NFL Suicides: 12 in 25 Years

Another American football player has died by suicide. That makes a dozen acknowledged suicides of relatively well-known National Football League (NFL) players in the last 25 years.

Junior Seau's girlfriend returned from her time at the gym to their home on the 600 block of South The Strand, Oceanside, California. She discovered Seau, 43, in a bedroom, a gunshot wound to the chest, a revolver near his lifeless body. Two weeks earlier, another retired NFL player had also died by suicide.
Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau, Jr., (January 19, 1969 – May 2, 2012) was an American football linebacker. A ten-time All-Pro and 12-time Pro Bowl selection, Seau was a member of the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.
He played college football at the University of Southern California and was the progenitor of the "NFL-USC linebacker". He was drafted fifth overall by the San Diego Chargers during the 1990 NFL Draft, later played for the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots, and retired from pro football in 2010.
Seau, who was found dead in his Oceanside, California, home on May 2, 2012, of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, is only the latest among several suicides among football players.

Had Seau attempted suicide before this incident? Seau drove his white Cadillac SUV off a coastal cliff at Carlsbad, California hours after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, on Monday morning, October 18, 2010.
An emergency crew found the 12-time Pro Bowler on the beach below the cliff and he was transported to a hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.Seau, who spent the bulk of his 20-season NFL career with the Chargers, was the lone occupant of the car.
Police said there was no evidence that alcohol was a factor in the crash.
The crash followed Seau's arrest late on Sunday evening on charges he assaulted his 25-year-old girlfriend.He was booked into the San Diego County Jail in Vista early Monday morning and posted bail after 3 a.m. PT and was released. His SUV went over the cliff afterward. Seau said he was going to meet his assistant, Hoffman, for coffee at about 9 a.m. PT, when his car slid off the road near the corner of the 101 highway and Palomar Airport Road. Through his attorney, he said the accident was because of the rain San Diego has been experiencing the past couple days, not any intentional action on his part. Seau claimed he fell asleep at the wheel.
It will be noted that NFL player Kendrick L. McKinley had killed himself on Monday, September 20, 2010, exactly a month before Seau's possible attempted suicide.

The role of concussions, which have been linked to suicides, is being called into question in the NFL. But, of course, we must not overlook the behavior contagion and copycats in what is occurring here. Erratic mood shifts and suicidal ideation appear to be directly related to the injuries to the brain. There is also a definite reason that Seau shoot himself in the chest. He was leaving a message that his brain, remaining intact, should be tested.

Junior Seau, Ray Easterling, David Duerson. Photo: TMZ.

Here's an overview of eleven other NFL players who have died by suicide in the modern era (1987-2012):

Ray Easterling (September 3, 1949 – April 19, 2012) was an American football safety in the National Football League. He graduated from the University of Richmond in 1972 and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the ninth round of the 1972 NFL Draft.
In 2011, along with several other NFL players, including two-time Superbowl champion Jim McMahon, Easterling filed a federal lawsuit in Philadelphia, against the NFL over its handling of concussion-related injuries. Unlike a similar suit filed in Los Angeles a month earlier, this suit is the first to seek class-action status and potentially include many other players. Attorney Larry Coben, representing the plaintiffs, stated, "The big issue, for us, is they were told for decades to lead with their heads. The NFL would never admit that there's any correlation (to later health problems)."
Easterling died on April 19, 2012, at the age of 62. His death was ruled a suicide. His wife of 36 years Mary Ann Easterling said she will fight to continue the lawsuit despite her husband's death, and will urge the league to establish a fund for players like her husband who suffered traumatic brain injuries from their playing days.

Michael "Mike" Current (September 17, 1945 – January 16, 2012) was an American football collegiate and professional offensive lineman in the 1960s and 1970s.
On Monday January 16, 2012, Current died by suicide by shooting himself in the head with a 20 gauge shotgun at the scenic outlook at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge near Dallas, Oregon. Current was accused of sexually assaulting three victims, two girls and one boy all 14 or younger, at least five times between 2004 and 2010 in Marion County, Oregon. He allegedly used pornography, such as videos and photos, to elicit sex from the children.
On Tuesday January 17, 2012, Current was set to enter a plea on the charges. He faced a minimum of six years and three months for each of the five sex-abuse charges, a total of more than 30 years without parole, and no chance at reduced time. The Silverton Police Department had been looking into Current since June 17 and were investigating the possibility of other victims. Tara Lawrence, the attorney for the vicitms, indicated that she would be pursuing justice through the civil courts since Current's suicide did not allow the victims to get their day in court. "Our hope is that with Current's death, any additional victims may feel empowered to break their silence and speak out about their own abuse," Lawrence said.

David Russell Duerson (November 28, 1960 – February 17, 2011) was an American football safety in the National Football League (NFL) who played for the Chicago Bears (1983–1989), the New York Giants (1990), and the Phoenix Cardinals (1991–1993). He earned significant honors during his career, including selection to four consecutive Pro Bowls for NFL seasons 1985 through 1988.
Duerson was found dead at his Sunny Isles Beach, Florida home on February 17, 2011. The Miami-Dade County medical examiner reported that Duerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He sent a text message to his family saying he wanted his brain to be used for research at the Boston University School of Medicine, which is conducting research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) caused by playing pro football. He left behind three sons and a daughter from his marriage to ex-wife Alicia Duerson. On May 2, 2011 researcher neurologists at Boston University confirmed that he suffered from a neurodegenerative disease linked to concussions.

Kendrick L. McKinley (January 31, 1987 – September 20, 2010) was an American football wide receiver for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Broncos in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at South Carolina.
McKinley was found dead on September 20, 2010, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death was reported as a suicide by local media, and later confirmed by members of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's office.
A 131-page report was released by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department on December 1, 2010, concluding the investigation into McKinley's death. It stated that depression over debt, injury and his post-playing career were the main factors for his suicide. The report stated that McKinley had a gambling problem and was deep in debt.

Shane Dronett (January 12, 1971 – January 21, 2009) was an American football defensive lineman, who played for the NFL's Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons between 1992 and 2002.
In 2006, Dronett began to exhibit paranoia, confusion, fear, and rage. According to his family, Dronett's behavior changed radically. He was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor in 2007. Its removal did not alleviate Dronett's symptoms.
Dronett confronted his wife with a gun on January 21, 2009. As she ran for safety, he turned the gun on himself. His death was ruled a suicide by the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's office.
After his death, Dronett's brain was tested at Boston University School of Medicine's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. Scientists determined that Dronett suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease associated with repeated head trauma. According to the co-director of the Center, Dr. Robert Stern, linemen are estimated to hit their heads about 1,000 times in each season they play. While those hits may not result in concussions, the repetitive lesser brain injuries are likely associated with the disease.

Andre Waters (March 10, 1962 – November 20, 2006) was an NFL defensive back who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals from 1984 to 1995. Waters was regarded as one of the NFL's hardest-hitting defenders, serving as an integral part of one of the league's top defenses. On November 20, 2006, Waters died by suicide in his Tampa, Florida home.
Waters ended his life by suicide shortly after 1:00 a.m. on November 20, 2006, according to the Hillsborough County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office, dying of a gunshot to the head. He was at his home inTampa, Florida where he was found by his girlfriend. No suicide note was found.
Shortly after Waters' death, former Harvard defensive tackle and WWE wrestler Christopher Nowinski, whose wrestling career was ended by post-concussion syndrome and has since written a book about the dangers of concussions in contact sports, approached Waters' family and asked permission to have his brain tissue examined. After receiving permission, Nowinski had samples of Waters' brain tissue sent to neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu at the University of Pittsburgh. Omalu believed, having examined the tissue, that Waters sustained brain damage from playing football: he went on to state that this led to Waters' depression.
Omalu determined that Waters' brain tissue had degenerated into that of an 85-year-old man with similar characteristics to those of early-stage Alzheimer's victims. Omalu said he believed that the damage was caused and/or hastened by the numerous concussions Waters sustained playing football. Additionally, Omalu said that Waters would have been fully incapacitated within ten years.
The NFL declined to comment on Waters' case specifically. A member of the league's mild traumatic brain injury committee, Dr. Andrew Tucker, said that the NFL was beginning a study of retired players in 2006 to examine the more general issue of football concussions and subsequent depression.

Terry Luther Long (July 21, 1959 – June 7, 2005) was an American college and professional football player who was an offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the 1980s and early 1990s. He played college football for East Carolina University, and thereafter he played professionally for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL.
He died in 2005 from drinking antifreeze. Doctors studied his brain later and believe that brain damage from his football career contributed to his depression and later suicide.

Lawrence Morgan "Larry" Kelley (May 30, 1915 – June 27, 2000) was an American football player born in Conneaut, Ohio. He played end, for Yale University. While at Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and Skull and Bones, and was the second winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1936, the year it was renamed in honor of John Heisman. His jersey number was 19.
To benefit his nieces and nephews, Kelley sold his Heisman Trophy at an auction in December 1999 for $328,110 to the owner of The Stadium Museum, Restaurant & Bar in Garrison, New York, where it now resides. His health was visibly failing by then after having suffered a minor stroke and having open-heart surgery, and on June 27, 2000, Kelley died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Hightstown, ruled a suicide by the police. He was 85 when he died. He was survived by his fourth wife and 18 nieces and nephews.

Thornton Steve Stonebreaker (October 28, 1938 – March 28, 1995) was a professional American football linebacker in the National Football League. He played eight seasons for the Minnesota Vikings (1962–1963), the Baltimore Colts (1964–1966), and the New Orleans Saints (1967–1968). Son Mike also played in the NFL.
Stonebreaker died by suicide on March 28, 1995 by subjecting himself to carbon monoxide poisoning from a car exhaust.

Jeffrey Lawrence Alm (March 31, 1968 – December 14, 1993) was an American football player who played defensive tackle for the Houston Oilers of the National Football League.
According to witness, Alm and his best friend, Sean P. Lynch, had dinner at a Houston-area steakhouse on December 13, 1993. At 2:45 a.m. Central Standard Time the following day, Alm’s Cadillac lost control heading south on Intrastate 610 southbound at the 59 north exit ramp and Lynch was thrown out of the car through the passenger window to his death. Alm had been speeding and lost control of his 1993 Cadillac Eldorado on a curved exit ramp. After the crash Alm ran across the ramp and looked down an embankment towards the Southwest Freeway, discovering that his boyhood friend had been thrown to his death 30 feet below. Apparently distraught by his best friend’s death, Alm took out a pistol grip shotgun, fired two shots into the air and then shot himself in the head.

Michael Allen "Mike" Wise (June 5, 1964 – August 21, 1992) was a professional American football defensive end in the National Football League. He played five seasons for the Los Angeles Raiders (1986–1990) and the Cleveland Browns (1991). He was drafted in 1986 by the Raiders and appeared on the cover of a 1990 issue of Sports Illustrated. He wore jersey #90.
Wise was born in Greenbrae, California. He died by suicide at his home in Davis in 1992.

Larry Bethea (July 21, 1956 – April 24, 1987) was an American football defensive lineman who played six years in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He later played for the Michigan Panthers, Oakland Invaders and Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League. He played college football at Michigan State University.

Bethea was rumored to have a drug abuse problem dating back to his college days, and cocaine addiction was blamed for the problems he had during his adult life.
His troubles with the law began in 1985 when he pleaded guilty to setting three fires in Mount Rainer National Park in Paradise Washington. He was ordered to pay $1,000 dollars to the park to cover the cost of fighting the fires.
In 1986, he was jailed on charges of assaulting his wife and stealing his mother's life savings of $64,000 dollars. In 1987, he was given a suspended four-year prison term for stealing. The judge also ordered Bethea to serve two years on probation while repaying the money.
In the final incident, on April 24, 1987, police were called by an unidentified source who said the former football player had robbed two convenience stores. Bethea, 30, was later found in a friend's backyard with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his right temple and a .38-caliber automatic pistol near his body. He was taken to Hampton General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08 a.m. The gun used in the shooting and the two robberies was believed to be a weapon that was reported stolen from a parked vehicle in the city.

Russia's Copycats

Pavel Astakhov, the Russian Children Rights Commissioner, said the government must immediately act to prevent and contain the alarming rash of teenage suicides in the country.

Could, perchance, the awareness that I was hoping for in 1987 with Suicide Clusters and in 2004 with The Copycat Effect is finally sinking into the editorial rooms of the global media? 

There have been at least seven cases of teenagers killing themselves by jumping from buildings in Moscow and its environs in the last six weeks alone.

At least in...

Russia has been hit with a wave of copycat teenage suicides so pronounced that President Dmitri A. Medvedev felt compelled on Thursday to warn news media outlets against making too much of the deaths, for fear of attracting more imitators.
“It is indeed very alarming and serious, but it does not mean that it is a snowball that will become bigger and bigger every year,” Mr. Medvedev said. “This must be treated extremely gently.”
The spike in teenage suicides began in February, when two 14-year-old girls jumped hand in hand from the 16th-floor roof of an apartment building in suburban Moscow. Afterward, a series of apartment jumps attracted national attention.
Over 24 hours starting on April 9, there were at least six deaths. A girl, 16, jumped from an unfinished hospital in Siberia, while five others hanged themselves: a boy, 15, who died in the city of Perm two days after his mother found him hanging; another 15-year-old, who killed himself on his birthday, in Nizhny Novgorod, a city on the Volga River; teenagers in the northern city of Lomonosov and in Samara; and a 16-year-old murder suspect who used his prison bedsheet to kill himself in Krasnoyarsk.
There have been at least 10 more cases in the past week, including a boy, 11, found hanging under the roof of his house in Krasnodar.

The rest of the New York Times article, "In Russia, Spate of Teenage Suicides Causes Alarm," can be read here.

A version of the above noted article appeared in print on April 20, 2012, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: "A Spate of Teenage Suicides Alarms Russians."

One question for the New York Times: Where are the telephone numbers and weblinks for local or national suicide prevention hotlines at the end of your copycat suicides article (as per the US federal guidelines)?

It is as easy as this, 

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Call 1-800-273-TALK or Chat

Human Earthquakes

This is the scene aboard American Airlines Flight 1561 from Chicago, just ten minutes before arrival at San Francisco's airport, when a Yemeni man attempted to storm the flight's cockpit.

During the last few days, you may have noticed that people are beginning to share questions like, "Is there something in the air?" or "What's in the water?"
Comments such as those usually alert us to the fact there seems to be a strange trend in the news reflecting outbursts of human behavior or what I like to call, "human earthquakes."
There definitely are periods when humans appear to repeat patterns so similar that the copycat effect, behavior contagion, or some mysterious seismic forces seem to be at play. 
Are we in such a period?
First, let us mention the prediction for a massive earthquake occurring today, May 11, 2011. 

Raffaele Bendani, an Italian seismologist, forecast in 1915 that a large earthquake would hit Rome on May 11, 2011.  (Or will it happen on Friday, May 13th?)
Why should people pay attention to Bendani's prediction? Well, of course, because he was right before.  He predicted the earthquake of January 13, 1915, which killed 30,000 people in Avezzano. In 1923, he predicted an earthquake would hit central Italy on January 2, 1924. He was only off by two days. He also forecast the quake of May 6, 1976, in Friuli, which killed 1,000 and left another 45,000 homeless.

An update: Late news reports on May 11th, say a 5.3 earthquake causing eight fatalities hit Spain. See here.

On May 12th, UK's The Telegraph asked, "Was Bendani Correct?"

As the earthquake struck yesterday, there was a sigh of relief in Rome, whose residents had mounted a mass evacuation following claims of a 1915 prediction by Mr Bendandi that the “big one” would wipe out the Eternal City on May 11, 2011….“There is absolutely no link between Spain and Italy, geologically, or with the prediction of an earthquake in Rome,” said the Italian National Institute of Geology and Vulcanology.   

“The earthquake in Spain was not very strong in itself, but it was close to the surface,” said Alberto Michelini, a seismologist at the institute. “The quake happened on the coast, a zone which has not had strong quakes in the past. It is close, however, to the point where the Eurasian plate meets the African plate,” he added.

Meanwhile, what about the human earthquakes?

What is remarkable is the rather high number of incidents of strange human bizarre behaviors of late. Such outbursts are often associated, in the public mind and media, with some form of lunacy, i.e. as if they are caused by the full moon, the new moon, an alignment of planets, or earthquake activity (which, in turn, is blamed on the moon/planets, as well).
The following is a quick roundup of some of these recent incidents.
The one that received the most media notice involved an event that appeared to remind people of the 9/11 scenarios, and, indeed, was frightening to those abroad the involved flight. Rageit Almurisi, 29, a Yemeni man screamed "Allah Akbar" as he stormed the flight's cockpit. He banged on the cockpit door on American Airlines Flight 1561 from Chicago, just ten minutes before the jet was due to land on Sunday night, May 8, 2011. A flight attendant tackled the man to the floor, and the attendant was soon assisted by other passengers.

The incident was another scare during a weekend that saw several similar ones for American air passengers and followed a number of security alerts at bus and train stations and airports across America, following the death of Osama Bin Laden:

A man slipped into the PATH tunnel at the World Trade Center in New York and walked all the way to Jersey before saying he had left a bomb in the tunnel;

A gunman who shot two Houston officers outside a downtown Greyhound bus depot was confirmed dead;

Police blocked off several streets in the Bronx, New York, as the NYPD bomb squad investigated a parked SUV;

The Mockingbird DART station and the surrounding area in Dallas, Texas, were evacuated on Saturday after a police dog alerted authorities to suspicious packages;

Four people were arrested at Denver International Airport after staff noticed someone videotaping security lines;

A 34-year-old Illinois man went berserk aboard Continental Airlines Boeing 737 from Houston to Chicago and tried to open the door at 35,000ft, but a Vietnam veteran and martial arts expert tackled him from behind;

A Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to San Diego was diverted to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a flight attendant found a note in the lavatory with the word "bomb." FBI agents ushered the passengers and crew to safety;

A woman stripped naked on a Delta flight;

A half-naked man in Fayetteville, Arkansas, died when a falling incident occurred;

A naked man went berserk on a subway; and

On Tuesday night, May 10, yet another man, this time on a Delta flight, attempted to open an exit door.

More probably will follow.

Immolation Copycats 2011

Worldwide, we are in the midst of a wave of political

immolation copycats, with at least seven 

deadly incidents being recorded since 

the spark was ignited a month ago in Tunisia.

As I wrote in The Copycat Effect, one of the most imitated public and political forms of self-death is the fire suicide.

More protesters set themselves on fire in Egypt, Mauritania and Algeria on Monday, January 17, 2011, in apparent copycat fiery suicide attempts inspired by the act that helped trigger a popular uprising in Tunisia. Besides the Tunisian and Egyptian accounts, reports of fire suicides in four Algerian towns and in the capital of Mauritania have circulated in the past five days.

One incident involved a man setting himself on fire outside of parliament in the Egyptian capital. Policemen guarding Cairo's parliament building and some passers-by used fire extinguishers to put out the blaze surrounding Abdou Abdel-Monaam Hamadah, 48. He was taken to the hospital with burns on 60 percent of his body.

Egyptian Abdou Abdel-Monaam Hamadah is shown in a hospital in Cairo on Monday after setting himself on fire on a busy street in front of the People's Assembly. His hospital image was broadcast throughout the Arab world.

Another was of a Mauritanian man who set himself on fire in front of presidential palace in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, in an echo of suicide that triggered Tunisia uprising. Yacoub Ould Dahoud, 40, a company director and member of a wealthy family, was upset about alleged government mistreatment of his tribe. Dahoud doused himself with gasoline while sitting in his locked car in front of the presidential palace and set himself on fire. He was rescued by security forces and bystanders who broke open his car windows. He was taken to the hospital with burns.

Four men in four different Algerian towns also set themselves on fire in the past week, Reuters reported. One of the men died after setting himself on fire at a government building in Algeria, state radio reported on Sunday, also echoing the self-immolation that triggered the protests that toppled the leader of neighboring Tunisia.

Mohsen Bouterfif doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire on Thursday, January 13, after a meeting with the mayor of the small city of Boukhadra who was unable to provide him a job and a house, the daily El Khabar newspaper said. He died on Saturday of his burns.

The photographs being published are often graphic. Mohsen Bouterfif is shown in the hospital, after he doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire.

About 100 young men protested over Mohsen's death in the town, in Tebessa province, 700 km east of Algiers. The governor of the province sacked the mayor, El Khabar said.

Several Algerian towns, including the capital Algiers, have experienced riots in recent weeks over unemployment and a sharp rise in the prices of food staples.

Official sources say two people have been killed and scores were injured during the unrest, which unfolded in parallel to street violence in Tunisia and demonstrations over high food prices in other North African and Middle Eastern countries. To calm the protests, Algeria has cut the cost of sugar and cooking oil.

The fall of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on Friday -- the first time in generations that an Arab leader has been toppled by public protests -- sent a sharp signal to the rest of the region, dominated by autocratic regimes. 

The protests that brought down Ben Ali erupted after the self-immolation of 26-year-old vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire on December 17, 2010. Bouazizi died weeks later of his burns, becoming a martyr to crowds of students and the unemployed protesting against poor living conditions.

The incidents reflect the growing despair among the public of many Arab regimes resisting reform. They are deeply symbolic means of protest in a region that has little or no tolerance for dissent.

It was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old unemployed man in Tunisia last month that sparked the tidal wave of protests that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last week. A total of 78 people have been killed since the start of unrest in Tunisia, the country's interior minister told the media on January 17th.

Ben Ali ruled with an iron fist for 23 years, time spent in the company of similarly authoritarian rulers across much of the Arab world like Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, in power since 1969, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, in office since 1981, and Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled that impoverished nation since he seized power more than 30 years.

The stunning collapse of the Tunisian leader drew a litany of calls for change elsewhere in the Arab world, but activists faced the reality of vast security forces heavily vested in the status quo and hard-line regimes that crack down on dissent.

The men who have set themselves alight in recent days appeared to be inspired by the self-immolation of Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi, a university graduate whose fruits and vegetables market stand was confiscated by police because it had no permit. His death touched a nerve with educated, unemployed youths in the North African country, prompting the mass protests that toppled Ben Ali.

Self-immolation as a method of protest is uncommon in the Arab world, where many associate it with protesters in the Far East or the Indian subcontinent. But Egyptian women in rural or poor urban areas have been known to set themselves on fire to protest violent husbands, abusive parents or an unwanted suitor.

"It is clear that Tunisia and its events had an impact on Egypt as well as Algeria," said veteran Egyptian columnist Salama Ahmed Salama. The attempted self-immolation in Cairo on Monday, he added, will be a "worrying element to the government."

Arab political spokesmen are trying to put a calming spin on the impact of the fire copycats. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit ruled out the possibility that Tunisia's political uprising will spread.

+++
Update, as per the comment below: The copycat immolations are spreading. A 16-year-old French boy was rushed to a local hospital on Tuesday (January 18, 2011) in critical condition after setting himself on fire at his Marseille private school. Meanwhile, also, an 18-year-old schoolboy from the southwestern town of Bordeaux, France, has been in a coma since November 18, 2010, when he set himself on fire in his school.

A Week Of Body Counts

I predicted an increasing build-up in copycat activity as the calendar ticks off days moving towards April 20, 2009, the tenth anniversary of Columbine.

Here's the week that just was (click on the dates for full details):

Saturday, March 27.

A 23-year-old beheads his younger sister Bianca, 5, and kills Samantha Revelus, 17, at their home in Milton, Massachusetts. The killer is killed by police officers.

Sunday, March 29.

Seven patients and a nurse were killed during a Sunday morning shooting at a Carthage, North Carolina, nursing home. The 45-year-old man accused of carrying out the attack was shot by a police officer, and his condition "is currently unknown."

Friday, April 3.



A 41-year-old gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before dying by suicide, in Binghamton, New York.

Saturday, April 4.

The bodies of five children between the ages of 7 and 16 years old and their father were found dead in separate locations south of Seattle, near Orting, Washington State on Saturday. The father apparently killed his children before dying by suicide near a casino some distance away from their home.

Three Pittsburgh police officers responding to a domestic-disturbance call on the morning of Saturday, were killed when a man, who is hiding and waiting, armed with an AK-47, opened fire on them.

Other very recent shootings include these:



A gunman (pictured above) killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Alabama; shootings that began with a traffic stop in Oakland, California, left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, California, left six dead. At an Illinois church, a man shot and killed the pastor and stabbed two parishioners, and a 17-year-old (below) in Germany killed 15 people in two small towns before dying in a shootout with police.



Updates: It appears I'm not the only one with the notion that an overview is in order. Thanks to Patrick Huyghe who told me about "No End In Sight," after I wrote the above.

Another overview article has been published on Monday: "Deadly Rampages Rack the Nation," Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2009.

Yet another such long discussion has been published, and it notes the role of the media and other factors.

The AP detailed it this way, later on April 5th:

A string of shootings in the U.S. in the last month alone has claimed the lives of 53 people:
_MARCH 10, SAMSON, Ala. — A gunman kills 10 people and commits suicide in a rampage that spanned two dozen miles across the southern Alabama countryside. Police say Michael McLendon had struggled to keep a job and left behind lists of employers and co-workers he believed had wronged him.
_MARCH 22, OAKLAND, Calif. — A man pulled over in a routine traffic stop fatally shoots two officers and then kills two more in a gunfight in which the suspect was also killed. Relatives say Lovelle Mixon, 26, had been frustrated about not finding work and feared returning to jail.
_MARCH 29, SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A man shoots and kills his two children and three other relatives, then kills himself at a family housewarming party in an upscale neighborhood. Investigators don't yet know the motive of Devan Kalathat, a 42-year-old engineer at Yahoo.
_MARCH 29, CARTHAGE, N.C. — A man opens fire in a nursing home and kills seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. Investigators say Robert Stewart, 45, apparently had targeted an estranged wife, a nurse's assistant who escaped by hiding in a bathroom.
_APRIL 3, BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — A gunman bursts into an immigrant center and kills 13 people before killing himself. Police say Jiverly Wong, a 41-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, was apparently upset about losing his job and about people picking on him for his limited English.
_APRIL 4, PITTSBURGH — A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opens fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them. Police say Richard Poplawski, 23, had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
_APRIL 4, GRAHAM, Wash. — A man fatally shoots his five children in their mobile home and then takes his own life in his car miles away. Relatives identified the father as James Harrison. A motive was not yet known.



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Stock Market Suicides: Update

Will a rash of copycat suicides occur because of graphic wall-to-wall media coverage of future "celebrity suicides" linked to stock market collapses?

Reporter Kyle Martin surveyed this blog, The Copycat Effect, and interviewed me for Sunday's article in Hernando Today, a publication of The Tampa Tribune to attempt to answer this question.

Link Is Shaky Between Suicide And Economy
by Kyle Martin
Hernando Today
November 23, 2008

It's the kind of water cooler theory that has just enough credibility to sound plausible.

As the economy continues to post record losses, it's generally accepted that more people will commit suicide as their 401ks evaporate and unemployment rises.

After all, brokers jumped from windows during the market crash of 1929, right?

Well, yes and no.

Like many rumors, it's necessary to sift through the fiction to find the nuggets of truth that are often the genesis of these stories. First, take a look at the numbers.

Records from the medical examiner's office show there were 20 suicides in Hernando County in 2007. Through Oct. 31 of this year, there were 26.

Without examining each case specifically, there's no way to extrapolate that the deaths were specifically linked to an ailing economy. That leaves anecdotal evidence.

Darlene Linville, president of Hernando County's chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, doesn't overrule the possibility that the economy played a part in recent suicides.

"I think it's pretty obvious that there will be some kind of link," Linville said, but she cautioned that it's hard to determine exactly how far that link extends.

There's global evidence to consider. On Monday, a Brazilian trader in the open outcry pit of Sao Paulo's commodities exchange shot himself in the chest, according to media reports.

In Calcutta, India, a man hanged himself on Nov. 15 with his wife's sari after losing a large amount on the stocks exchange. Also this month, a London investment-fund executive stepped in front of a train in what the local press called the "first City suicide of the credit crunch."

So what about the crash of 1929? Stories of citizens who had lost their fortunes plummeting to their death are exactly that - stories. Between Oct. 24, or "Black Thursday," and the end of the year only four of the 100 suicides or attempted suicides were linked to the crash, according to a contemporary New York Times account.

It seems there were two grisly jumps on Wall Street that kept the myth going, along with quips about hotels asking if their guests wanted their room for "sleeping or jumping."

Investors have since learned to diversify their portfolios so that a stock market crash does not wipe out their entire fortune, as frequently happened in 1929.

Linville said people with existing mental illnesses are particularly susceptible to suicide, especially people suffering from depression and bipolar disorder. But even mentally healthy people can be overwhelmed by a "life stressor," she said.

The economy is one of many stressors that can that lead to suicide, said Tricia Wilmouth, a psychologist with a practice on Citrus Way. But she adds that it's certainly something to be considered.

"People are losing everything, their homes, jobs and retirement," she said. "They're back at ground zero."

Then again, consider that veterans returning from war also have higher than average suicide rates, she said.

Historical studies show that suicides actually decrease during times of national economic and emotional stress, said Loren Coleman, author of the "Copycat Effect."

Coleman's research focuses on the perpetuation of violent acts and suicides, called the copycat effect. School shootings are a classic example of students mimicking their peers.

This cycle has grown stronger with the advent of cable news networks and the Internet, which can keep a story alive for longer periods, Coleman said.

Lately the media has been preoccupied with post-election coverage. But if they start reporting on suicides and the economy then the copycat effect will kick in and it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy, Coleman said.

The same could happen if a major CEO decides to kill himself in a graphic fashion, he added.

When evaluating rumors, "look for trends and rates, as opposed to anecdotal (evidence)," he said.

Although not everyone is on the brink of suicide, the tough times are impacting people in different ways. The amount of people suffering is piquing the collective conscience, said Wilmouth, citing a term coined by psychology pioneer Carl Jung.

That empathy on an unconscious level for the less fortunate is sparking more small acts of kindness, Wilmouth said. She attributes that to people feeling lucky and blessed, but also a touch of guilt.

Wilmouth has also noticed that many people in these tough times are reverting back to their most recent bad habit.

"Everyone is trying to find a moment of peace and serenity and it's real hard to find these days," Wilmouth said.

Dark Deaths Engulf Wales

The Welsh countryside is being visited by dampness, darkness, and death. The spirit and happiness of youthful hope is being snuffed out.

When I wrote my book Suicide Clusters for Faber and Faber (Boston and London) in 1987, few people accepted the reality that suicides clustered. By the time The Copycat Effect came out in 2004, it was taken for granted that suicide clusters existed and do happen.

This week the media began to report on a highly active cluster happening in Wales, in and around Bridgend, a former coal mining community of 40,000, and today the site of a well-known prison.

The death toll went to seven with the latest suicide occurring this Wednesday, when Natasha Randall died by hanging.

In addition to Randall, six men between the ages of 17 and 27 have also been found dead in the area. Authorities have ruled three of the cases to be suicides; the others are under investigation, but suicide is suspected. [See the update at the end, regarding a possible new count of 13 deaths by suicide.]

Let me be clear. From reading about how they all have died, I would say that all seven are suicidal deaths.

Read for yourself, how these associates and friends killed themselves:

Dale Crole, 18, hanged himself at the Coney Beach funfair at Porthcawl, near Bridgend, January 2007;

David Dilling, 19, a former classmate of Dale from Pyle, near Bridgend, hanged himself, February 2007;

Thomas Davies, 20, who had been at school with both Dale and David, found hanged from a tree in David’s home village two days before his funeral, February 2007;

Zachery Barnes, 17, of Wildmill, Bridgend, a friend of Thomas’s family, hanged with washing line, August 2007;

Liam Clarke, 20, a friend of Dale, found hanged in a park in Bridgend, December 2007;

Gareth Morgan, 27, who knew Liam, found hanged in his bedroom, January 2008; and

Natasha Randall, 17, of Blaengarw, Bridgend, a close friend of Liam, hanged herself in her bedroom, January 2008.

The common method hanging unites these deaths in the cluster.

Near Bridgend, from my research, clustering has happened before. In 2003, the Bridgend Samaritans group wanted to put signs at a south Wales beauty spot to persuade suicidal people to call them. Southerndown Cliffs near Ogmore in the Vale of Glamorgan had become a notorious suicide spot, with nine deaths since December 2000. That translates into a cluster of nine jumping deaths between December of 2000 and May 2003 ~ nine deaths in 18 months.

In 2006, the media quoted Philip Walters, the coroner, as saying he was "desperately concerned" about the number of young men dying by suicide in his area (Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil). Over an 11-month period in 2006, he said he dealt with nearly one case of suicide per week for men under 30. (If he actually said that, the new 2007-2008 cluster in Bridgend should be no surprise to him.)

In the midst of the 2006 events, a widely reported story was of a Swansea Institute computer student Geraint Banks-Wilkinson, 20, from Nantymoel, who died by hanging on January 13, 2006. His death seemed directly related to his worries about an overdraft at his bank, the Bridgend branch of HSBC. Mr. Banks-Wilkinson's father, Geoff, a prison officer, said of the bank: "The way they treated him was appalling."

Bridgend appears to be one of those communities that has a historical predisposition to clustering and contagion, where suicide is seen as an option for "coping" among vulnerable and hopeless youth.

Now the deaths in Bridgend are front-page news stories worldwide and people are looking to blame someone or something.
"People are saying it might be some sort of cult, but we don't know," said Luke Wills, 25. "There is something amiss, but we don't know what."

Even speculation about a "pact" has been floated about.

"It's nothing like that. What people are saying is not true," said Alicia Johns, a friend of 17-year-old Natasha Randall, who was found dead last week.

"People get down and they do it," she added, saying the young people acted on their own and were not influenced by others. "It's all from the same group, I knew these people."

But this suicide cluster is probably merely being pushed along by the copycat effect, in which the model for suicide among impulsive, action-driven, forlorn youth has now been placed in front of them in an area that has turned grim in a downward economy reinforced in the nearly perpetual damp mists that shroud Bridgend in the long winter months. The darkness of despair can run deep. One need not blame cults, pacts, video games, the internet, or even the media. The gloom is like the fog surrounding one at night in Bridgend, and for many, the modeling of past suicides shout out from those Welsh nights.

Remember, if you live in Wales, don't forget to keep talking to each other and help each other through these dark times.

~ UK Samaritans: 08457 90 90 90 and www.samaritans.org ~

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Update: Senior detectives investigating a spate of young suicides in south Wales over the past year are to re-examine the files of 13 deaths in the area - including four cases that are officially closed. South Wales police issued a statement saying: "We will be reviewing a number of cases of sudden deaths in the Bridgend area as part of the investigation process. At this stage, we can't confirm the number or further detail."

According to other sources, among the cases are five involving people aged between 21 and 27, three 20-year-olds, two 19-year-olds, an 18-year-old and two 17-year-olds. All are apparently unexplained and were within the space of a few miles.




Bridgend, Wales, in calmer days.