Texas Mom Who Killed 2 Daughters Had a 'History of Mental Illness,' Authorities Say

[Siwsan]

The newest detail that I read was this happened on her husband's birthday, and he begged her not to kill their children. As if this story couldn't get any more heartbreaking

Ok, the link is from 'People' magazine, but this is pretty much what I figured. Anyway, for what it's worth, here is what People is reporting"

The Texas woman who killed her two daughters on Friday, before being shot and killed by police herself, allegedly had a history of mental illness, officials say. And she had posted multiple times on social media about her support of firearms.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office had been to Christy Sheats' home "for previous altercations" involving Sheats' "mental crisis," sheriff's spokeswoman Caitilin Espinosa tells PEOPLE.

She declined to provide more detail about those incidents.

http://www.people.com/article/texas-mom-christy-sheats-mental-illness-facebook-posts

[cali]

1. As no details at all are provided to back up that claim, it's difficult to conclude... much.

It's easy to say she was mentally ill and shouldn't have been able to own or possess a gun, but how does that actually work? Had she been involuntarily committed? What was her diagnosis? What could be legislated to have prevented this? Did her husband own gun(s)?

[Siwsan]

3. I think the quoted authorities are pretty limited as to how much more they can release

But hearing there were multiple calls to the police, over time, just two things come to mind as triggering the calls - domestic abuse or mental health issues in the household.

I did read that the couple had, only recently, gotten back together after a separation.

So if she had demonstrated mental health issues, can that, in and of itself, be a reason to rescind her gun license?

[cali]

5. No, it's not.

What does "demonstrated mental health issues" even mean? Anyone can claim anything. That is not something I'm comfortable with. Imo, only a psychiatric assessment can establish whether a given person is mentally incapacitated to the point where their constitutional rights should be abrogated. And that's true even if police have witnessed behavior they describe as mentally ill.

[HereSince1628]

13. You're correct, and this reporting doesn't meet standards in the AP style guide

THe ever present possibility of the presence of a mental disorder contributing to violent behavior can't be dismissed out of hand

But, the rate of violence in persons with mental disorders is very nearly the same as the rate of violence of the general public which is around 5 percent. YET, when mental disorders show up in the media 40% of the time it is in association with violence.

This media treatment greatly distorts the public's perception of the dangerousness of persons with mental disorders.

And the penalties of prejudice and discrimination that accrue to persons with mental disorder from that distortion is the reason why the AP style manual says that references such as the one in this article shouldn't be reported.

[libdem4life]

2. Being diagnosed as mentally ill and incapacitated as such is a tough job.

It's seldom done. LEOs do not usually get involved because of the extreme emotion and their lives are often at stake getting inbetween family domestic violence, especially when guns are in the situation. That's the good and the bad of it.

Mental illness is usually carefully hidden within a dysfunctional family structure, as is parental or spousal abuse. Unofficially, Public Welfare and Law Enforcement know there is no "cure", so pretty much stay away from it.

Some families appear normal to the outside world, but inside are just tragic in nature...this seems to be one of them. The pressure Not to Tell is so great because it breaks the Concrete Code of Silence. See, we're just a normal, happy family. Anyone "telling the truth" is shamed, cut off, etc.

My unofficial view, as I have dealt with these issues, would be that the girls disobeyed the rule of "Don't let it get outside the family" when they tried to escape. So their mother enforced the "Don't Tell" rule. The father likely stayed to help protect the girls...but was a participant in the same Cycle of Violence.

We'll probablly never know the truth.

[raccoon]

4. Mental illness and guns. not a good combination. nt

[JI7]

6. i only see evidence of her having been a gun nut

[Siwsan]

7. I think anyone who chases their children out of a house and shoots them, has mental stability issues

To go from the gushing way she wrote about them, in March, to shooting them dead in June - I honestly can't begin to fathom what kind of mind set that takes.

It will be interesting to read if the husband speaks out and sheds some light on what happened.

[JI7]

8. teens fighting with parents can be really bad. a gun nut who is do obsessed with thdm

And sees then as something so great could do it without even thinking of the real consequences .

[Ilsa]

9. A friend in another state had an emotional breakdown, got her gun, and

although she didn't aim it at anyone, she fired it in the home. Her husband called the police who came in and confiscated the guns in the house. She had to make a court appearance a month or so later to get her stupid guns back. I think the judge required a mental eval first, though.

But yeah, she's a gun nut. And we're not friends any more.

I think more should have been done, legally, to get her most dangerous weapons out of the house. The republicans in the state of texas failed her.

[hunter]

10. Every celebrant of our malignant gun culture is thinking "I'm not like her."

A few of them are mistaken.

[MohRokTah]

11. So universal background checks could have stopped these murders.

Nice to know.

-- Moh, a firearm owner who supports Universal Background Checks.

[HereSince1628]

12. Is that really clear from the evidence in the brief story?

Even under Texas law which is unusual in that it names mental disorders that are disqualifying under state law, it's not clear what is meant by a mental crisis. There is no mention at all that a diagnosis was made. It might have been, but it might not have been for conditions listed inside of Texas law. So it's unclear if a mental diagnosis could be found on background check.

Federally, 3 things specifically about mental illness could put a person on the prohibited purchase list to be found by a background check an adjudication by the court or appointed representatives of a court that a person was dangerous to self or others, an involuntary commitment because a person is dangerous to self or others, and acceptance by the court of a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. If those things don't exist, a record in NICS wouldn't exist for a background check to detect.

[LuvNewcastle]

14. God, this is tragic.

I'm in favor of people being able to keep guns in their homes, but society pays an awful price for the right to bear arms. I don't know what could have been done better in this case....not enough information. That poor husband/father is going to have to live with the death of his family and will have to deal forever with what could have been done better in this situation. I hope he's able to find some peace.