Pentagon shooter had a history of mental illness

[Emit]

HOLLISTER, Calif. – The man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon had a history of mental illness and had become so erratic that his parents reached out to local authorities weeks ago with a warning that he was unstable and might have a gun, authorities said Friday.

~snip~

Bedell was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, said Bedell tried to self-medicate with marijuana, inadvertently making his symptoms more pronounced.

"Without the stabilizing medication, the symptoms of his disinhibition, agitation and fearfullness complicated the lack of treatment," Nelson said.

His parents reported him missing Jan. 4, a day after a Texas Highway Patrol officer stopped him for speeding in Texarkana. Bedell told the highway patrolman he was heading to the East Coast, and began acting strangely — sitting on his knees by the side of the highway and turning off his cell phone when it would ring.

Bedell said it was his mother calling, prompting the patrolman to answer the phone and talk briefly with her. Family friend Reb Monaco said Kaye Bedell asked the officer to take him to a mental health facility, but that the son refused.

The patrolman let Bedell go after issuing a speeding ticket and a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia, including a pipe and a green plastic box with marijuana residue.

~snip~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100305/ap_on_re_us/us_pentagon_metro_shooting

I apologize in advance if this is a dupe - didn't see it posted here in GD yet.

[heli]

1. Thanks to Ronald Reagan

and his gutting of public mental health services.

[Warpy]

3. And the civil liberties lawyers, who stuck us with too narrow a definition

of "danger to oneself or others." If he'd been standing there brandishing any sort of a weapon, he'd have fit the definition. If he was just trashing his own life and taking a shot at everybody else's, he did not.

I say this as someone with bipolars all through the extended family. When they go off their drugs and try to self medicate, usually with alcohol, there is nothing we can do but watch them destroy relationships, trash their living situations, drain their finances, and screw up their jobs.

Bringing them in and getting them just one or two doses of medication would bring them down enough that they could see what they're doing to themselves and the damage could be reduced greatly. Our hands are tied, though.

Likely it was the same in this guy's case, although that "paraphernalia" would have gotten him hauled to jail in too many other jurisdictions.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Where and how did he get his weapons?

Anyone know?

[Emit]

4. The article said his parents found an email about a purchase at a shooting range

and it was thought that the "$600 purchase from a shooting range in the Sacramento area that could have been a gun or ammunition."

[scarletwoman]

5. Yes, that was the first question that came to my mind as well.

Did he buy them? Steal them? Borrow them from a friend?

[cliffordu]

6. Ah, yes....Now get ready for an avalanche of bullshit about manic depressives.

If that's what he really had......

For a long time the talking heads all used the word "schizophrenic" whenever they wanted to describe some crazy ass that went nutzo and killed people.

Now they use the term "bipolar" or 'Manic Depressive"

Just a shorthand for "We don't care enough to investigate" maybe that prick was just nutzo, pumped full of hate by the Becks of the world....

Most of them are so narcissistic they couldn't be troubled to learn the difference as long as the cameras are going to roll.

They used to do the same thing with Vietnam veterans - any time some asshole killed spectacularly the first thing the papers would scream is "Vietnam Veteran slaughters 9" or some stupid shit...And NOT go to the trouble to see if the killer was actually a combat vet or some prick from the motor pool.

There might be a difference. OR maybe it's just me...But sometimes the media brush is too generic and stupid and broad.

[heli]

7. More details from L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/me-hollister,0,7658473.storylink

... Bedell recently had attended San Jose State as a graduate student, studying electrical engineering, said Pat Harris, a university spokeswoman. He had enrolled in courses in fall 2008 through fall 2009, she said. Bedell had not enrolled for the 2010 spring semester, but “he was a student in good standing. He was not on academic probation” nor did he have a criminal record at the university, Harris said.

[happy_liberal]

8. His story is a sad one

but the story coming out about Sabow is certainly interesting...

Pentagon Shooter and the Murder of Col. James Sabow
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/march052010/sabow-media-tk.php