Posted on 01/10/2011 6:51:58 PM PST by kristinn
Reporting from Tucson — The parents of Jared Lee Loughner, accused of shooting Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 other people, were huddled in seclusion in their Tucson home Monday night, his father crying and his mother so shaken she could not get out of bed, a neighbor told The Times.
As the sun was beginning to set Monday, Randy Loughner called his neighbor, retired gasoline truck driver Wayne Smith, 70, to ask him to get their mail. Smith, who is not particularly close to the Loughners, grabbed the mail and was invited inside.
"They're in there now," Smith said in a subsequent interview with The Times. "They're both in there crying. He's crying and hanging on to me and she's not even out of bed."
Smith described the Loughners as very private and said they knew few people on their street, although they had lived in the neighborhood since before Jared, 22, was born. He said Jared was their only child. Smith said Loughner's mother, Amy, had a good job with good retirement and pay, and Randy was a stay-at-home dad who liked to work on cars.
"He worshipped the boy," Smith said.
SNIP
All three wept together outside on Saturday. "We stood right out there and cried for an hour. I'm a softie," Smith said. "A man needs compassion. He's broken up about his son, but also about all those people who died."
Smith said the family is intensely private. "The best way I can describe it, they're like a mountain man," he said. "They want to be alone."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Your post leaves me humbled to the point of squinting eyes, prayers for you Silverleaf, something’s real and perhaps experienced behind that post, something that would drive the rest of us to our knees and rightfully so...
Only if they tried to get him professional help over the last few years. Otherwise, they were enablers.
He killed/injured 19 people. What kind of gun was this guy using. Don’t most semi-automatic pistols hold 16 per magazine? Did he have time to reload?
Really, what could they have done?
Years ago, it was decided that the mentally ill's civil rights outweighed their need for treatment. The viewpoint was, "you have a right to be crazy" and hands were tied. Hospitals were emptied and the insane were sent out to the streets to fend for themselves. As is the case, it is often very difficult today to get an adult mentally ill family member the care they need. All too often, they can't be institutionalized against their will until after they've hurt themselves or committed a crime and by then it's too late -for themselves and their victims.
Just a sad story for everyone involved.
>> I’m supposed to believe they did not know that was going on..
What would you do, rewire his brain?
We’re trivializing the complexity of dealing with young males that have serious psychological problems. Some parents escape into blind hope because they’re unable to cope with the reality of what has become of their child. It can be a living hell for a family that has to deal with this type of thing.
The fact the father is reported to be a “hot head”, and the mother “a liberal” does not necessarily make them responsible for the massacre. Right now, there’s one suspect in custody, and that’s Jared.
I know. I just had a weak moment.
Are you perfect? Do you not sin?
I think back on my (late) grandparents who raised a cold blooded killer son but yet raised 3 other normal children as well.
Where are Loughner’s high school teachers? Other relatives? Where he worked? The people he volunteered with at that big crossword puzzle? People at the local gas station? Video gamers? People who sell candles & stuff like for what that shrine thingy was. Groups he belonged to. Clothes he bought. Grocery store people. Pharmacists. Anybody.
We have 2 or 3, here and there. The guy with the pink hair, etc.
You would think people in Tucson would be burning up the airwaves. At the places where the parents work, the PTA, etc.
I think the sheriff might be trying to divert attention from himself. It sounds as if he had some contact in the past with Jared and they knew he had some serious problems. I think there should be an investigation. We all know how the far left liberals make excuses for evil people and nut cases. As long as they are not conservative or Christian that is.
Interestingly, schizophrenics do not tend to be any more violent than the population at-large. Of course, when they are violent, it gets plenty of media attention.
I totally agree with silverleaf. You all have no idea what you are talking about and are just hotheads.
“he had a tent outside their house where he would go pray to a SKULL..”
where’d that come from!!!???
The community college had the parents come in because of his being a violent threat to others.
The kid had skulls and candles in their backyard.
The parents along with Sheriif Dupnic are more to blame than the mentally ill kid.
They could have saved the victims and the kid.
I know a family with a problem son, a son engaging in drug abuse who keeps getting DUI’s. Their life is a living hell. The son knows he has his parents wrapped around his fingers and he’s like, keep kissing my butt or I’ll get into more trouble and they’ll blame you.
Bernie Goldberg was talking about it today on BOR..and I had heard earlier that the police had located an alter in his backyard with a skull and a tent
The gun was a Glock 19 9mm semi-automatic. I read that it held 31 rounds. He did try to reload but some of the people there stopped him.
Most damning, he immediately knew what he had done was wrong and tried to flee prosecution. He’s screwed.
You are living in la la land and have no clue what you are talking about. I hope you get a chance to demonstrate your beliefs someday so you can see what it is like.
It was a Glock-19.
It is unclear so far as to how many times he was able to replace the magazine.
It is also unclear if he had an extended magazine.
What has been reported, is that he was stopped while trying to insert another magazine into the pistol.
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