The Mentally Ill and Handguns - A Personal Account

[pauldp]

On November 27th 1998, the worst bus accident in Seattle Metro's 25 year history occurred. The driver of a southbound Route 359 express bus was shot twice just as the bus was crossing the Aurora Bridge which crosses the Lake Washington Ship Canal. After shooting the driver, the shooter, Silas Garfield Cool, a 43 year old man with severe emotional problems, turned his .380 automatic handgun on himself.The bus dropped 50 feet into the Fremont neighborhood, bouncing off the roof of an apartment building before hitting the ground below. Another couple hundred yards and the bus would have plunged 160 ft into the canal. In addition to the shooter, the driver Mark McLauglin, 44, and another passenger, Herman Liebelt, 69, died. 32 passengers were injured.

My wife and I were less than 100 yards away when it happened. We were visiting her family in Seattle for Thanksgiving. About 12 of us were sightseeing, and had stopped to look at the Fremont Troll, a big sculpture created by local artists underneath the Aurora Bridge. We heard a crash, looked up and watched in disbelief as a huge articulated bus flew over the side of the bridge, slammed into a building and hit the ground. A couple of us said "what was that?" - even though we just watched it happen and had seen it clearly. It was surreal. A few moments of silence and then the screaming and moaning started. Most of us rushed down the hill to help the victims. There were a few young children with us so some stayed back to comfort them. The back of the bus had a large gash in it, a few people climbed out of the wreckage. My 3 brothers-in-law climbed in and began helping people. One guy had a compound fracture in his leg, others were lying on the floor unconscious or moaning. The front of the bus was partially on its side against the ground, so that 4 or 5 people were jammed against the front door and the stairs in a suffocating pile. 2 locals and I pried the doors open and the heap of people slid out onto the ground. Out of the pile we pulled a large african american woman, and elderly gentleman, a caucasian woman and a middle aged man with blood streaming out of his mouth. All of them were conscious except for the middle aged guy. The elderly gentleman was Herman Liebelt, he was having trouble breathing, and we found out later died on the way to the hospital. The unconscious man with the blood flowing out of his mouth was the shooter, Silas Cool. We did not know at the time that he had been the shooter. He was still breathing but covered in blood, so we pulled him to a safe area and went back to comfort the other passengers. Most were very disoriented and did not know what had happened. Some said the driver had been shot but they did not know who shot him. Others thought the driver had intentionally swerved off the bridge. After what seemed like forever, but probably was only about 15 minutes, the first group of paramedics arrived and we helped load the victims into the ambulances.

Later we heard that Cool had been identified as a mentally unstable loner. He had boarded the bus right before the bridge, sat down across from the driver, and before anyone knew what happened, quickly pulled his gun and shot the driver twice and then shot himself. Only a couple of people on the bus saw it because it happened so quickly. That night we ate leftover turkey and pumpkin pie in our PTSD haze and wondered "how the hell did that guy get a gun?".

[TwilightGardener]

1. Wow, quite an account--it almost seems impossible to stop determined people

from committing acts like this.

[Zax2me]

2. In most cases you probably cannot prevent

You can't stop the rain in life, but I guess we can keep buying umbrellas.
Evil will find a way.

[maxsolomon]

3. I remember that clearly, but I wasn't a witness, thank Buddha

The PNW has more than its share of Amoklauf killings by the mentally ill:

I remember Aaron Kyle Huff from Whitefish who shot 7 happy partiers who befriended him to death at an after-rave party on Capitol hill.

I remember the Pierce Co. Sheriff's Deputy that shot his estranged wife and himself in a parking lot.

I remember the schizophrenic that stabbed Shannon Harps to death on the stoop of her apartment in Capitol Hill.

I remember Isiah Kalebu, who raped and stabbed 2 women in their home in South Park, killing 1.

I remember Maurice Clemmons, who ambushed and shot 4 Sheriff's Deputies to death in a coffee shop.

I remember Michael LaRosa, who killed a random stranger with an ax this last November.

I see the mentally ill nearly every day - muttering, ranting, or begging in rags, wandering the streets of Seattle.

[pauldp]

6. I'm not from the PNW - is there a problem with mental health services

in the Seattle area?

[maxsolomon]

7. No, we actually spend quite a bit on social services, comparitively

I think our "mild" weather (not lately) attracts a number of people, plus we're the biggest city for 500 miles (for americans). The mentally ill gravitate here, and the gloom pushes them over the edge.

But Amoklauf shootings/stabbings happen everywhere in America - i just keep track.

[uppityperson]

8. I would add John Williams, but it seems Officer Birk was the one with the proble

[maxsolomon]

23. he doesn't get a mental-illness pass on that one.

he gets a jittery-rookie murder manslaughter conviction and a different career.

[uppityperson]

24. I am posting in WA forum as the hearing goes on, in case you missed it

wa state desk jet is chiming in also, which is always fun.

[Cetacea]

4. Normal people "snap". Others are evil. Others are mentally ill.

Taking away guns from people with mental illness, and not everyone else, is discrimination.

[pauldp]

5. Did you forget the "sarcasm" thingy?

or felt it was unnecessary? I hope so.

[Cetacea]

9. Nope. What is his diagnosis? Lennon was "troubled" too.

Provide evidence that mental illness causes more violent behavior than normality does.

[pauldp]

10. I worked in a group home with mentally ill clients.

We locked the knife drawer. It was left unlocked one night by mistake and a counselor got his hand slashed and I had to take him to the emergency room.
I still have scars on my arm where one autistic girl with severe behavior problems bit me. We were trained to treat the clients with respect and as adults, but we did not let them handle knives and we had to be trained in personal assault response. I learned much from our clients and I was friends with most of them, but I was still punched bitten and kicked on occasion. I'm sorry but safety precautions are very important when dealing with people who have mental illness.

[Cetacea]

11. I understand. I've also seen violent orderlies.

Some of the "normals" who work in the wards are a lot scarier to me than the clients. Also, in that type of environment you are dealing with people who have had all of their rights taken from them, and who are medicated to a much greater degree than they would be in a non-clinical setting, and are on drugs that often produce the same effects they are meant to treat. In addition, many people who work in these settings go in with the biased thinking that the clients are more violent than everyone else, and the clients, being human after all, correctly perceive that. And that's hardly a good foundation for for a relationship of mutual respect.

edit: I believe that we need increased funding for mental health, but not because of the tragedy in Arizona. I have a dear friend who is severely depressed who has to wait six weeks to see someone due to budget cuts.

[pauldp]

12. I understand your position. I too saw violent staff. Question:

Are there particular diagnosed disorders you would agree would be red flags for gun purchase?
Anti-social personality disorder (sociopaths) ?

[Cetacea]

16. Excellent question

I am no expert but have been pondering this all day long. It's complicated by the problem that getting a correct diagnosis to begin with is not easy and hardly an exact science, imo. It is tempting to think that some of the anti-social/sociopath types are more violent, but I suspect they too are no more violent when it comes down to it. We certainly see sociopaths in government and other authoritative positions who aren't violent. If I knew someone had a severe problem with paranoid delusions I think that it would be a red flag, or any severe psychosis involving pronounced hallucinations. But even in these instances the people who are suffering are very much incapacitated and I suspect are more likely to do harm only to themselves, and I doubt they'd have the ability to premeditate and follow through with say, a political assassination.

I too worked with severely disturbed autistic people who also had severe emotional problems and varying degrees of retardation. There were always a few who would act out in physical ways. But these were people who would never be in a position to buy a gun or even know what one was. I always felt that their outbursts were reactions to confinement, both in the literal sense and an existential sense; and if any of the staff were injured it was mostly by accident.

I suppose the main problem is that it is very difficult to predict an act of violence no matter a person's state of health or lack thereof, accept by those who would not be functioning members of society and whose occasional outbursts are fairly predictable. I also believe that some forms of brain damage affecting the frontal lobes could possibly be of concern, as when there is brain damage in that area there is usually an accompanying loss of impulse control.

I was struck by a comment from a deputy sheriff who worked on educating police on how to deal with people with various mental illnesses. He had come to the aid of a wrongly imprisoned mentally disabled man who had been wrongly convicted of murder and served twenty years. Thanks to DNA testing he was finally found to be innocent. He had no anger in him. He was just happy to be free. He seemed to be almost too complaint. The sheriff told the press that people with severe mental disabilities have an intense desire to please others, and often at the expense of their own happiness. I suspect that is because many are intensely aware of how they are perceived and try to compensate for those perceptions. Even violent criminals fear them.
We tend to treat them as something other than human, as I am sure you know.

What would be a red flag for you?
Thanks for the dialogue.

[Cetacea]

19. I read, I took the bait.

But I knew it was bait.

[pauldp]

21. I don't know.

I'm not an expert. I'm trying to form an opinion here. In general I think guns are too prevalent in our society and gun violence is romanticized far too much... and we need better mental health services.
I understand your point that anyone can snap and turn violent, so obviously a history of violent behavior should preclude gun purchase, whether the person is mentally ill or not. I know bi-polar individuals who manage their dis-orders and could handle a firearm. I know other manic people I wouldn't trust with a baseball bat. I do think people identified with anti-social personality disorder need to really be watched carefully - especially sociopaths in the political arena!

Thank you for the dialogue.

[mrs_p]

13. i'm from seattle

that was clearly a dark day and shouldn't be forgotten.

[slackmaster]

14. Interesting story. I did a quick search for Silas Garfield Cool and found this piece.

http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1998/9812020053.asp

Mr. Cool could buy a gun because there was nothing in his background to make him legally ineligible to own one. Buying one was probably a poor decision on his part, but in the absence of a court adjudication of mental incompetence, a serious criminal conviction, or other disqualifying event he had the right to buy and own a gun.

Most people with mental health issues are not dangerous, and they are more likely that members of the general population to become crime victims.

Thank you for posting your first-person account, pauldp.

[pauldp]

15. Wow. Thanks for the link. I'd not seen that.

I guess we'll never get a real diagnosis or detailed analysis of the guy. It's just really sad.

[Missy Vixen]

17. I'm also from Seattle

We remember the Metro bus accident well.

Thank you for your first-hand account, and for pitching in to help the victims.

[pauldp]

18. Thanks. I love Seattle

It just has some sad associations for me now. Great cafes and great music though.

[blueamy66]

20. No guns in my house

I take an anti-depressant and there is alcohol in the house. Not a great mix. Hockey sticks work pretty good.

Plus, when my Dad came home from the Korean War....he said NO MORE GUNS.

It's fine for others to own them if they are responsible. The problem is, many are not responsible.

on edit: If our politicos wouldn't cut the mental health budgets, maybe some of these things wouldn't happen.

[NNN0LHI]

22. Had a neighbor when I was a kid trying to shoot a moth off his wall with a .38 one night

Never a dull moment in the hood.

Don