Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Saturday, March 29, 2008

And crazier

Mom pleads not guilty to murder, had declared bankruptcy (the link, unfortunately, should only be good for 7 days...that's the Herald-Leader for you).

Gail Lynn Coontz, 37, a University of Louisville student and a widow, apparently took a counselor at the school hostage at gunpoint on Thursday, then handed the gun over without anyone being harmed. She was sent to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. U of L police contacted the Louisville police, advising them of this and asking them to check on the woman's two children.

They found the children, a 14-year-old boy, Greg, and 10-year-old girl, Nikki, dead of multiple gunshot wounds. They had been shot in their sleep, according to reports.

This looks to be a clear case of mental illness. The woman had apparently racked up huge amounts of debt despite being on disability payments and a small part-time job with a non-profit agency. She looks in pictures like she has the weight of the world on her back--she is three or four years younger than me and looks ten years older in the photo they published. I could almost feel sorry for her, because being a victim of mental illness is a horrible thing.

But my sympathy stops when I think about her children, and how they are truly the victims in this case. I hope their mother gets the help that she obviously needs, and that she can live with herself afterwards but at the same time understand what she lost. I wish someone had seen the danger signs and the children could have been removed from the home rather than be endangered.

So sad.

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