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.
No comments:
Post a Comment