Horrifying. What’s worse, these stories are becoming so common that many are becoming desensitized to the awfulness of it.
Tragic. It is such a loss.
There was a horrific shooting over a parking space in my city not long ago.
What a horrible tragedy, what a terrible loss for both the families and the community.
Will we be reassured if this turns out to be ordinary craziness and not hate-crime craziness?
Absolutely not, Hunt. I, for one, don’t care either way whether it is labeled a hate crime or not. ALL murders are hate crimes. You don’t kill another human being unless you hate them- even if it’s a temporary hate or a hate of something that they symbolize.
OK, I am deleting a whole bunch of posts here. We have plenty of threads that debate gun control. this does not need to be another one. This thread should stick to the particulars of this case, which is NOT a gun control incident and arrest, at least not at this point. If it turns out in future news that he obtained a gun despite being diagnosed as mentally ill or that he was a convicted criminal, then the facts will have been expanded and the debate can as well. Otherwise, letting gun control debates take over the thread, which they definitely had, is off topic. That is clear since none of the posts I deleted of the last dozen or so even mentioned this specific incident or the young victims.
I know one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when I pulled up a photo of the alleged perp at my hair salon, my hairdresser and I almost said in unison, “Gee, does that guy look like a Bubba or what?”
Very sad.
Keeping the high horses leashed up?
its just so very sad. Such accomplished young people at the very beginning of their lives.
Coming on top of the death of Kayla Mueller, it is too much.
It doesnt sound racially motivated, and very sad nonetheless. I hope they fry his @#$
Yep, like any criminal, should get fried.
edited out political narrative
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Mod
I heard an interview on the radio today with another tenant in that apartment building. She said this guy has a long and deep history of arguing with everyone over parking spaces in their complex. If he was out in the parking lot, he was arguing with someone over their spaces.
It’s difficult to put together support for the Southern Poverty Law Center with being someone who would kill three people over a parking space. For me, anyway.
The father of the two young women who died is saying it was a hate crime and the alleged murderer had targeted his daughter and her H because of their beliefs.
He also says…the bodies were found inside the young couple’s apartment–NOT in the parking lot.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/11/4547742_chapel-hill-police-arrest-man.html?rh=1
And, his wife just held a press conference saying it was a neighborhood dispute and talking about her husbands support for abortion rights and gays and religious freedom. Why in the world do we care? Killing is not okay whatever your politics and it’s really not any worse if you hate your victim for one reason vs. another. This is just weird.
The event is being widely covered in the mainstream media. From the New York Times:
The Times addressed the accused’s Facebook postings and political leanings as well:
I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that every murder is a hate crime, but I would go so far as to say that mental illness is behind a huge majority of it. And mentally ill people can hate a lot of things when their brains aren’t functioning correctly… things they wouldn’t hate if they were properly treated.
One of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the country is the Cook County Jail in Chicago. Over 80% are under-treated and mistreated for their psychiatric illnesses - mostly bipolar and schizophrenia kinds of psychiatric diagnoses. It’s only going to get worse as our new governor has ordered state human service agencies to make cuts of 20% for the remainder of this year, which will likely follow into 2016. There is a grassroots movement trying to make sure mental health agencies aren’t included in these budget cuts, but I doubt they’ll be spared.
Unfortunately even when they have supportive family and friends it can be difficult to get appropriate treatment.
Even when the individual is motivated, there is only so much medication can do.
And insurance doesn’t cover anything but medication management in my experience.
I don’t know that the shooter has been determined to be mentally ill however.
My relative’s BF is iin med school at Duke–terribly sad!
I find it extremely difficult to believe that he was motivated by atheism. Atheists are the LAST people to kill someone over religion. I know people who are active in organizations including the FFRF, and they are the most rational, peaceable, individuals imaginable. Who would NEVER walk around carrying a gun and displaying it to neighbors!
Honestly, the more I hear about this guy the more I wonder whether mental illness or even something like a brain tumor was at work here.