Yahoo: Gunman Kills Virginia TV News Reporter, Cameraman on Air

[mcsluggo]

I am facebook friends with a guy i knew from high school.  He is not a bad guy, and he is actually pretty smart, but he is one of "those" conservatives, that buys into every single extreme nutbag conservative posts he reads.   no.    matter.    what.

 

he used to be a Catholic Priest

 

***** i am not sure wtf happened there?  that is not a job one leaves on a whim, and he is still EXTREMELY Catholic, or at least appears to be... but there has to be a real story there.  I actually stumbled on his name on line, and some speculation from * different * conservative Catholic nutbags that he was driven out of the church by the Bishop of Arlington because he wouldn't buy into the pro-gay agenda of the Catholic church (yes i know... THAT pro gay Catholic agenda that you have always been hearing about---and i should note that this all occurred pre- Pope Francis  *****

 

 

Anyway, I have blocked his feed (i'm not sure the right term here, i didn't de-friend him, but i made it so i stopped seeing his posts) because of the sheer volume of stuff that he spews out, but we occasionally interact there.   However.....  i occasionally go to his page just to see the freak show.   [[[it is the same way my friends and i used to swing by 14th street when we went downtown drinking when we were in HS --- just to marvel at the open air drugs and prostitution market]]]].

 

Anyhoooo ---- the most recent post on his page was something about how Abraham Lincoln, greatest tyrant in the history of the republic,  had 200 American Indians all hanged simultaneously (biggest mass execution in US history) for hunting out of hunting season.   also, whenever i visit his page, i start getting suggestions from Facebook that i join groups like  "Stop the War on Christianity and White America"  (this is an actual group that i have been invited to join REPEATEDLY)  

 

 

^{---- if you can't tell--- this incoherent mess of a post was written in 2 minute segments spread over 5 hours, as i keep getting pulled away into meetings ----}

[tshile]

Again, explain to me how the shooter in this case fits the traditional definition of what we mean when we say "mentally ill?"

 

He picked up a gun and went and shot two former co workers because he believed they sabotaged his career.

 

While doing it he waited for the cameraman to stop panning away from the victims-to-be, opening fire once they were in the frame.

 

He recorded the whole thing on a go-pro and then posted it to the internet.

 

I don't know what the traditional defection of "mentally ill" is but this is in no way normal behavior. If it was anything close to normal behavior majority of people wouldn't be sickened just by thinking of it, much less watching it.

[Springfield]

He picked up a gun and went and shot two former co workers because he believed they sabotaged his career.

While doing it he waited for the cameraman to stop panning away from the victims-to-be, opening fire once they were in the frame.

He recorded the whole thing on a go-pro and then posted it to the internet.

I don't know what the traditional defection of "mentally ill" is but this is in no way normal behavior. If it was anything close to normal behavior majority of people wouldn't be sickened just by thinking of it, much less watching it.

I'm pretty sure he was talking about the guys character prior to "going off the deep end".

[tshile]

I'm pretty sure he was talking about the guys character prior to "going off the deep end".

 

Hah, well... whoops. Thanks

[Zguy28]

I am facebook friends with a guy i knew from high school.  He is not a bad guy, and he is actually pretty smart, but he is one of "those" conservatives, that buys into every single extreme nutbag conservative posts he reads.   no.    matter.    what.

 

he used to be a Catholic Priest

 

***** i am not sure wtf happened there?  that is not a job one leaves on a whim, and he is still EXTREMELY Catholic, or at least appears to be... but there has to be a real story there.  I actually stumbled on his name on line, and some speculation from * different * conservative Catholic nutbags that he was driven out of the church by the Bishop of Arlington because he wouldn't buy into the pro-gay agenda of the Catholic church (yes i know... THAT pro gay Catholic agenda that you have always been hearing about---and i should not that this was pre- Pope Francis  *****

 

 

Anyway, I have blocked his feed (i'm not sure the right term here, i didn't de-friend him, but i made it so i stopped seeing his posts) because of the sheer volume of stuff that he spews out, but we occasionally interact there.   However.....  i occasionally go to his page just to see the freak show.   [[[it is the same way my friends and i used to swing by 14th street when we went downtown drinking when we were in HS --- just to marvel at the open air drugs and prostitution market]]]].

 

Anyhoooo ---- the most recent post on his page was something about how Abraham Lincoln, greatest tyrant in the history of the republic,  had 200 American Indians all hanged simultaneously (biggest mass execution in US history) for hunting out of hunting season.   also, whenever i visit his page, i start getting suggestions from Facebook that i join groups like  "Stop the War on Christianity and White America"  (this is an actual group that i have been invited to join REPEATEDLY)  

 

 

^{---- if you can't tell--- this incoherent mess of a post was written in 2 minute segments spread over 5 hours, as i keep getting pulled away into meetings ----}

I have a friend like that. Except its always stuff from Daily Kos. Had to "unfollow".

[No Excuses]

Psychiatrists generally don't accept health insurance to cover costs compared to physicians in other fields.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24337499

 

Treating mental illness is really kind of a moot point when the people who probably need this help don't have access to it. And it's not really clear that these people are "mentally ill" to begin with. Was Dylan Roof mentally ill or just someone who spent too much time reading neo-Nazi/pro-Confederate hate speech? The guy in this particular shooting was a paranoid/angry/narcissist. As I said earlier I've encountered someone very similar to him recently. That guy by no definition qualifies as mentally ill but he is entirely capable of committing such an act in my opinion.

 

The gun debate vs. mental illness debate will probably carry on for infinity. I've personally come to accept that this is an inevitable reality of being a US resident. Guns are embedded in our culture and so is the ideology that we are all special snowflakes as long as we try our "best". Dangerous people who fall through the cracks have all the necessary means to live out and execute their delusion and homicidal fantasies.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

He picked up a gun and went and shot two former co workers because he believed they sabotaged his career.

 

While doing it he waited for the cameraman to stop panning away from the victims-to-be, opening fire once they were in the frame.

 

He recorded the whole thing on a go-pro and then posted it to the internet.

 

I don't know what the traditional defection of "mentally ill" is but this is in no way normal behavior. If it was anything close to normal behavior majority of people wouldn't be sickened just by thinking of it, much less watching it.

 

 

Thank you, doctor.

 

And the day before he did all this?

[grego]

Thank you, doctor.

 

And the day before he did all this?

 

 

tshile got what you were talking about- springfield broke it down. 

 

but i do wonder what we dont yet know. there is that part about how he went into the forest and killed his cats. but i'm not sure when exactly that happened. serial killers often have a history or killing or torturing animals, so in some cases, there are signs. i have a feeling more will come out. 

 

but, maybe this guy (outside of the cat thing) was, like you said, a somewhat normal guy, just very difficult, paranoid and naricissistic. 

[mistertim]

He picked up a gun and went and shot two former co workers because he believed they sabotaged his career.

 

While doing it he waited for the cameraman to stop panning away from the victims-to-be, opening fire once they were in the frame.

 

He recorded the whole thing on a go-pro and then posted it to the internet.

 

I don't know what the traditional defection of "mentally ill" is but this is in no way normal behavior. If it was anything close to normal behavior majority of people wouldn't be sickened just by thinking of it, much less watching it.

But it seems very unlikely that he was schizophrenic. Paranoid, narcissistic, angry? Yeah. That seems to be LKB's original point..."mental illness" is incredibly broad...it isn't just "psychotic people" and "non-psychotic people". There are probably so many factors that act as catalysts in these shooters and sometimes come together in the perfect storm and end up with the carnage we're seeing so often.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

But it seems very unlikely that he was schizophrenic. Paranoid, narcissistic, angry? Yeah. That seems to be LKB's original point..."mental illness" is incredibly broad...it isn't just "psychotic people" and "non-psychotic people". There are probably so many factors that act as catalysts in these shooters and sometimes come together in the perfect storm and end up with the carnage we're seeing so often.

 

Do European countries have the same rates of mental illness as we do? (And I mean that in the broadest sense - depression, anxiety disorders, etc.....)

 

If so, do they do something different in treatment or care than we do? (I honestly don't know).

 

Because unless they are dramatically different in those two categories, it keeps coming back to either our particular culture or...dun dun dun...guns.

[Dan T.]

I feel for the news anchor's father, for a number of obvious reasons, but one of which is that he apparently is committing himself to the Sisyphean task of working to get meaningful gun control legislation passed in memory of his daughter.

What needs to happen - and it won't for generations - is for America's obsession with gun culture to die. As others have pointed out, it is too ingrained in our past for that to happen anytime soon.

Here's one small step our national politicians can take... stop waving guns around during their campaigns as if they are big showy penises. Smarmy Ted Cruz released that clip about cooking bacon on the nozzle of his AR-15. During primary debates, Fox News asks the field "who owns guns?" and they all wave their hands. Just about every conservative politician films one campaign ad showing him - or her - handling a gun. Democrats are not immune. Hell, even Obama stooped to posing for a photo op a couple of years ago pointing a shotgun.

Maybe someday gun owners will see guns more as a necessary evil instead of toys to be collected and celebrated. That will be a positive step in changing the gun culture. I long for the day when guns are treated like dildos... people possess them but are embarrassed to admit it and keep them hidden away instead of carrying them around.

[visionary]

Thank you, doctor.

And the day before he did all this?

From all the reports about him he definitely seemed paranoid and overreacted a lot. I think there were signs that something was wrong with him for a while.

[tshile]

The Northern Virginia Daily - Trooper was at right place, right time with right technology

 

That is just down the road from me... crazy.

[Springfield]

From all the reports about him he definitely seemed paranoid and overreacted a lot. I think there were signs that something was wrong with him for a while.

I think we all work with people who overreact. Probably work with people work with people we consider paranoid as well. There are some people that I worry about firing because I think they might not be right.

I can't have them committed just because I think they aren't right. They have to commit themselves... but they most certainly don't think that they're actually crazy.

[tshile]

The New York Post - The comments that became a reporter’s death sentence
 

...

That’s how that guy’s mind worked. Just crazy, left-field assumptions like that,” Ryan Fuqua, a video editor at WDBJ, told The Post.

 

“[Those words are] just common, everyday talk. [but] that was his MO — to start s- -t,” Fuqua ­explained. “He was unstable. One time, after one of our live shots failed, he threw all his stuff down and ran into the woods for like 20 minutes.”

...

We would say stuff like, ‘The reporter’s out in the field.’ And he would look at us and say, ‘What are you saying, cotton fields? That’s racist,’ ” Fair recounted.

 

“We’d be like, ‘What?’ We all know what that means, but he took it as cotton fields, and therefore we’re all racists.”

 

“This guy was a nightmare,” Fair said. “Management’s worst nightmare.”

 

Flanagan assumed everything was a jab at his race, even when a manager brought in watermelon for all employees.

 

“Of course, he thought that was racist. He was like, ‘You’re doing that because of me.’ No, the general manager brought in watermelon for the entire news team. He’s like, ‘Nope, this is out for me. You guys are calling me out because I’m black.’ ”

 

Flanagan even declared that ­7-Eleven was racist because it sold watermelon-flavored Slurpee

...

At Flanagan’s house in Roanoke, cops found evidence that he was a self-absorbed slob who indulged in gay porn in his spartan living space.

 

They found unwashed sex toys, cat feces and several pictures of himself on his refrigerator, according to the Daily Mirror.

 

Prior to their search, officers entered the residence through the balcony, fearing Flanagan might have left booby traps.

 

Images obtained by the British newspaper show that his home — just 500 yards from the WDBJ studios — had little furniture aside from a leather couch and chair.

 

A neighbor said Flanagan was often “rude and arrogant” and that he would throw cat feces at apartment doors during disputes.

 

 

Yeah, dude was a nut. These are the warning signs before he picked up a gun, LKB. Though, I don't see how you get from there to preventing this incident. No one is going to agree to do anything (long term) about throwing feces or constantly blaming everything on people being racist.

 

Interesting mentality this guy had, wonder where he got it from.

[Corcaigh]

 

Because unless they are dramatically different in those two categories, it keeps coming back to either our particular culture or...dun dun dun...guns.

 

 

Purely anecdotally as an immigrant furriner, I think the American psyche is a little different. Americans are eternal optimists.

 

Americans believe their ten year old has a chance to play pro football or basketball, or at least a full scholarship at a top D I school. The typical European would tell the kid to have fun, do your best but you didn't get the genetics from Mom & Dad so don't have ideas that won't play out.

 

Americans believe that through hard work alone they will achieve the American dream and accquire great wealth. Europeans have centuries of class system shoved in their face where inbred and borderline retards like the English Royal family have incredible wealth and fame, while decent "common folk" struggle in a cold, wet climate.

 

Americans grow up being told how awesome they are. Every success is applauded, every failure is ignored. European parents really don't like to brag, and openly laugh at their own kids when the kids screw up on the sports field.

 

When an American reaches adulthood and it turns out that their life, for the majority, will be very ****ty at times and a perpetual struggle, do they accept it, do they feel shame, or do they blame someone? Damn right somone else must be at fault and so they take action like John Mother****ing Wayne would. Go out in a blaze of glory. You'll show them who's boss.

[mcsluggo]

I have a friend like that. Except its always stuff from Daily Kos. Had to "unfollow".

 

yeah.. i have the liberal version in my friends-list also.  

(actually she was one my elementary school teachers... and the ex-priest's also, so she is on BOTH of our friends lists  they used to comments on each other's posts all the time, but they have both given up convincing the other, i believe)