The only way to stop these murders is for the general public
to step up and learn to prevent suicides.
As these incidents are developing, clues and hints of
distress and trouble accumulate around a person. We see problems related to how
the person is thinking, failure to succeed at work or school, trouble in life,
loss of a girlfriend, or other experiences of
shame and guilt. We also notice expressions of hurt or resentment. When a critical point is
reached (and sometimes after surprisingly careful planning) the person takes
action. It is at the action stage that suicides and violent attacks diverge. An
attacker strikes out against an institution, person or group, or even against
random people. The action is a statement.
We are learning that the Portland mall shooter Jacob Tyler
Roberts had a life that lately reeked of failure, depression, fantasy, drinking and more.
He quit his job at a sandwich shop, and sold
all of his belongings. He gave up his dream of becoming a firefighter. He broke
up with his girlfriend. He dropped out of community college. He made up a
fantasy plan about buying the shop where he worked. He lied about inheriting a
large sum of money. He was supposed to
move to Hawaii but didn’t, saying he missed his flight because he got drunk (if
there actually was a flight). He had a Facebook cover photo that said “Cancelled.”
He wrote on his Facebook wall: "I
may be young but I have lived one crazy life so far." Once easy-going and
sociable, he dropped out of sight this past year. His phone was disconnected. He
was evicted from his apartment in July. His Oregon driver’s license was suspended.
His commercial driver’s license was suspended. He wrote that he was an
adrenaline junkie who enjoyed shooting.
There are parallels between Roberts and the Sikh Temple
shooter Wade Page, whose final hate drama episode took place just up the street
from the restaurant where his ex-girlfriend worked.
Page’s military career ended in 1998 when he refused
treatment for his drinking. By 2000, then age 29, Page’s beliefs about an
impending holy war were fixed. In 2000, Page sold everything he owned and went
on a cross country trip attending festivals and shows. In 2001, he couldn’t
hold a regular job because he drank so heavily that he would pass out and miss
work the next day. In 2003, Page was
having trouble paying his bills, irritating his friends and evidently wearing
out his welcome. He moved back to Fayetteville, where he worked at a
Harley-Davidson dealership for a year and a half. The dealership fired Page
because he refused to obey orders from female co-workers. According to his
former boss, Page showed a volatile side when women tried to tell him what to
do. He worked as a truck driver from 2006 – 2010. He was fired after a DUI
offense. His home was foreclosed on in January 2011. He moved to Milwaukee in
2011, where he moved in with a girlfriend. He was hired as a temporary night
shift worker in a local factory in February. Page and his girlfriend broke up
in June 2012. Page stopped showing up for his job in mid-July. His landlord
said he owed back rent when the attack happened in August, about a block from
where Page’s ex-girlfriend worked..
What everyone can do to
prevent attack-suicides
In most of these situations the only possible intervention
is below the level of our formal systems.
Prevention is the responsibility of
family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Even if reported, emergency
responders can't act forcefully if the risk is not immediate and serious.
Sometimes the police or a crisis team might be able to make a safety check
visit to a person's home.
The best thing
anyone can do is to support their friend. This helps prevent feeling isolated
and helps build resiliency. You are unlikely to ever know if the steps you take
to support a friend have prevented a suicide or interrupted a developing course
of violence. You want the person to become more resilient and successful, so
that the outcome is positive.
Try to have a brief chat in a public place but out of
earshot of other people. Ask the following questions one at a time, in order.
Practice the questions out loud. Yes, this is awkward. You can use your own
words, but follow the pattern. Listen to the person's answer. People benefit
simply by knowing they have been heard.
-- What have you accomplished since the last time we talked?
-- What are you facing?
-- Who are your allies?
-- What is your plan?
As you listen, be on the lookout for suicide risk factors.
These include prior violence, substance abuse, a failure of addiction or mental
health treatment, difficulty verbally expressing feelings, stress, extreme
discouragement or recent shameful loss, no ability to make effective plans,
trouble relating to other people's feelings, the onset of schizophrenia or
another major mental illness, and lack of sources of support.
If you start to feel worried, offer to connect your friend
to a more formal source of help. You may have the single most important
opportunity to help your friend. If you detect tunnel vision and a sense of
diminishing options, or the person talks about suicide, or expresses a lack of
hope, ask the person directly about thoughts of suicide. Suicide is much more
likely than violence directed against other people. Ask directly using these
words: "Are you thinking about killing yourself?"
If you sense that the person is becoming suicidal, stay with
the person. Try to persuade them to seek help from their doctor or visit an
emergency room. Offer to help them get in contact with a crisis hotline by
calling 1-800-273-8255 or dialing 911.
Effective suicide prevention training is available online
through the QPR Institute at www.qprinstitute.com/ and from many community
groups.
Sources
Clackamas Town Center shooting: Friends say it’s hard to
imagine Jacob Roberts as a killer. (n.d.). The Oregonian - OregonLive.com.
Retrieved December 13, 2012, from
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2012/12/clackamas_town_center_shooting_33.html
Elias, M. (2012). Sikh Temple Killer Wade Michael Page Was
Radicalized by Army Base’s “Thriving Neo-Nazi Underworld”. AlterNet. Retrieved
from
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/sikh-temple-killer-wade-michael-page-was-radicalized-army-bases-thriving-neo-nazi?akid=9762.1076401.gyKqNM&rd=1&src=newsletter755977&t=13&paging=off
Ex-friend says temple shooter Wade Michael Page was a
“loner”. (2012). Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/07/ex-friend-says-temple-shooter-wade-michael-page-was-a-loner/
Lohr, D., & Lohr, D. (2012). Wade Michael Page Timeline:
Key Dates To Sikh Temple Shooter Investigation. Huffington Post. Retrieved
December 6, 2012, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/wade-michael-page-timelin_n_1749297.html
Motives of Portland mall gunman Jacob Tyler Roberts remain a
mystery to family, friends, police. (n.d.). NY Daily News. Retrieved
December 13, 2012, from
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/search-motive-portland-mall-shootings-article-1.1219205
Oregon mall shooting suspect not the “violent type”:
ex-girlfriend. (n.d.). Chicagotribune.com. Retrieved December 13, 2012,
from
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-jacob-tyler-roberts-20121213,0,6711130.story
Sikh Temple Killer Wade Michael Page Radicalized in Army |
Southern Poverty Law Center. (2012). Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/winter/massacre-in-wisconsin
The Ballad of Wade Michael Page. (2012). Retrieved December
6, 2012, from
http://www.ocweekly.com/2012-08-16/news/wade-michael-page-sikh-temple-shooting-intimidation-one/
US Sikh temple shooter was a white supremacist. (2012).
Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
http://www.firstpost.com/world/us-sikh-temple-shooter-was-a-white-supremacist-407806.html
Wade Michael Page: Excessive drinking cost Sikh temple
shooter his military career, civilian job. (2012). Washington Post. Retrieved
December 6, 2012, from
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-07/world/35490243_1_wade-michael-page-barr-nunn-transportation-military-exercises
What brought Wade Michael Page to Milwaukee? (2012).
Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/gunmans-exgirlfriend-tied-to-whitepower-group-r66djcf-165342766.html
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