CA: Apparent suicide at shooting range

[seamusTX]

A 64-year-old man fatally shot himself in the head at a shooting range in Burbank yesterday. He was a regular patron of the range and was using his own handgun and ammunition. Police are treating the incident as suicide.

It was the second such incident at the range in a year.

http://www.burbankleader.com/articles/2 ... ting20.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seeing that would ruin your whole day, wouldn't it?

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

seamus asked:

Seeing that would ruin your whole day, wouldn't it?

I don't know about ruining the whole day, but it would definitely throw you off target.

[USA1]

at least he kept it to himself and did'nt take someone else down with him.

[seamusTX]

Another one at the same range:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... rbank.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[cheezit]

ive been to that range before. really the place isnt that bad to make one want to off themselfs.

[cougartex]

Very sad.

[tacticool]

ive been to that range before. really the place isnt that bad to make one want to off themselfs.

Maybe it wasn't the range specifically but California in general.

[sjfcontrol]

What would make someone want to commit suicide at a gun range if they use their own pistol? Wouldn't it be more convenient in the privacy of their own home?

And one of the articles said ""The firing range has instituted an assortment of safety measures in response to the incident, officials said." What safety measures could possibly prevent someone shooting themselves in the head? Perhaps they require everybody to bring notes from their shrink affirming that they're not suicidal?

[seamusTX]

What would make someone want to commit suicide at a gun range if they use their own pistol? Wouldn't it be more convenient in the privacy of their own home?

As was said in another thread, it would spare the family from having to clean up the mess and having investigators all over the house, possibly for days. It would also assure that the scene was not found by a child or other vulnerable person.

Does everyone know that when a suicide or messy crime occurs in your home, you get to clean it up or pay for the cleanup?

- Jim

[Excaliber]

What would make someone want to commit suicide at a gun range if they use their own pistol? Wouldn't it be more convenient in the privacy of their own home?

As was said in another thread, it would spare the family from having to clean up the mess and having investigators all over the house, possibly for days. It would also assure that the scene was not found by a child or other vulnerable person.

Does everyone know that when a suicide or messy crime occurs in your home, you get to clean it up or pay for the cleanup?

- Jim

Cleaning up a after a firearms suicide is a technically difficult and emotional task with significant biohazard risks and disposal requirements. There are a handful of companies that specialize in this much needed but unenviable work.

Google "Crime scene cleanup" to see some examples.

Homeowner's insurance will often pick up the tab.

[seamusTX]

Homeowner's insurance will often pick up the tab.

That may be, but deductibles are not trivial these days.

I think the emotional toll would be the worse problem. You really would not want to walk through the kitchen every day thinking, that's where dad shot himself.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

seamusTX wrote:

Does everyone know that when a suicide or messy crime occurs in your home, you get to clean it up or pay for the cleanup?

, suicide is not to be taken lightly. Even if you don't care about the ones left behind, at least have the courtesy to step outside...in the grass.

[seamusTX]

Even if you don't care about the ones left behind, at least have the courtesy to step outside...in the grass.

Suicide is a strange phenomenon, as has been said. Some people who commit suicide want to make a spectacle of themselves or take revenge. Some just want to take door #3.

If one is going to do it with a firearm and be considerate about it, I think it's important not to allow the firearm to fall into the wrong hands. Doing it at the range takes care of that problem.

I have addressed this topic earlier: viewtopic.php?f=83&t=25792&p294865" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[The Annoyed Man]

Suicide has been a painful topic for me in the not too distant past...

I moved here from California with a small printing company which relocated its entire operations from North Hollywood California, to Dallas Texas. The owner of the company was a long-time friend of mine from church, for whom I had worked for the previous almost 9 years. On September 29th of 2006, just three days after we lost my father in law to cancer, my boss killed himself. He had flown back to California and was staying at his mother's house while she was on a trip to Arizona. I spoke to him the day after my FIL died, and he sounded very happy. I should have known.

My boss had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder back in high school and was on medication which had it under control for most of his adult life. He successfully ran a business. He was married and raising two children. He was active in our church. He was a man that most people who did not know him well or know his history would have never guessed he struggled with demons every day and rose to the occasion. He had been somewhat depressed for a couple of weeks before he committed suicide, but not obviously suicidal. His brother had even had a conversation with him in which he made my boss promise that he wouldn't do anything to hurt himself, but would seek help instead if he got too down.

On Friday the 28th, he had dinner with mutual friends of ours - two guys from our old Sunday school class - and they all agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning. When Jim still hadn't shown up after being late for breakfast a little bit, and failed to answer phone calls, his best friend Bill (also a good friend of mine) drove over to Jim's mom's house to make sure he was OK. He found Jim hanging from an arbor outside the kitchen window in the back yard, cut him down and tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late. Jim wanted to die. Apparently, he had first tried to OD on his medications, but he threw them up. Then he tried to asphyxiate himself in his mom's car in the garage. That apparently didn't work fast enough, so he cut his wrists, quite deeply. When he didn't bleed out fast enough, he took an extension cord and hung himself outside in the back yard.

If he'd had a gun, he could have saved himself a lot of trouble, but the cleanup would have been much worse. I don't know that it would have been any harder on his family one way or the other. He left behind two kids and a wife. I've never seen them smile or laugh since then. Suicide is definitely not painless.

[Excaliber]

Suicide has been a painful topic for me in the not too distant past...

I moved here from California with a small printing company which relocated its entire operations from North Hollywood California, to Dallas Texas. The owner of the company was a long-time friend of mine from church, for whom I had worked for the previous almost 9 years. On September 29th of 2006, just three days after we lost my father in law to cancer, my boss killed himself. He had flown back to California and was staying at his mother's house while she was on a trip to Arizona. I spoke to him the day after my FIL died, and he sounded very happy. I should have known.

My boss had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder back in high school and was on medication which had it under control for most of his adult life. He successfully ran a business. He was married and raising two children. He was active in our church. He was a man that most people who did not know him well or know his history would have never guessed he struggled with demons every day and rose to the occasion. He had been somewhat depressed for a couple of weeks before he committed suicide, but not obviously suicidal. His brother had even had a conversation with him in which he made my boss promise that he wouldn't do anything to hurt himself, but would seek help instead if he got too down.

On Friday the 28th, he had dinner with mutual friends of ours - two guys from our old Sunday school class - and they all agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning. When Jim still hadn't shown up after being late for breakfast a little bit, and failed to answer phone calls, his best friend Bill (also a good friend of mine) drove over to Jim's mom's house to make sure he was OK. He found Jim hanging from an arbor outside the kitchen window in the back yard, cut him down and tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late. Jim wanted to die. Apparently, he had first tried to OD on his medications, but he threw them up. Then he tried to asphyxiate himself in his mom's car in the garage. That apparently didn't work fast enough, so he cut his wrists, quite deeply. When he didn't bleed out fast enough, he took an extension cord and hung himself outside in the back yard.

If he'd had a gun, he could have saved himself a lot of trouble, but the cleanup would have been much worse. I don't know that it would have been any harder on his family one way or the other. He left behind two kids and a wife. I've never seen them smile or laugh since then. Suicide is definitely not painless.

TAM,

I understand how you feel. I saw way too many in my LE days, and each one had an extremely sad story behind it.

One of the worst for me was one where a young woman went out onto the ledge outside an upper story window in a mental health clinic just as evening rush hour was starting. She hesitated until some fine folks in the offices across the street yelled, "Jump! Jump!"

She did.

If we had been called before she jumped, I'm pretty sure we could have talked her off of that ledge.

Much to my frustration, there wasn't a felony charge available for the folks who got their kicks watching her die.