From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Andrew J. Engeldinger's descent into darkness began two years ago, but even as he retreated from family and bought handguns and ammunition, he kept coming to work at the Accent Signage Systems factory in Minneapolis.
Engeldinger, 36, worked his shift Thursday and was told that after a dozen years, he no longer had a job. Then he pulled out a 9mm Glock handgun and committed the largest workplace massacre in recent Minnesota history.
On Friday, the scale of the rampage came into focus: Five people were killed, including the founder of the acclaimed sign manufacturer and a visiting UPS driver. Three others were injured.
Police Chief Tim Dolan said Engeldinger apparently spared some employees in "the hellish time" as workers dialed 911 and hid in terror. It all ended in minutes, after Engeldinger went into the building's basement and fired a final bullet into his own head.
Police who searched his home across town in south Minneapolis found a second handgun and packaging for 10,000 rounds of ammunition, but no obvious answers.
"Maybe something finally snapped, but I don't know why," said his uncle Joseph Engeldinger.
The victims included company owner Reuven Rahamim, 61, of St. Louis Park; United Parcel Service driver Keith Basinski, 50, of Spring Lake Park; Rami Cooks, 62, of Minnetonka; Ronald Edberg, 58, of Brooklyn Center and Jacob Beneke, 34, of Maple Grove.
Two employees remained hospitalized at Hennepin County Medical Center late Friday afternoon. Accent's director of operations, John Souter of Wayzata, was in serious condition and production manager Eric Rivers was in critical condition.
James Honerman, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, called it the deadliest case of workplace violence in Minnesota since the department began keeping figures in 1992. In the last two decades, 95 have died, 68 from shootings.
Engeldinger grew up in Richfield and came to work for Accent Signage in the late 1990s, where he was trained as an engraver by Barry Lawrence.
"He was real intelligent, caught on fast," said Lawrence, who left Accent Signage but stayed in touch with the company's officers.
Lawrence said Engeldinger was conscientious, and worried about his 401(k) plan and fluctuations in the stock market.
"I remember when he was hired; he was a quiet guy," he said. "I wouldn't have thought he would have done anything like this."
Meaghan Norlander, former comptroller at Accent Signage who left the company in 2008, described Engeldinger as "a loner" who seemed always under stress.
She said that he "internalized everything" and complained at times about being shifted from one job to another.
"The standards were really high," Norlander said. "Reuven was driven. If you didn't live up to his expectations, you failed."
The relationship between Engeldinger and Rahamim was a rocky one. Norlander recalled a shouting match between the two in 2007, although she could not remember the details.
In 2003, Engeldinger bought a home in the Powderhorn neighborhood. Neighbors rarely paid attention to the slight man with a ponytail who occasionally worked in the yard.
"Never met him. Never heard anything about him," said John Evans, who lives two houses north of Engeldinger.
But in recent years, Engeldinger's family began worrying about what appeared to be his paranoia and delusions. Two years ago, his parents attended a 12-week "Family to Family" class offered by the Minnesota National Alliance on Mental Illness. The class is taught by family members of mentally ill people.
His family hadn't had contact with him for about 21 months after he had shown signs of possible mental illness, said Sue Abderholden, executive director of the Minnesota National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"They were trying to get him to seek treatment; they did think something was wrong," she said. But Engeldinger didn't appear to be a threat to himself or others -- criteria for petitioning for commitment to mental health care, she said.
Abderholden said he had been paranoid with some delusions, symptoms of possible schizophrenia, but was working and able to live alone.
"He was, to the outside world, doing OK," she said.
About a year ago, he bought two handguns, including the Glock 9-millimeter, Dolan said. "Obviously, he'd been practicing how to use that gun," the chief said.
Engeldinger worked his usual shift on Thursday, but at the end of the day he was called to the front office. He apparently walked into that meeting armed.
Dolan said Engeldinger first shot people in the front office area, then walked to the loading dock, shooting others. He singled out his targets, walking past some people. Basinski, the UPS driver, appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Dolan said. Some people in the building fought back, the chief said, but he wouldn't elaborate.
About 4:30 p.m., 911 calls from inside the building alerted police to the shooting moments after it began, Dolan said. Three officers arrived and immediately found victims inside upon entering, he said. Paramedics followed them in to treat the injured, even though it was still unclear where the shooter was or if he was still a threat, said Dolan, who praised the police and the paramedics for their bravery. He said it was the most traumatic scene that the officers had encountered; the first officers on the scene have taken temporary leave.
No shots were fired after police arrived, he said. The officers helped some people out of the building. A SWAT team arrived and began searching the building. They found Engeldinger's body in the basement.
I
n a statement, Engeldinger's parents, Charles and Carolyn, said they will cooperate with authorities, and that their son's struggles with mental illness and withdrawal from his family are "not an excuse for his actions, but sadly, may be a partial explanation."
They said their hearts go out to the victims and their families. "Nothing we can say can make up for their loss."
Engeldinger's uncle said that, along with the grief for all the families involved, they're also consumed with puzzlement.
"He wasn't a monster, he wasn't evil, he wasn't a bad guy," Joseph Engeldinger said.
This is why we need more funding more mental health care, treatment, and research. Innocent people should not have to die because of a lunatic. We all know Ronald Reagan slashed funding for mental health care. He even said it was the family's problem and their responsibility.
The Affordable Health Care Act does include provisions for mental health and behaviorial disorders, and well as addictions. Thank you President Obama!
If Reagan wasn't such an asshole six people in Minnesota, 27 in Colorado, seven in Wisconsin, 33 at Virginia Tech, and six in Tucson, AZ would still be alive.
My prayers and thoughts go out to the victims, their families, others wounded in the shooting, and the shooters family.
Showing posts with label mental illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental illness. Show all posts
Sarah Palin is a psychopath
From Huffington Post
All psychopaths might not be the same, but they share similar speech patterns when they recount their crimes, new research shows.
Researchers at Cornell University found that psychopaths lack emotion and speak in terms of cause-and-effect when describing their crimes, LiveScience explains.
Psychopaths also tend to focus "their attention on basic needs, such as food, drink and money" rather than social needs, LiveScience reported, such as family or religion. In fact, many psychopaths recounted what they ate the day of their crime during the interview.
Researchers determined the results by using software to analyze the speech patterns of 52 convicted murders -- 14 who qualified as psychopaths -- as they detailed their crimes. All 14 psychopaths shared the same speech qualities, according to the study.
Compared to the 38 convicted murderers in the sample, the psychopaths tended to use words such as "because" or "so that," to imply that their crime was a goal that needed to be achieved, the Deccan Herald points out.
Psychopaths also used more "ums" and "uhs", which researchers say indicate attempts to imply that retelling their crimes is difficult.
The results suggest that psychopaths "operate on a primitive but rational level," researchers wrote in the study.
One researcher recalls how psychopaths make for interesting interview subjects because of their "cunning and manipulative nature."
"It is unbelievable. ... You can spend two or three hours and come out feeling like you are hypnotized," Michael Woodworth, study co-author and psychology professor specializing in psychopathy, told LiveScience.
Results of the study, "Hungry Like The Wolf: A Word-Pattern Analysis Of The Language Of Psychopaths," were published in the September issue of Legal and Criminological Psychology.
Psychopathy is often confused for other personality disorders. Scientific American reports how psychopathy is determined, and the characteristics of the disorder:
The best-established measure of psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), developed by University of British Columbia psychologist Robert D. Hare, requires a standardized interview with subjects and an examination of their file records, such as their criminal and educational histories. Analyses of the PCL-R reveal that it comprises at least three overlapping, but separable, constellations of traits: interpersonal deficits (such as grandiosity, arrogance and deceitfulness), affective deficits (lack of guilt and empathy, for instance), and impulsive and criminal behaviors (including sexual promiscuity and stealing).
Recently, a small study showed that bosses are four times more likely to be psychopaths than the general population. The finding was reported in the book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. However, the number of psychopaths among business bosses is still low -- comprising 4 percent of them, in the study -- while 1percent of the general population have psychopathic tendencies.
Nice that someone finally confirms that Sarah Palin is pyscho.
All psychopaths might not be the same, but they share similar speech patterns when they recount their crimes, new research shows.
Researchers at Cornell University found that psychopaths lack emotion and speak in terms of cause-and-effect when describing their crimes, LiveScience explains.
Psychopaths also tend to focus "their attention on basic needs, such as food, drink and money" rather than social needs, LiveScience reported, such as family or religion. In fact, many psychopaths recounted what they ate the day of their crime during the interview.
Researchers determined the results by using software to analyze the speech patterns of 52 convicted murders -- 14 who qualified as psychopaths -- as they detailed their crimes. All 14 psychopaths shared the same speech qualities, according to the study.
Compared to the 38 convicted murderers in the sample, the psychopaths tended to use words such as "because" or "so that," to imply that their crime was a goal that needed to be achieved, the Deccan Herald points out.
Psychopaths also used more "ums" and "uhs", which researchers say indicate attempts to imply that retelling their crimes is difficult.
The results suggest that psychopaths "operate on a primitive but rational level," researchers wrote in the study.
One researcher recalls how psychopaths make for interesting interview subjects because of their "cunning and manipulative nature."
"It is unbelievable. ... You can spend two or three hours and come out feeling like you are hypnotized," Michael Woodworth, study co-author and psychology professor specializing in psychopathy, told LiveScience.
Results of the study, "Hungry Like The Wolf: A Word-Pattern Analysis Of The Language Of Psychopaths," were published in the September issue of Legal and Criminological Psychology.
Psychopathy is often confused for other personality disorders. Scientific American reports how psychopathy is determined, and the characteristics of the disorder:
The best-established measure of psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), developed by University of British Columbia psychologist Robert D. Hare, requires a standardized interview with subjects and an examination of their file records, such as their criminal and educational histories. Analyses of the PCL-R reveal that it comprises at least three overlapping, but separable, constellations of traits: interpersonal deficits (such as grandiosity, arrogance and deceitfulness), affective deficits (lack of guilt and empathy, for instance), and impulsive and criminal behaviors (including sexual promiscuity and stealing).
Recently, a small study showed that bosses are four times more likely to be psychopaths than the general population. The finding was reported in the book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. However, the number of psychopaths among business bosses is still low -- comprising 4 percent of them, in the study -- while 1percent of the general population have psychopathic tendencies.
Nice that someone finally confirms that Sarah Palin is pyscho.
Sarah insults the President again
You can check it out here
She is really obsessed with him, and she didn't even run against him in 2008, she ran against Joe Biden. Sarah you need a shrink. And get rid of the Star of David, it is a religious symbol (not even your religion) not a fashion accessory.
She is really obsessed with him, and she didn't even run against him in 2008, she ran against Joe Biden. Sarah you need a shrink. And get rid of the Star of David, it is a religious symbol (not even your religion) not a fashion accessory.
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