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Parents of Jared Loughner Say They 'Don't Understand' What Prompted Rampage
ABC News ^ | Tuesday, January 11, 2011 | Devin Dwyer, Tonya Kerr, Josey Crews, and Emily Friedman

Posted on 01/11/2011 5:00:40 PM PST by kristinn

The devastated parents of accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner released a statement today saying they "don't understand" what prompted their son to allegedly go on a "heinous" shooting rampage that killed six and injured 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

It was the first word from Loughner's family since the carnage on Saturday.

"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."

The message was signed, "The Loughner Family," and was handed out by two members of the public defenders' office.

SNIP

While this is the first statement from Loughner's family, others who knew the 22-year-old before the attack have spoken out. One one former close friend of Loughner's said he went from a stable high school student to a violent, self-medicated "monster" after his girlfriend dumped him during his junior year of high school.

Zachary Osler said that Loughner, who would walk around with his jaw and fist clenched, spent "excessive amounts of money" on drugs.

Osler said Loughner consumed marijuana, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms and the hallucigenic salvia.

"There was no political motive in this, [Jared] was just angry at the world," he said.

SNIP

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: amyloughner; christinagreen; dupnik; gifford; giffords; jaredloughner; johnroll; loughner; loughnersparents; parents; randyloughner
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1 posted on 01/11/2011 5:00:53 PM PST by kristinn
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To: kristinn

“Osler said Loughner consumed marijuana, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms and the hallucigenic salvia.”

Typical tea party activist. He probably bought the psilocybin mushrooms from Sarah Palin. /s


2 posted on 01/11/2011 5:03:51 PM PST by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: kristinn

Well, it’s about time we heard the words from those who knew the creep, rather than some rediculous political speculation from the Hill politicians.


3 posted on 01/11/2011 5:04:29 PM PST by Morpheus2009 ("God doesn't play dice" - Albert Einstein)
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To: kristinn

Duh, got me??? Dang, they and the kid are just alike.


4 posted on 01/11/2011 5:05:37 PM PST by org.whodat
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To: kristinn
"Zachary Osler said that Loughner, who would walk around with his jaw and fist clenched, spent "excessive amounts of money" on drugs.

Did the money come from extended unemployment benefits? The dad hasnt worked in 22 years. And son has never worked a day in his life.

5 posted on 01/11/2011 5:06:07 PM PST by NoLibZone (Five time DNC backed candidate Fred Phelps: "God sent the shooter".)
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To: kristinn
Parents of Jared Loughner Say They 'Don't Understand' What Prompted Rampage..

Palins Fault!

6 posted on 01/11/2011 5:07:06 PM PST by TomServo
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To: kristinn

>This is a very difficult time for us. We ask the media to respect our privacy

Bwahhahahaha snort, cough snort, LOLOLOLOL

The words “Media” and “respect” do not belong in the same sentence together.


7 posted on 01/11/2011 5:07:06 PM PST by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: kristinn

Authorities say disturbing note found in possession of Arizona gunman

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2655314/posts

The 22-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a deadly shooting rampage wrote “Die, bitch” in a note found at his home, a sheriff’s official told The Associated Press on Tuesday.


8 posted on 01/11/2011 5:08:52 PM PST by jimbo123
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To: forgotten man

Magic mushrooms?

“re are more than 180 species of mushrooms which contain the psychedelics psilocybin or psilocin. They have a long history of use in Mexico and are currently one of the most popular and commonly available natural psychedelics.”

http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml

The hallucenogenic salvia
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5290545

Does anyone know what happens if you combine any of these substances?


9 posted on 01/11/2011 5:11:02 PM PST by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: kristinn
Denial.

I actually feel for them, because having a psychotic child is probably one of the most awful things ever for a parent, especially now when it's virtually impossible to commit older children or get residential treatment for them.

Sometimes it's very hard for parents to admit this. They were probably a little lax (they sound very liberal) and kept telling themselves that it was "just a phase," and probably even congratulated themselves on the fact that he was still at home and hadn't taken off to camp in an abandoned building with a bunch of other self-medicating druggie psychotics. They were probably also a little scared, but at the same time, if the mother was a county employee, they probably wanted to deflect any attention from this child and I'm sure they probably appealed to that awful sheriff not to do anything about him.

But denial is what it's all about in their case.

10 posted on 01/11/2011 5:11:16 PM PST by livius
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To: kristinn

IMHO they had to have knowledge that their son was suffering from psychological problems. Where they went wrong was not getting medical help for him. I think they were in the denial mode. The results of which we are hearing and reading about since Saturday.


11 posted on 01/11/2011 5:12:55 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: kristinn

The devastated parents of accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner released a statement today saying they "don't understand" what prompted their son to allegedly go on a "heinous" shooting rampage that killed six and injured 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Did they say this before or after passing the bong?


12 posted on 01/11/2011 5:15:46 PM PST by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: kristinn
"Parents of Jared Loughner Say They 'Don't Understand' What Prompted Rampage"

Just walk outside and take a look at what soony set up in the back yard...

13 posted on 01/11/2011 5:16:06 PM PST by Beaten Valve
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To: jimbo123

I am beginning to think the sheriff is trying to poison the jury pool.


14 posted on 01/11/2011 5:16:16 PM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: COBOL2Java

I don’t know how to do pictures here, but if anybody want to copy these from my website, then go ahead.

http://squeekyfromm.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/the-jared-secret-democrats-are-terrified-of/

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter


15 posted on 01/11/2011 5:17:37 PM PST by Squeeky ("Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it. " Emily Dickinson)
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To: SE Mom

Over here!!!


16 posted on 01/11/2011 5:18:48 PM PST by hennie pennie
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To: Parley Baer

Well, on the one hand, it really is disturbing that the first thing they have to say is that they have NO IDEA why their son did this.

On the other hand, unless the kid was willing to accept medical help, there was absolutely nothing they could do to force him to seek it.

If they knew that he was making death threats and was going berserk on drugs and was worshipping a skull in the back yard, then possibly their one course of action would have been to tell the authorities. Or at least, NOT to pressure the sheriff to let him off.

Better to have the kid arrested than to let him get deeper and deeper into drugs and insanity. Drying out in jail is no fun, but it would have been better for all concerned than what happened. And what they should have feared would happen.


17 posted on 01/11/2011 5:19:10 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights
I am beginning to think the sheriff is trying to poison the jury pool.

It sure seems like it.
18 posted on 01/11/2011 5:19:46 PM PST by jimbo123
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To: combat_boots

A lot of people who do drugs are actually - like a lot of alcoholics - “self medicating.” Alcoholics do it for depression (although it doesn’t help) and other drug users are trying to deal with other problems.

But just as excess alcohol actually makes depressed people more depressed ultimately, “recreational” (that is, mood altering) drugs make psychotics even worse.

Pot, which many people want to legalize, is actually one of the worst because the reaction is not acute but cumulative, with the result that the habitual stoner gradually changes...with paranoia being one of the results. Believe me, I’ve seen this first hand.

In the case of somebody who is already a schizophrenic and is self-medicating this can be a disaster, as we have seen.


19 posted on 01/11/2011 5:20:39 PM PST by livius
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To: COBOL2Java

Are these his parents? Seriously?


20 posted on 01/11/2011 5:21:36 PM PST by livius
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