Not trying to turn this into a flounder thread from the get go.. but anybody who has guns, my advice to you, keep them locked up.
My nephew was a troubled kid, not the kind that got in trouble, but one what faced mental pain most of his young 15 year life. Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Syndrome (and he was a handful) and depressive. He took a gun to school today and ended his life.
My sister was out here with us, helping my mother with another death, that of a very close family friend that she had been tending to for the past few years (he was 92) when she got an email from the school that classes had been cancelled for the day due to a "medical emergency". All the parents got one of these. After an hour of trying to get in touch with her youngest son, she called my Brother-in-law and asked him to look for him.
My B-I-L is a Master Gunner in the Army and was on base at the time. He had not even made it off base when he was called and asked to report to the CO. It was there that he learned the news that his son might be dead. At the time no details were given, only that he had to go to the coroner's office to identify the body.
Needless to day, my family is now living a nightmare that none of us will wake up from. My sister worked with troubled suicidal teens and will now have to live with the fact that she did so and could not save her own son. My Brother-in-Law will have to know that for the rest of his life, it was one of his sidearms that had been used in the suicide.
The rest of us just have memories of a slightly too bouncy young boy who loved coming out to visit the "beach gramma" when they could find time (and money). This was a young boy, that at the age of 2, I carried on my shoulders to the top of the Light House in Cape May NJ.
I would use the term shock.. but it does not fit. I am horrified, scared, saddened, frustrated, angry, and yes Shocked at everything that happened today.. It was a long day that had me leaving work early and taking my Sister to Philly to catch a flight out (she had originally been going to fly out tomorrow) and I do need to thank the people at United airlines for finding her a way home on such short notice and even TSA for walking her through the very long lines so that she did not have to deal with that in her grieving state.
Sis should be home around midnight their time.. so 2amish here. What happens in Colorado tonight is going to test her strength in ways I cannot imagine. I am mentally exhausted, and he was my nephew.. I cannot imagine how they feel. No parent should have to bury their children.
