VA Sen stabbed, son shot and killed

[Balog]

http://tinyurl.com/lczrptw

Any of our VA folks have insight on this? Most likely a domestic thing but never know with politicians.

[zxcvbob]

It looks like a tragic domestic thing, but the part about self-inflicted gunshot sounds fishy.  Why would crazy son use a knife to attack Deeds and then a gun on himself -- that makes no sense.  He might been crazy, but probably not stupid.  More likely scenario: the senator shot his son in self-defense after being attack with a knife, and the cops are calling it "self-inflicted" to shield him from an investigation.  I wonder if they would do the same thing if he weren't a high-ranking pol.

[Boomhauer]

that makes no sense

Crazy people do crazy things for no rhyme or reason...it's really that simple. Could easily have been a spur of the moment thing where son grabs a kitchen knife and gets all stabby, then when his target is down or fled he runs and grabs a handgun out of his parents bedroom and kills himself. We don't know the details...





 

[sumpnz]

Saw a headline that the family tried to have the son committed to a psych ward but were turned away for lack of space.  This was just a day or two prior to the stabbing.

[Firethorn]

Crazy people do crazy things for no rhyme or reason...it's really that simple.

No, actually they don't tend to do that.  It's not a logical 'rhyme or reason' from a sensible standpoint, but there's generally logic behind their actions that you can figure out if you spend the effort to understand what's going on.

[French G.]

20 miles down the road from me. Didn't vote for Creigh when he ran for statewide offices but he's a decent guy. Last I heard on local radio the staties were still working on establishing the sequence of events so everything else is speculation and some really trolly and churlish comments on the bottom of some news pages. To be expected, if you have faith in humanity read CNN comment sections, that will fix you right up. Sounds like he has tried to help his son for a long time, very sad situation.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

yea deeds is a real decent guy. damn shame
crazy folk do crazy things

damn phone

[vaskidmark]

Saw a headline that the family tried to have the son committed to a psych ward but were turned away for lack of space.  This was just a day or two prior to the stabbing.

That "lack of space" is bovine scat.  The Sheriff could transport him to any hospital with a secure ward, or to any of the 3 state MH hospitals.  What we probably have is a judge who was told the local hospital did not have a bed and therefore declined to issue the Green Warrant (psych exam warrant).

This is a failure of the MH system, the judicial system, and the family.  If someone is in need of a secure setting to be evaluated to determine if they are in fact an ongoing threat to themself or others they should not be released to wait for an "available bed" to a home where there are hammers, knives, circular saws, or any other dangerous implements.  And if they are, steps ought to be taken to secure said dangerous implements.

stay safe.

[makattak]

It looks like a tragic domestic thing, but the part about self-inflicted gunshot sounds fishy.  Why would crazy son use a knife to attack Deeds and then a gun on himself -- that makes no sense.  He might been crazy, but probably not stupid.  More likely scenario: the senator shot his son in self-defense after being attack with a knife, and the cops are calling it "self-inflicted" to shield him from an investigation.  I wonder if they would do the same thing if he weren't a high-ranking pol.

Of course, you are assuming the events happened immediately one right after the other.

Plausible scenario: Son, in a fit of rage or paranoia or whathaveyou, flips out and stabs father (multiple times from the report). Comes somewhat back to his senses, realizes what he's done, gets a gun and shoots himself. (Or, another possible motivation, realizes that having done this means he will DEFINITELY be going to an institution, and gets a gun and shoots himself.)