us manage to survive adolescence...