Woman in wheelchair opens fire in B.C. nursing home:

22 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2009-03-31 21:15

remind

Quote:
distraught woman in a wheelchair about to be evicted from a B.C. nursing home shot two people and then was killed by police...
The shooting incident took place at Good Samaritan Christenson Village in Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast just north of Vancouver.

The woman apparently was shot by police while trying to hide in some nearby bushes, GlobalBC reports.

Two victims have been airlifted to Vancouver hospital.

A witness heard one shot, saw police, heard another shot, and then another eight shots rang out.

Tue, 2009-03-31 22:07

Loretta

"...about to be evicted..."?

Tue, 2009-03-31 22:27

remind

Yep, still unknown why she was being evicted. And hiding in the bushes with a wheel chair?

Tue, 2009-03-31 22:43

saga

and a gun???

Well, I guess as the man said ... it could happen anywhere.

Wed, 2009-04-01 17:31

remind

Update. she and the man she shot, are both alive. She apparently used a shot gun on him.

Wed, 2009-04-01 22:09

Loretta

What I heard on the radio is that the woman is a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War who suffered PTSD. Some time later, she was injured in a car accident and suffered brain injury. This was reported to have led to her collecting cardboard in her room, which violated the safety code of the facility so she was being evicted.

When I find something in writing that I can link, I will post it.

Wed, 2009-04-01 22:12

Webgear

Try

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/04/01/bc-gibsons-shooting-gulf-war-veteran.html

______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.

Wed, 2009-04-01 22:25

remind

Yep, the whole thing sucks and she is now, as a brain injured person, up on 10 charges.

Wed, 2009-04-01 23:04

Sineed

From the "comments" section:

Quote:
I knew this woman from her early adolescence into her 20s. She had real problems even before this time. She was in care. She seemed to have solved a lot of her problems the last time I saw her, in her early 20s. However, given her history, she should NEVER have been in the Armed Services. I would like to know how her past slipped through the screening process.

Interesting...

Thu, 2009-04-02 00:17

#10

remind

I agree loretta, and why should those comments be interesting sineed?

Thu, 2009-04-02 03:25

#11

Loretta

Thanks, webgear, although the story doesn't address why she was being evicted.

Anyone who knows about brain injury, especially when combined with anxiety, will know that emotional control is difficult for people who are thus affected. Think about how being involved in the Gulf War has dominoed into this situation and the Health Authority will no doubt make it all about gun policy (which I do think needs examining) whereas it's about poor and inappropriate supports.

Thu, 2009-04-02 11:45

#12

Sean in Ottawa

It is interesting that people who need medical help go through their lives without getting it-- to me that is interesting.

Thu, 2009-04-02 11:56

#13

martin dufresne

I find interesting that people with big mental health issues are not getting screened out of the Canadian Armed Forces, not kept from acquiring firearms, and yes, not getting the adequate supports. It seems as if all the psychologists are busy working for defence lawyers... after the crisis erupts.

Thu, 2009-04-02 14:02

#14

remind

hello, we do not know what her issues were way back when, all we have is a recounting of an ancedotal remark made on CBC's response board.

Perhaps she had been put in care while a child and had been abused and was reactive to her situation. Perhaps she was being abused at home and was being reactive. Outside opinions on her behaviour from a lense that is over 20 years old should not be taken as being anything at all, let alone as evidence that she may have had mental health issues and was allowed into the military.

I saw an interview on TV, of friends that she used to live with, who had known her her whole life and they gave no impression that she was unstable prior to her accident and the PTSD she was suffering from. Even the ancedotal recounting sineed gave suggested that whaever her issues were while a teenager had been resolved by the time she was in her 20's.

This to me, if I am going to jump to wildy speculative assumptions about her mental state, that she was abused or being abused, and was acting out.

Thu, 2009-04-02 14:34

#15

remind

Hmmmm....I am thinking about this latest move of Karzi's as being part of a plot to keep our military there.

The media is certainly trying to drum up support for our staying and helping the plight of these "women and children", because after all woman's equality rights around the world, are worth fighting for and instituting, or so said the "Muslim" woman speaking on CTV this am.

Thu, 2009-04-02 14:44

#16

Sean in Ottawa

Funny, I would have thought this was a good reason to get out of there-- like tomorrow.

Thu, 2009-04-02 15:35

#17

remind

wow, just realized that this is where part of my missing post on Afghanistan went!

Thu, 2009-04-02 16:09

#18

G. Muffin

martin dufresne wrote:
I find interesting that people with big mental health issues are not getting screened out of the Canadian Armed Forces, not kept from acquiring firearms, and yes, not getting the adequate supports. It seems as if all the psychologists are busy working for defence lawyers... [b]after the crisis erupts[/b].

[emphasis added]

Generally, people with "big mental health issues," when treated, are treated by psychiatrists (not psychologists) and we tend to get defensive about (and frightened by) this tired, old stereotype.

Thu, 2009-04-02 17:22

#19

Loretta

martin dufresne wrote:
I find interesting that people with big mental health issues are not getting screened out of the Canadian Armed Forces, not kept from acquiring firearms, and yes, not getting the adequate supports. It seems as if all the psychologists are busy working for defence lawyers... after the crisis erupts.

Perhaps it's the CF environment that is a contributing factor in people suffering from mental illness, particularly in a combat environment. Acquiring firearms, yes, that's worth pursuing, as is not having proper support available to people.

Thu, 2009-04-02 19:04

#20

fogbrella

remind wrote:
... And hiding in the bushes with a wheel chair?

first get INTO the bushes, in a wheel chair, THEN hide...

shows real spunk, and ingenuity, too

a quality we really shouldn't be eliminating in this country

Thu, 2009-04-02 19:17

#21

fogbrella

Loretta wrote:

martin dufresne wrote:
I find interesting that people with big mental health issues are not getting screened out of the Canadian Armed Forces, not kept from acquiring firearms, and yes, not getting the adequate supports. It seems as if all the psychologists are busy working for defence lawyers... after the crisis erupts.

Perhaps it's the CF environment that is a contributing factor in people suffering from mental illness, particularly in a combat environment. Acquiring firearms, yes, that's worth pursuing, as is not having proper support available to people.

perhaps it's being in the CF, which is up to it's eyeballs, at the moment, in a "combat environment" that cannot be won militarily

now THAT - and the ever-present danger of having that theory proven CORRECT, at any given moment - should, by rights, drive the whole lot of them stark raving NUTS

I'm (thankfully) not in that environment, but just walking around, realizing that the government would position our forces IN an environment like that, is definitely taking it's toll - on moi!

it's enough drive a guy to drink or drugs!

(the latter being another insane "environment" - an unwinnable "WAR!" that our government is engaged in... against it's own people

it's really astonishing, to me - given the circumstances we're IN - that there aren't even MORE shots - besides police shootings, and the "gang war"'s contribution - ringing out, across the nation)

Fri, 2009-04-03 13:02

#22

Loretta

fogbrella wrote:

perhaps it's being in the CF, which is up to it's eyeballs, at the moment, in a "combat environment" that cannot be won militarily

now THAT - and the ever-present danger of having that theory proven CORRECT, at any given moment - should, by rights, drive the whole lot of them stark raving NUTS

While I agree that these points are part of a larger argument against the "mission" in Afghanistan, they strike me as marginalizing of the effects of war, in the form of PTSD, on many and, in particular, on this woman. It sounds as though she's been without proper care and assistance for over 18 years...and because of that, she will find herself as a person with a disability in prison. There's something very wrong with that picture.