Bodies of man, two children found in likely murder-suicide

[depakid]

HILLSBORO -- The bodies of two children and an adult were found this afternoon at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in what Hillsboro police said was a likely a case of murder-suicide.

The victims were not identified by mid-afternoon, but Hillsboro police spokesman Lt. Michael Rouches said authorities believe the two children, who appear to be about 6 or 7, were shot by a male adult, who may be in his early 30s.

Rouches said police believe the three are all related to one another, but said they do not expect to know their identities until Monday. The bodies were found about 1 p.m. when a hiker discovered them along a trail near the Otter Marsh viewing area.

"It's a day trail about a mile from the closest place where people can park," Rouches said. "There isn't a camping area nearby so it looks like they were shot early today."

A handgun was found near the body of the dead man, he said. "It appears that the suspect shot both kids with a handgun then shot himself.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/05/bodies_of_man_two_children_fou.html

Yet another of the "good guys" has fallen- and taken his children with him.

[rl6214]

1. Terrible tragedy for the two kids

I wonder what drove the father to believe he had to do this.

[depakid]

2. It's a tragedy for all involved

Normally, I don't post deals like this in here- it just tweaks noses, but this one happened a gew miles from where I currently am, and in a cool spot where I frequently hike around and spot wildlfe. In fact, it was such a fine day that I considered blowing off working- and heading over there.

I'm glad I didn't. Finding them would have been... well, disturbing.

[slackmaster]

3. Mental health problems kill

:-(

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

4. Never miss an opportunity to turn someone's tragedy into your personal political soapbox.

[depakid]

5. It's the contrast that's glaring

In America, this is such a mundane occurrence that it barely warrents a mention in the local paper- and it'll probably get a local TV news story or two. Were I in Australia at the moment- it would be national news for days- maybe weeks as it all played out and people wondered about what could possibly have gone wrong.

Something to think about....

The Aussies did- and they made a choice that the overwhelming majority have never looked back to regret.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. The changes Australia made would clearly violate the US Constitution. Time to move on to some...

realistic suggestions.

David

[depakid]

8. The post was more a reminder with respect to people's personal choices

This father didn't think about his family ending up where it did when he went out and purchased his gun "for protection." Yet- as is all too common in the states- and will become ever more frequent as firearms proliferate, this (and other tragedies) are the result.

So common in fact that they hardly ever gain a mention.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

11. So you were talking about the Aussie's personal choices not policy?

[Merchant Marine]

7. Except for those

Raped, burglarized and carjacked by emboldened criminals, amirite?

[depakid]

9. Fearing boogeymen, are we?

Yep- fear is indeed what drives Americans to purchase and carry around their guns, isn't it?

It also seems to drive quite a bit more of American policy- both on the state and national levels. Pretty sad.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

10. So Americans have nothing to fear in regards to violent crime? Is that really what you are saying?

[Euromutt]

21. You're misidentifying the means as the cause

We have a grown man in his 30s and two kids around 6 or 7; you want to tell me an adult male isn't capable of killing two children by any other means than a firearm?

Here's a little excerpt for you from Homicide in Australia : 2006-07 National Homicide Monitoring Program annual report by Jack Dearden and Warwick Jones of the Australian Institute of Criminology (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/mr/01/mr01.pdf), page 10:

Child victims

Child homicide has its own particular pattern.
Twenty-seven children under the age of 15 years were killed in 2006–07. Variation between the sexes
was insignifcant: 15 of the 27 children killed were male, and 12 were female. Three were Indigenous,
the same number as in the previous year. Eleven were infants (aged less than one year), also the
same as in 2005–06. Half the incidents involved two or more victims under the age of 15.
The overwhelming majority of child homicides (85%) were committed by a parent (see Figure 7). Eleven homicides involved the mother killing her child, and 11 were committed by male family members. One other offender was living with the victim at the time of incident. Ninety-six percent of all child victims knew their killer well. Importantly, no child victims were killed by a complete stranger
in 2006–07. The trend for child homicide victims to have been killed by family and those best known to them is much stronger in child victims than in adult ones. This has been a stable difference over the years of the NHMP data collection.

Of the 14 offenders who committed suicide following the 2006–07 homicide incident, four (29%) had had child victims. In all four cases, the offender was the custodial parent of the victim (two mothers; two fathers).

In 2006–07, 81 percent of child victims were murdered in a private residence. Seventy-four percent of these were murdered in their own home. Most children (30%) were beaten to death, whereas for the general population stabbing was the most common method.

Emphases in bold mine.
So guess what? Despite the reduced number of guns, Australians are perfectly capable of murdering their children and then offing themselves. What's more, looking at Homicidal encounters: a study of homicide in Australia, 1989 - 1999 (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/28/full_report.pdf), also from the AIC, it doesn't appear that homicide rates in the age groups 0-14 were hugely different prior to the implementation of National Firearms Agreement.

Yes, Americans seem to murder their kids at a higher rate than Australians, but the availability of firearms isn't the cause. The most notable case of the past decade here was Andrea Yates, who murdered all five of her children by drowning them in the bath tub; no gun involved.

[Tejas]

12. Correct, the Brady is strong with this one.

Yet another of the "good guys" has fallen- and taken his children with him.


Oh look, how profound!

[depakid]

13. Bottom line is that this case and thousands like it are the result of your policies

And this guy- like most all the other men who went in and bought their guns, brought them home thought they were "good guys" and firends and neighbors probably would have agreed.

Whilie it may have quelled their fears- instead of "protecting themselves" they ended up with a tragedy. Not that some folks here care one iota about that, of course. It's always me me me, my guns. In some respects, I pity people like that. I really do.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. A tiny percentage of gun owners commit acts like this. It happens sometimes in a FREE country.

[depakid]

16. These tragedies happen all too frequently. Run a google news search

and hate to break it to you, but America ain't all that "free" relative to other western nations.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

17. Why do a google search when I can look at the FBI stats and see how rare these events actually are?

[depakid]

19. You and I can beg to differ as to what an acceptible rate of tragedies is

and whther it's rare or not- but one thing that's not arguable is that the more of these you get into people's homes, the more that tragedies are going to happen- and it won't be a purely linear realtionship, either. It'll curve upward.

Australian kids don't die from gunshots- whether accidental or at the hands of others. That's why American tragedies makes national news down.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

20. So is it your opinion that gun ownership has increased or decreased?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

18. Interesting that you haven't answered the questions up thread.

[Deadric Damodred]

22. Don't bother us with your pity.

You're right, it is "me me me" or maybe more accurately "our rights, our rights, our rights"...or maybe both. This is collateral damage from having the right to own firearms. It sucks when it happens, but that isn't going to change our minds one bit. If it's a choice between giving up our guns & having some sort of lower gun death rate and keeping our guns & having a higher gun death rate, we'll be keeping our guns. That's just the way it is.

Now if you can think of a way to lower the rate of instances like this without taking away the law-abiding's firearms, without trying to tax & regulate ownership out of existence, without trying to make gun ownership such a hassle that people don't bother to use their 2nd Amendment rights, or without violating any of people's other constitutional rights, I'm all ears.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

14. Oh, looky- Crocodile Dundee is posting his scary stories again

be afraid, be very afraid.

[proteus_lives]

23. Nice.

"Oh, looky- Crocodile Dundee is posting his scary stories again"

:rofl:

I can barely contain myself from piling on.