http://www.kirotv.com/news/17373555/detail.html:(

I was just reading that on CNN about an hour ago. :(

Quite upsetting :(

The American health system failed... it is sad for those who were involved...

Perhaps we should spend a bit more money here then sending it overseas? Put it into healthcare vs. supporting Isreal and their war?

I don't know.... I do know our system is not working. We send way too many $$ overseas supporting special interest that could be used here in the US.

Let them fight their wars and keep the dollars here to fight ours.

Political section is 2 doors down. Feel free to stop in.

The bad fairy pissed in his cornflakes and the donuts didn't have enough filling, so the logical thing to do is kill a bunch of people.

Political section is 2 doors down. Feel free to stop in.

Unfortunately the lack of good healthcare, especially mental health care, in this country is directly related to lack of funding.

Lack of funding is political whether you like it or not. How many times in the last four years have Vet benefits, healthcare programs, medicare, etc., been reduced or cut from the budget entirely because of the war?

The article doesn't state exactly what mental illness was manifested in the shooter. It is very difficult to diagnose these cases, especially when the perp has shown no previous signs of violence--see Andrea Yates.

There's no doubt, this man should not have been at large mingling with society. It may have been a very minor event (to us) that set him off.

The article doesn't state exactly what mental illness was manifested in the shooter. It is very difficult to diagnose these cases, especially when the perp has shown no previous signs of violence--see Andrea Yates.

There's no doubt, this man should not have been at large mingling with society. It may have been a very minor event (to us) that set him off.
The main problem is that we no longer provide help to those mentally ill. Admittedly when we did provide help, it wasn't very helpful and bordered on torture, but regardless at least those who were dangers to themselves and others weren't just walking on the street. Approximately one third of our entire homeless population are either schizophrenic or manic-depressive(http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm). And I wonder where he got that gun.

Athough his mental illness is not identified in the article it does state that this has been going on since he was 18. You get the impression from his mother's statement that this was going on even before then. She probably dealt with Social Services, etc., trying to get him help before he was 18 but that too is an area that has seen major cutbacks in services and personnel.

The article also states that he was recently released from prison (one has to wonder what he was in for) and many prisons in the US have made major cuts to mental health care services over the years. Obviously his issues were not addressed while serving time where he was in an environment that would have made it much harder for him to refuse treatment.

The end result is 8 people are dead because he repeatedly slipped through the system. A system that needs more funding if we ever hope to prevent things like this from happening again.

The end result is 8 people are dead because he repeatedly slipped through the system. A system that needs more funding if we ever hope to prevent things like this from happening again.
The system does have problems, but I really don't think it's job should be to prevent stuff like this from happening. These murders are of such a low percentage of murders in the US that it's laughable to even think that we should waste time and money on preventing them. All of this stuff gets blown way too far out of proportion by the media. Don't really hear too much about serial killers anymore. It's just crazy people going on short sprees now. Seems to be a fad.

The system does have problems, but I really don't think it's job should be to prevent stuff like this from happening. These murders are of such a low percentage of murders in the US that it's laughable to even think that we should waste time and money on preventing them. All of this stuff gets blown way too far out of proportion by the media. Don't really hear too much about serial killers anymore. It's just crazy people going on short sprees now. Seems to be a fad.

I agree with this assessment.

Concerning serial killers, tho, we don't hear much about them until they're caught, unfortunately, or become too brazen for the press to ignore, ie, the Green River Killer, who operated in total silence from the press for years. Reason--his victims were prostitutes. Hard to track such a victim--they give false names, , no one cares about them anyway, etc.---the perfect victim.

Some have estimated the approximate number of serial killers operating at the present time, in the US, to be in the triple digits. This number has stayed fairly well the same for some time.

Agreed--the spree killers do garner tremendous press and because of this generate a tremendous amount of copycats.

The system does have problems, but I really don't think it's job should be to prevent stuff like this from happening.

Respect your opinion but disagree. Mental illness is a serious problem. It can begin in early life (this case) or manifest itself later in life. These people don't "choose" to be this way... bi-polar, schizophrenia, manic depression, etc. are all malfunctions associated with the brain. Some, like bi-polar, have been proven hereditary. Therapy and the correct drugs can help these folks.

This country wastes an awful lot of money on things outside of this country. This money could be put to better use here then overseas.

These murders are of such a low percentage of murders in the US that it's laughable to even think that we should waste time and money on preventing them. All of this stuff gets blown way too far out of proportion by the media. Don't really hear too much about serial killers anymore. It's just crazy people going on short sprees now. Seems to be a fad.

Tell that to the eight families who just lost loved ones. A fad? What if it were your kid, wife, husband, whatever... I bet you'd feel different about this "fad"...