Arizona Republic: Jared Loughner's lonely world before attack

[ellisonz]

by Sean Holstege - Jan. 5, 2012 11:14 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com

He was a portrait of isolation, a nobody. Only his parents and a small circle of old friends ever knew him.

Then, he strode into a crowd on Jan. 8, 2011, with a semiautomatic pistol in his hand. By the time the gun ran out of bullets, he was assured of exploding into the public's consciousness.

Thousands of news articles have examined the life of Jared Loughner, accused of killing six people and wounding 14, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a Safeway store north of Tucson. He has pleaded not guilty.

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But one clue reveals his consuming thoughts at the time: his Internet postings. His videos and online rants, plus new scraps of investigative evidence, portray a young man at the end of a road, in his childhood room, tapping out messages to an indifferent world.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2011/12/23/20111223jared-loughner-lonely-world-before-attack.html#ixzz1ihtspCNH

Thread on this Sundays memorial and a link to find an organized vigil: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002125925

(Note to Mods: This may slip into "guns" but it's "really big news" IMHO).

[intaglio]

1. A sad, mad individual

I'm just glad so many people survived his violent fantasy.

[ellisonz]

2. I never really buy...

...the idea that these people truly acted as an "individual," in many of these cases scores of people looked the other way or took insufficient action when confronted with both mental illness and violent fantasy. It's true when you look at all of these spree shootings. We not only need a better mental health system, we need a more pro-active society.

[AtomicKitten]

3. And now he's famous.

According to his mug shot, he seems quite pleased with himself.

[ellisonz]

22. There are many more Jared Loughners out there...n/t

[hifiguy]

4. This guy is a classic paranoid schizophrenic.

Which the article conclusively establishes.

Gads that picture is frightening. Lights are burning brightly but there ain't nobody home.

[ellisonz]

5. No doubt.

"New Mugshot" - By David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star - 2/23/2011

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. Wait, I thought he was a teabagger acting on direct orders from Sarah Palin?

Just goes to show that a lunatic is a lunatic.

[hifiguy]

8. As soon as I read a description of the guy

and his loony rantings, I deduced that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Seeing his mug shot pretty much nailed down the lid on that conclusion. I, for one, never thought anything else and can't speak to the opinions of others.

[ellisonz]

10. Nope.

Sarah Palin is a lunatic though too and just denied that she had engage in violent rhetoric in putting cross-hairs on her map.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Search term stochastic terrorism.

Sometimes a nut is a nut who gets ideas.

Don't worry, the defense, or elite media, will really not seriously go there in full force, in-spite of tweeties tippy toeing last year into that pool.

[ellisonz]

19. You're correct.

Such a suggestion would explode pinheads.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/01/10/934890/-Stochastic-Terrorism:-Triggering-the-shooters

It's chemistry.

[hlthe2b]

6. I haven't read the litany of articles about him... only a few general ones..

And, I would be the first to decry any indiscriminate attempt to blame the parents or anyone else. I do, however wonder if the parents have come forward to shed any light on how it is this man received no help. Or... any other revelations they might be able to shed to help us understand more fully who this young man is and how he came to do what he did.

Can anyone comment?

[ellisonz]

11. As far as I've read, they've pretty much clammed up except for this:

"This is a very difficult time for us. We ask the media to respect our privacy. There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were so we could make you feel better. We don't understand why this happened. It may not make any difference, but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday. We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/jared-loughners-family-remains-imposed-isolation-tucson-shooting/story?id=12587114#.TwdwbuZyciw

He had health insurance with mental health treatment coverage.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-22-loughner-parents_N.htm

"The judge said Loughner isn't communicating with his parents because he is afraid that someone is listening to his calls."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/09/21/20110921loughner-wants-attend-hearing.html#ixzz1iicl3Anu

I don't see how they could have gone all those years and not seen that something was wrong. They seemed to figure out that something was off the morning of, because if my memory is correct, the Father chased Loughner because he was suspicious the morning of the shooting. They just figured it out too late.

[CanSocDem]

14. One thing that stuck out...

...was the parents comment(after the shooting) that, leading up to the shooting , "He was getting weirder and weirder." Doesn't sound like an insightful analysis that only parents have....

[ellisonz]

16. Yeah, they seem like the types...

...who generally ignore their children; and don't expect to hear much from them. They caught on at the end, but it was too late.

This whole tragedy was preventable; both from a mental health aspect and from a "crime control" aspect.

[malaise]

21. But he was rather weird at college as well

He needed help

[i was a cathar]

9. Forgive me but I think this is all a bunch of utter excrement.

It was around the time of the health care debate. Supposedly, this poor woman Giffords was in favor of the bill. But it was still very unpopular. I find the timing of the shooting alarming. I find the trail of evidence completely convenient. It is very upsetting to contemplate what really might have gone down. Those people died, no doubt about it. But the little girl just happened to be born on 9/11...It's very disturbing to me.

[dionysus]

12. sleep well, sweet prince.

[ellisonz]

15. And he's gone. n/t

[waddirum]

13. The Health Care bill was signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010

Loughner's shooting spree was January 8, 2011.

[LetTimmySmoke]

18. Distrusting authority, smoking weed, and playing video games...not exactly a rare combination

Sounds like a man with a serious mental illness that should have been addressed.

[ellisonz]

20. I think there's a lot more to it than that...