OT: Something HORRIBLE has happened!

[picky]

I am very sorry to report that a very senseless thing happened near our home yesterday afternoon. A couple in their mid-50’s (our age) was shot and killed (allegedly) by their own son in broad daylight.

They lived only 6 houses away on the corner of the next street and they were friends of ours. They were a nice couple who lived in their home for at least as long as we’ve lived in ours (since 1979). We drive past their home many times daily and they’d usually wave back at us when they saw us in our car. Verna had stopped and talked to the wife just a week or so ago.

Yesterday afternoon around 3:30 pm we had just come into the house after letting Katie, our 18-month old granddaughter, run up and down the sidewalk for the last half hour with Verna and great-grandma, Rose chasing her to make sure she didn’t venture too far or into the street. It was in the low 70s for the first time in six months so we had a few of our windows open. As I sat at our kitchen table feeding those little dried, cranberry “Craisins” (like raisins) to Katie in her high chair, I heard numerous, syncopated shots ring out “rap-rap-rap-rap:, etc. They sounded remarkably like gun shots, but I thought to myself, “No, it’s probably just a bunch of kids enjoying the warmer weather and blowing of some firecrackers”; a common custom around our neighborhood even though they are illegal around here.

A short time later, Bill (our son) pulled up in the driveway. He was coming to pick Katie up and take her home. I’d noticed that it was a bit odd as he pulled in coming from the opposite direction; he came the west end of the block, which runs along the railroad tracks were our street ends rather than coming in from the east end, which is more direct. He said they had the cross-street blocked-off at the first street coming in the subdivision when approaching from the main road. He said that something serious was going on because there were cop cars everywhere blocking the streets and he saw them hand-cuffing and arresting a young man. Then I thought; “Oh, my God; the gunshots!”

As it turned out, the couple was watching their 4 year-old grandson yesterday. The grandfather (our friend), was sitting on their front porch (which he did often in the warmer weather) with his legs crossed and the family dog in his lap. A car supposedly pulled up and multiple gun shots were fired at him, striking and killing him instantly. When his wife heard the commotion, she came to the front door to see what was going on. She too was then gunned-down with shots coming right through the front storm door window. It was their son who was allegedly the gunman. A young boy who was playing across the street witnessed the shootings and began screaming. This alerted neighbors who called 911. The son then briefly barricaded himself in their home. The police arrived, and eventually talked him into coming out and arrested the son in their back yard. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the wife was rushed to a nearby hospital where she died a short time later. Social services picked up the grandson and the dog was taken by animal control officers. Our friend’s white Ford pickup was sit sitting their driveway this morning; never to be driven by him again.

What a senseless thing to have happened. Apparently, the son (26) has had emotional problems in the past.That couple was always nice to us and Sierra, our daughter, and their eldest daughter (they had 2 girls and a son, all adults now) were friends and in Girl Scouts together for four years. During that period, Verna and the wife were co-leaders of the troop. Sierra has even stayed up north at the family’s cottage near Lake Huron. She talked often of that experience and about what a fun family they have. May God bless them all. I can’t begin to imagine what the two daughters and their relatives must be going through right now. Their son’s in custody. If he is guilty, his life is ruined, too. What a complete waste, all of the way around. I thank God that nobody else was killed or injured. I pray that the little boy who witnessed this senselessness is able to overcome the emotions and the memory of what he's seen. How horrible. -Glenn

[CECAA850]

Thankfully you and yours are fine. It just goes to show you how precious life is.

Senseless.

[oldbuckster]

The Road of Life is full of twists and turns, some good, some bad, some with no explanation ............ May God Bless Us All .... Sorry to hear that Glenn, now give your family a big hug ................

[IndyKlipschFan]

Makes you appreciate every day. Sorry this happened to your neighborhood. Just awful!

It happens here too. (Why we always seem to have like stories of tragedies to help cope with the other person I guess??)

Last fall my son and I had breakfast at a nearby restaurant, I was gonna fill my car up with gas before hand and decided to do it after lunch cause sometimes your hands just smell like gas no matter what you do? Breakfast was just a few 100 feet from this gas station. After I learned what happened, as cop cars drove by as we were finishing up our meal I had one of those Whoa... moments. I will be honest it gave me the chills. Could of been me instead of her? And my daughter was next door at the elementary school too which was in lock down.

POSTED:November 30,
2007

Police: Man Killed Woman At Gas Station, Then Himself

Authorities: Shooter Had Mental-Illness History, Probably Didn't Know Victim

A man with a history of mental illness killed a woman and fired at an
off-duty Secret Service agent at a northeastern Marion County gas
station before killing himself in a nearby parking lot Friday morning,
police said.Lavon Boyd, 25, drove to a BP gas station in the
8000 block of Oaklandon Road, exited his vehicle and shot Holly Corey,
50, of Indianapolis, twice in the back as she stood at a pump shortly
before 11:15 a.m., police said.Authorities said they believe Boyd didn't know Corey, who died at Methodist Hospital at 12:45 p.m.

Police said an off-duty Secret Service agent who was at the station saw
the shooting. After shooting Corey, Boyd looked at the agent and said,
"Watch this," the agent told police. Boyd pointed the gun at his own
head and pulled the trigger twice, but the gun didn't fire, the agent
said.Boyd, of Indianapolis, then pointed the gun at the agent and fired once but missed, the agent told police.Witnesses
said Boyd then re-entered his vehicle and drove to the parking lot of a
nearby National City Bank. Boyd apparently shot himself in the vehicle,
which crashed into a utility pole, police said. Boyd was pronounced
dead at the scene.Police said that before Boyd arrived at the
gas station, he had argued with his father about a construction job and
left home in his father's SUV.

According to police, Boyd's father said his son was frustrated when he left home.Authorities
said they didn't know why Boyd shot Corey. They didn't release details
about what they said was his history of mental illness.Four schools were placed on lock down for a short time after the shooting.

Police said that after shooting the woman, Boyd drove to the parking lot and shot himself.

[just_like_dtel]

How awful!!!

A few months back, here in our town, a freak accident occurred that certainly makes you think about how precious life is!

A mother and father were home with their toddler (18 mth old). The grandmother came over to visit and the little girl, by the end of the visit, was napping. Well, the parents started arguing over something, apparently over something to do with the grandmother. The grandmother exited the house and got in her vehicle. She was backing out of the driveway and ran over the child (the one that was supposed to be napping). Later, it was discovered that in the middle of the argument between the parents and the grandmother, the child awoke and made it out of the house while the parents and the grandmother were in and out of the house arguing.

I, personally, don't know the family but at one point in time, the child attended the same daycare as my youngest daughter (who is about 6 months younger than this child).

Needless to say, the parents didn't press charges on the grandmother and the charges that were picked up by the state were dismissed because the parents of the child testified that it was a freak accident. There are so many tragic events that for only a short time make you wake up. But it's saddening to see how quickly we go back into our "normal" routines of life and begin to take life for granted again. I know there are times that I need to just slow down and enjoy my babies growing up. Life passes by so fast and it's difficult to just STOP and enjoy it!

[dtel]

" What a complete waste "

That says it all, if people would just take there problems out on themselves instead of others.

[Daddy Dee]

Glenn,

Horrible indeed. I am so sorry to hear of the death of your friends in this way.

Hard to imagine anything more senseless.

[Duke Spinner]

Drugs ..??

a friend at another forum, Too Tall Terry ..

was shot in the stomach by his coked up neigbor in kansas city ...

looking for money

and this is in a section of $350,000 homes .... [*-)]

[Arky]

Absolutely senseless, may God bless.

[picky]

Thanks everyone. Neighbors have turned the victims' front porch into something of a shrine. There are flowers arrangements everywhere and someone placed white poster board over the plywood that covers up the bullet-hole-laden kitchen window. People are writing their sentiments on the poster board. It's nice of everyone but so sad.

Duke: One might think drugs but no, the young man is bi-polar and apparently had an argument with his dad earlier in the day and apparently became unglued over it as the issue festered.

Correction:

As it turns out, the young man was not in a car when he shot his parents as first thought. Both parents were seated on chairs on their front porch with the father seated with his back to the kitchen window. The son was in the house with a gun and shot his dad multiple times from the back through the glass of the kitchen window. The mother jumped up to go in the front door and the son shot her from the living room through the front storm door window. He then barricaded himself in the house. There were numerous calls to 911 from the neighbors. Oddly, one of the 911 calls was from the suspect (the son) himself. Scary! -Glenn

[wuzzzer]

Unbelievable. I'm surprised he didn't kill himself, that's usually how stories like this end.

A few weeks back a lady who worked in the mall where I work was killed by her husband and then he killed himself. She was 57 and he was 62. They had been married for many years. A co-worker of mine used to work with her. She was incredibly distraught by it all.

What a world we live in.

[dkp]

What an absolute tragedy, Glenn. My prayers go out to you and yours. Thankfully your grandaughter was safe inside (and Verna and Rose were sheltered from seeing this). It always shakes you up when things like this happen so close to home. Take care, Glenn.

[oldbuckster]

BI - POLAR is a HEARTBREAKING .............. Bi - Polar can rip families apart because people don't understand the nature of the Beast, it's AWFUL. I hope no one here ever has to deal with it, but it's out there waiting to show it's ugly head. A true test of Family Love, they must take their medicine, and the family should be there for them, ALWAYS !!!!!! HEARTBREAK takes on a whole new meaning when a loved one is affected by BI - POLAR !!!!!

[picky]

oldbuckster: You are correct; it is heartbreaking. My aunt, who was my mom's half-sister, had the condition. It made her very difficult to be arround much of the time. She unfortunately took her own life a few years ago. -Glenn

[SilverSport]

very sad...glad you and yours are alright...

Bill

[Mighty Favog]

Quite frankly I'm waiting for something like this to happen in my neighborhood. Meth labs seem to be popping up ever so close to our house, just blocks away. Then there is a family about 4 houses away that seems friendly enough but have people stopping by often and for short periods. They have a known history with the local constabalury and on occasion we won't see one of them for a while.

They are the reason why I don't turn my system up too loud in the summer when our windows are open (we don't have air conditioning).

They do have the nicest dogs though. Kinda like the German Shepards on "Hogans' Heros"

[oscarsear]

It is quite horrifying when the ugly side of humanity hits close to home. We once lived in north county San Diego and would commute with a neighbor some 60 miles to south Orange County to work. One morning as we were walking downhill to their house we saw an object in the street behind their home. We thought it was their great dane, and it was clearly dead. It wasn't their dog. It was the nude body of a woman who had been strangled to death. She was a clerical worker for the city and the guy who did it was an ex-con recently hired by the city as part of his on-going rehabilitation. Ironically another neighbor owned an auto glass repair shop. The murderer had his windshield replaced by him. The poor woman had kicked it out trying to escape. While I was in college I went out one night walking our dog. I was approached by a nice young man asking about a girl. I did not know her. The next morning he shot and killed the girl as she left for school. It is hard to comprehend some people.

[iwillwalk]

Welcome to america.....thisstuff doesnt happen in eurpoe. what should we expect with more guns than people

[j-malotky]

You mention he had emotional or mental issues. No normal thinking person could do this. So sad and senceless.

A few months back I ran into an old co-worker and we were reminising about the old days. I asked about another coworker and he said, do you remember two summers ago... there was that guy who killed his family and shot himself up north in town "X"? That was so and so's brother. My reply was, I can't remember each of these stories. Seems like this is happeneing way too ofter to recall one of these events a few years ago.

I will include you and your neighborhood in my family's prayers.

JM

[j-malotky]

Welcome to america.....thisstuff doesnt happen in eurpoe. what should we expect with more guns than people

Expect? No none of us should expect this or tollerate it one bit.

Canada also has more guns than people. Its not the ratio of guns to people that is the problem.

JM