Posted on 11/08/2004 12:55:02 AM PST by ambrose
Posted on Mon, Nov. 08, 2004
Man who killed self at Ground Zero upset about election, girlfriend
BY MAKI BECKER AND ADAM LISBERG
New York Daily News
ATHENS, Ga. - (KRT) - The Georgia man who killed himself at Ground Zero was upset about President Bush's re-election - but his biggest problem may have been his double life, a source told the New York Daily News on Sunday.
Andrew Veal, 25, was engaged to be married to an Iowa college student, whom he was supposed to see at her sister's wedding in Seattle this weekend. But Veal also had a girlfriend in Athens, Ga., where he lived, sources said.
When cops found his body in lower Manhattan's hallowed ground Saturday morning, they found a note to his girlfriend saying she was "too good" for him, a source said. The note also included a reference to Bush's victory, the source said.
Friends and co-workers said they never had a clue Veal was suicidal.
"I think he wanted it to be dramatic," said one 23-year-old Athens friend. "The election was just a catalyst."
Veal was a peaceful, liberal vegetarian who hated guns, never got worked up about politics or Sept. 11 and seemed content, friends said.
"He doesn't even have friends who have guns," said Mary Anne Mauney, Veal's boss at a University of Georgia survey research lab. "We're all trying to understand, and nobody does."
Veal and his roommates held an Election Night party in their clapboard house near the University of Georgia campus, where they expected to celebrate a John Kerry victory.
But the day after Bush won, Veal bought a shotgun in an Athens store and drove to New York, a source said, where he went on a spending spree with his girlfriend's credit card.
While his mom and his fiancee tried desperately to reach him by phone, he called an Athens restaurant where he worked part time and said he was in New York on Thursday.
He was found Saturday morning when a worker at the Millenium Hotel across Church St. from Ground Zero saw him lying on a concrete structure inside the gated and guarded perimeter.
Police from the Port Authority, which controls the 16-acre site, found Veal's car nearby and are reconstructing his movements, spokesman Steve Coleman said.
Among their concerns: How did a shotgun-toting man slip unnoticed into the guarded area - a solemn tourist destination that is also a major rail hub with entrances to Hudson River PATH tunnels?
Port Authority cops and private security guards watch the site, and Coleman would not say if surveillance cameras caught Veal's movements. He asked anyone who may have seen anything unusual Friday night to contact PA police.
Mauney said Veal's mother was in a "terrible" condition after learning of her son's death, and his friends could not fathom why he chose to end it all at Ground Zero.
"He was just an incredibly wonderful person - sensitive, passionate, caring and kind. I'll miss him very much," Mauney said. "As to the whys or hows, nobody knows."
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I'll nominate this "liberal vegetarian" for a Darwin Award. Natural selection in action. Both women should be pleased that they reduced their chances of spawning village idiots.
Well he left one of his women another note - from VISA.
An "I'm to good for you, my candidate won" letter?
But the day after Bush won, Veal bought a shotgun in an Athens store and drove to New York, a source said, where he went on a spending spree with his girlfriend's credit card.
How must this make the woman he was going to marry feel?
LUCKY!
"liberal vegetarian"
Studies have shown that eating steak and reading National Review, once a week, prevents suicide.
Where to start?
Oh, good now there is someplace new on the East Coast to commit suicide other than jumping into Niagra falls.
Gene pool clean-up on Isle Five!!!
Considering comments I've heard about women in Athens area, one has to ponder.
An apparently peaceful, liberal vegetarian who hated guns and worked at a university. I'll bet he hated his name - Veal.
If anyone can find a pic of Mr. Veal and post it, I'd appreciate it. I've looked at NY & Georgia media websites and haven't been able to find a pic of him.
Arminians really need to lighten up.
...and your also a lib.
Oh the irony
Aisle.
Veal the Vegitarian. You can't beat real life for weirdness.
ROFLMAO, really, could you ask for anything better than the lead in to that sentence?
Crazy ain't it....BTW I apologize for posting the duplicate... I asked the Mods to pull # 11.
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