The killing of Alex Myers: mental illness and police. Sharon Myers was asleep in bed before 11 on the night of Easter Sunday when a loud boom woke her up. Her mind a little foggy, she walked to her 23-year-old son's room. "Alex, what was that? " she remembered asking him. "Oh, Mom, I just dropped something," Alex said to her. "Go on back to bed. " She returned to her room and fell into an even deeper sleep. The next sound she heard was Honey, the Myers' 11-year-old miniature poodle, barking. Again, with a sort of hazy awareness, Sharon got up to check on Alex. "I thought, 'Well, that's odd,'" Sharon later told The Indianapolis Star. After looking around downstairs, Sharon finally found Alex sitting on their front porch. "What are you doing? " "Mom, go back to bed," he said to her. She warned him that someone might call the police and asked him what he was doing. "I'm done, Mom.
Sharon knew her son suffered from depression. "Somebody's going to call the police. " "It's too late, Mom," Alex said. Sgt. Sgt. IMPD does not have a designated CIT unit. Guns and Suicide: Gun Violence and Mental Illness. This series has focused on one specific aspect of American gun violence: gun suicide. Gun suicides account for the majority (61%) of all fatal shootings in America today. But gun suicides rarely receive attention in the American media or the halls of congress. Public mass shooting events - such as school shooting and theater shootings – do get a lot of media attention, though such mass shooting events are relatively rare and account for only a minor fraction of the over one hundred thousand Americans shot every year. Because of long-standing associations of suicide with psychiatric disorders, and because some of the public mass shooting events have been done by people diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, mental illness has taken a prominent place in public discussions of gun violence in America.
Some Americans have blamed all of gun violence on the mentally ill. Gun violence in America is a complex problem and multi-factorial in nature. Here is why: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (HBO) Guns vs. Misogyny vs. Mental Illness: A False Choice | Briallen Hopper. In the wake of last week's massacre at UCSB, people have been arguing about what the tragedy was "really" about. The "#YesAllWomen" campaign blames misogyny. Grieving father Richard Martinez blames guns. I think these answers are both right. But on their own they are not the whole story: Mental illness played an important part too. I've been troubled by commentators who seem to think that taking gun control and misogyny seriously means dismissing the role of mental illness in this crime.
Too many people on twitter claim that discussing mental illness "derails" conversations about guns and misogyny, call the issue a "red herring," or flatly state "It's not about mental illness. " Why are all these important political issues being pitted against against each other? It's remarkable how dismissive and ignorant people can be when it comes to mental illness. Obviously mental health care is not a panacea. Ban guns. Guns and Suicide: Gun Violence and Mental Illness. A Year of Indianapolis Gun Deaths. Crime, Guns, People From homicides to suicides, self-defense to police shootings, Marion County and Indianapolis gun violence claimed close to 200 lives last year. = Homicide = Suspect known/charged = Suicide = Handgun = Police action = Rifle or assault rifle = Self-defense = Shotgun January 1, 4:35 p.m.
White female 46, at home • 7600 block Orchard Village Dr., south side January 2, 12:44 a.m.Tyrell Alford 16, black male • 2400 block E. January 2, 4:45 p.m.Black male 43, at home • 1200 block W. 33rd St., west side January 2, 5 p.m.William Dulin 50, black male • 2200 block E. 10th St., near-east sideDulin was found lying in the snow near the John H. January 2, 11:59 p.m.Timothy Jackson 53, white male • 7200 block U.S. 31 S, south sideIn December 2013, Jackson attacked Brinks truck driver Dorian Thomas with a stun gun and Mace in a Walmart parking lot in an attempt to rob Thomas as he carried a bag of cash out of the store.
January 19, 9:30 a.m.John Sullivan 49, white male • 1800 block S. Mental Illness is the wrong scapegoat after mass shootings. By Amy Wolf | Dec. 11, 2014, 10:57 AM | Want more research news? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter » In the shadow of the two-year anniversary of one of the worst mass shootings in American history, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, an extensive new study by two Vanderbilt University researchers challenges common assumptions about gun violence and mental illness that often emerge in the aftermath of mass shootings. Jonathan Metzl (Vanderbilt University) When a mass shooting occurs, there seems to be a familiar narrative that untreated mental illness is the primary cause for the terrifying act. “Gun discourse after mass shootings often perpetuates the fear that ‘some crazy person is going to come shoot me,’” said Metzl, the study’s lead author. Mentally ill not violent In the article, “Mental Illness, Mass Shootings and the Politics of American Firearms,” Metzl and MacLeish analyze data and literature linking guns and mental illness over the past 40 years.
Misdirected blame. How The Mental Health System Struggles To Prevent Mass Shootings. Dr. Matthew Goldenberg, from the Yale University School of Medicine, discusses his Los Angeles Times op-ed on why the mental health system in the U.S. can't be relied on to prevent mass shootings. It seems that with every mass shooting, two debates reliably spring up - how the country should deal with guns and how it should deal with mental illness. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: People pulling the triggers have turned out to be severely mentally ill. KATIE COURIC: ...Linked to a gunmen believed to be mentally ill. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: ...Suspect's said to have mental or emotional issues. RATH: But when it comes to what could actually be done, Dr. DR. RATH: And can you talk about that a little bit? GOLDENBERG: First of all, let me just say that although the episodes are extremely horrific and tragic, they're actually statistically relatively rare. RATH: Does it make sense to talk about treatment options that are available?
GOLDENBERG: Absolutely. GOLDENBERG: Thank you. Copyright © 2015 NPR. Mental Health Again an Issue in Gun Debate. Photo WASHINGTON — Despite deep divisions that have kept Congress from passing new gun safety laws for almost two decades, there is one aspect of gun control on which many Democrats, Republicans and even the National Rifle Association agree: the need to give mental health providers better resources to treat dangerous people and prevent them from buying weapons. Yet efforts to improve the country’s fraying mental health system to help prevent mass shootings have stalled on Capitol Hill, tied up in the broader fight over expanded background checks and limits on weapons sales.
Now the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard by a man who authorities say showed telltale signs of is spurring a push to move ahead with bipartisan mental health policy changes. The new debate over gun control is beginning to turn not on weapons or ammunition, but on the question of whether to spend more money on treating and preventing mental illness. “ is really the key to unlocking this issue,” Mr. Mr.