Ground Zero Suicide Inspired by Election
 

NEW YORK - A 25-year-old man from Georgia who was apparently distraught over President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election shot and killed himself at ground zero. Andrew Veal's body was found Saturday morning inside the off-limits site, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A shotgun was found nearby, but no suicide note was found, Coleman said.

Veal's mother said her son was upset about the result of the presidential election and had driven to New York, Gus Danese, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, told The New York Times in Sunday's editions.


Friends said Veal worked in a computer lab at the University of Georgia and was planning to marry.


"I'm absolutely sure it's a protest," Mary Anne Mauney, Veal's supervisor at the lab, told The Daily News. "I don't know what made him commit suicide, but where he did it was symbolic."


Police were investigating how Veal entered the former World Trade Center site, which is protected by high fences and owned by the Port Authority.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...d=519&ncid=716

So this guy was mentally healthy, and if Kerry won, he would have gone on to live a long life? I would have to say that the cause and effect was not the election and suicide, otherwise there would be a lot more suicides of a somewhat similar nature. The cause and effect was probably severe depression and the suicide. The election was probably just something to which this man projected many things.

I'm a 25 year old female from Georgia who attended UGA and I'm now living in New York. Make the madness stop!

I haven't heard anything about this. It's sad.

I definitely think this is pretty sad ... without knowing any other details I don't think anyone should assume he was depressed or something like that. Something could have happened during the past 4 years that could have directly affected him, his family or whatever that was a result of the president and he could have just felt really passionate about the election. Or maybe he really did just want to protest. We won't know that.

He was depressed and/or suffered from a chemical imbalance. What happened is very sad, but lets be realistic. He really went out of his way to do this. That might imply that he was making a political statement, but if was going to do that, he would have left some kind of note behind.

I believe that the media can better serve the public by using this story to enlighten people about mental illness so that this type of thing can be prevented.

Seriously, it is tragic if he has mental health issues.

If not, however, the guy is a moron and i'm glad he's not marrying or contributing to the gene pool.

He HAD to have mental issues. No rational person in the WORLD would take the election of Bush as such a dark and tragic thing and drive from UGA to Ground Zero and place a shotgun to his head and pull the trigger. I know some of you on here are inisisting that this election is horrible and 'threatening' to move to Canada, but would you honestly go out and kill yourselves? This guy is either EXTREMELY overdramatic and out of touch with reality, or like i said, has serious mental health issues. If not, he's just an idiot with gun.

This is just as stupid as people who kill themselves because they say that Ozzy Osbourne or Judas Priest's music told them to.

KS 361

I agree with Kitso and Russ. This guy was probably mentally ill.

I wonder how he got onto Ground Zero. It is a very secure place with a police presence. At least that's how it was in July or August when I used that subway stop.

Cosign.


I'd like to add something I learned early on, when I was still VERY involved with politics: "Never get involved in an election you can't afford to lose." I still think it's the best bit of political advice I've even been given.

Just because somebody's depressed doesn't mean that the way they feel is any less valid. Personally, Russ, I think that YOUR treatment of mental illness is equally problematic here. And I am not saying that as a liberal, I am saying that as someone who has been through a lot of problems with severe depression and anxiety.


There is a difference between "totally fucking psycho" and "depressed." Can I just remind everyone of that right now?

That said, I agree with Kitso (!) that this is pretty much akin to Judas Priest and is not something remotely worth killing yourself over . . . unless you've already had your views colored by something that is related to the political situation we're in right now. If, for example, this guy had a family member who was fighting in Iraq and was killed for it, etc. -- I can see that, combined with the frustration and despair of the election results, being a "rational" reason to kill yourself (as much as deciding to kill yourself can be a rational decision, really). I don't think it should be blamed on Bush -- but I also am going to be surprised if this is the last election-related suicide we see, and the fact that a lot of people don't understand how frustrated and scared many people feel about the way this country is going will only exacerbate that problem and lead to more extreme reactions.

It's been my experience that people don't kill themselves over one thing. Usually, there are a lot of other "stressors" that, by themselves, wouldn't lead someone to suicide--but, when added together are simply too much.

To say that he got in over his head by being so invested in the election, or that he "couldn't afford" to lose is one of the stupidest and most callous things I've ever heard.

My thoughts are instead with his family and friends. Very few of you can imagine the hell that his family and friends are going through. :(

I learned - in youth soccer (or maybe hockey) league politics - that "The politics are so bitter because the stakes are so small."