NAVY YARD SHOOTING
 

Just learned that my AGD roomie, Connie, was in the Navy Yard building today...close to the shooter. She knew the victims! I knew that she had worked there, but didn't remember if it was now or in the past! So sad for the families! People just being at work..NO REASON FOR IT!

Hey Lynn,

I know many people who were also impacted by this tragedy, including a Zeta who works at the Navy Yard. Being a native Washingtonian, I also know a lot of people who have worked there or whose family members worked there.

Terrible day in DC. I did not know the victims, though.

Piers Morgan has already gotten on my nerves using this as another symbol for his gun control arguments on his show.

I am more interested in whether they are going to medicalize this or criminalize this. In other words, are they going to further sadden this by saying this Black man clearly had a diagnosable mental health condition as sparked by his job loss OR are they going to eagerly label this Black man as a "criminal" who killed people just because he was a "criminal."

Aside from Piers Morgan's dramatics, the news reports have had sympathy for those who senselessly died and the media is trying to learn about this man's job loss and grievance with his contract work. I appreciate the attempt at more accurate reporting in the midst of tragedy.

Media, can we not turn the shooter into a celebrity just this one time? Please?

Thoughts and prayers to the victims and their loved ones. What a horrible tragedy.

Where did you hear that he lost his job? All of the reports I've read stated that he was currently employed as a contractor but had a grievance about his wages.

As for Piers Morgan and the gun control lobby....well never let a crises go to waste I guess. The reports I've read state that the weapons used was a shotgun and handgun, two classes of firearms not regularly targeted by gun control advocates, but what the hell do any of us know, up until last night the shooter was a caucasian.

From what I've read, he started with the shotgun and acquired the others inside. Things are still unclear on where.

And I still believe that the guns that there is the *least* call to control from the Gun Control advocates are the ones on the NRA Logo (which truly are classic Rifles and single shot).

This is all under investigation. The job loss was speculated on CNN and also here:
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_n...on-alexis?lite

Ah, good ole speculation. I'm always annoyed at the amount of misinformation being pushed out by the news outlets just for the sake of breaking it first. Personally I'd rather wait an extra 20 mins and get an accurate account.

To me this seems to be a mental health issue and I'd like to finally see more people demanding better diagnosis and treatments of mental health disorders than the usual blaring of gun control that we usually get after these tragedies.

The other primary question that needs to be asked is how much of what's been reported in the media in regards to mental health issues was available to those who determined that he should have a Secret clearance and if it had been known, should the clearance been granted. Similarly, should he have been able to buy the gun(s?) in Maryland.

;) I waited more than 20 minutes. There remains research and speculation regarding his employment status, mental health diagnoses, legal past, and motivation for doing what he did.

"Seems to be" based on what?

There are accounts of potential mental health diagnoses as well as previous encounters with the law. We shall see what the investigation yields.

That wasn't directed at you, it was directed at news agencies. I'd rather them somewhat be able to verify something before reporting it opposed to blurbing out any rumor or hearsay they come across just to break it first.

Based on this-http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/17/us/nav...html?hpt=us_c1

The difficulty in mental health diagnoses, in general, and correlating mental health with crime is that we do not really know what the person was thinking. We do not know whether Alexis was being truthful about the "unseen individuals" and whether that had anything to do with his behaviors. This is also why some criminal justice experts and mental health experts are skeptical of some defendants in court cases and convicted offenders who are incarcerated. It is extremely easy to know the "recipe for mental health diagnoses" and therefore say exactly what police and mental health experts want to hear. When you talk to people who utilize mental health services, some of these people will honestly tell you that they know how to stiff the system, get unwarranted sympathy, and exaggerate or falsify information related to mental health. The same applies to people who technically wouldn't be diagnosed with a mental health condition under other circumstances.

On one end, it is good that they are not quickly labeling him as "criminal" but, on the other end, he should not be quickly labeled as "mentally ill." The average person with a diagnosable mental condition is not committing violent crimes--definitely not committing mass murder.

The media labeling him as anything at this point is speculative.

The media are not the only people doing the labeling. I want people to stop putting everything on the media.

There's always this need to know RIGHT NOW. The world doesn't work like that. We're all so damned spoiled by technology.