Posted on 11/07/2009 6:15:41 AM PST by Brilliant
Years before Jason Rodriguez allegedly opened fire in a former employer's office Friday, he scared people with his spiral into erratic behavior.
"He was a very, very angry man," said his former mother-in-law, America Holloway. She recalled Jason Rodriguez saying that "nobody liked him" at Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., an architectural-engineering firm in downtown Orlando where he worked as a draftsman until he was fired more than two years ago.
In the past three or four years, 40-year-old Jason Samuel Rodriguez struggled with divorce, mental-health treatment, debt, underemployment, personal bankruptcy, and -- according to those who know him -- smoldering anger.
The bankruptcy case, settled in September, erased his debt but not his problems. Most recently the former draftsman was making sandwiches at a Subway shop -- a job he left six weeks ago...
While being questioned by police Friday, Rodriguez said he thought the "people at RS&H were hindering his efforts to obtain unemployment benefits..."
Arick Brown, who lives next door with his girlfriend, called Rodriguez's behavior "very creepy..."
Two years ago, he allegedly attacked a nurse's aide while he was being held at Florida Hospital-East for a mental-health evaluation...
Holloway said she and her daughter were "terrified" of Rodriguez. Stephenson would not speak to reporters Friday, but Holloway told the Orlando Sentinel that her former son-in-law suffered from serious mental illness...
"The man was normal with his medication," she said. "When he didn't take his medication, he was paranoid. He thought everyone was after him..."
"He blamed me for the divorce. I was afraid he might come after me..."
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
You can not arrest someone for what they ‘think” or say. You can put out a restraining order, for what that is worth.
You can not make anyone take medication, no matter how psychotic. You can not hold anyone in a Mental health facility for beyond 72 hrs without a hearing and can only keep them if they actively say they are a danger to themselves or others.
those are our laws.
You can change the laws, though. This guy was clearly violent. He had mental problems. What’s the point of having a mental health system if it doesn’t do anything?
What would be helpful if we weeded out the nanny state mentality of Government bureaucrats that thinks it can “Fix” these wack job and finally lock shut the revolving door that keeps putting these nuts and sexual predators back into the public rather then burying them under the prison.
You can only give the resources for a person to be ‘’stable’’ Imagine if everyone was forced to take a pill every morning just so they would appear to be ‘’normal’’ by a governing group
SSRIs ??
that is the state of our mental health facillities. In the 60’s the state hospitals were closed, laws were changed and many seriously mentally ill are now out and about,Some receive treatment and they comply and lead productive lives.
Others are like this guy.
It would take a major change in laws, way more money and a severe curtailing of freedoms...good luck.
BTW, this site would be the first to have posters complain”The govt can’t make me take my meds!”
I’m not a fan of meds. Just lock them up.
“You can change the laws, though.”
The laws were changed...in the 1970’s. That’s why the crazies are all out on the streets now.
Thank a Lib
I'm sure the 0bama / Reid / Pelosi triumvirate has a plan to "fix" that.
Thought crimes are now on the books. But, being written by liberals, these laws target people whose political beliefs are considered anathema by liberals.
Meanwhile, dangerous schizophrenics wander our streets unhindered.
that makes no sense whatsoever. I will pardon you because you do not understand mental illness treatment.
We USED to ‘lock ‘em up” for years and years in horrible conditions. With the advent of major antidepressants and antipyschotic medication most people can be treated in an outpatient basis.
If you look around, many of your doctors, attorneys, grocery store clerks, teachers, business men are functioning quite well with appropriate medication. according to your “treatment’ we woould have “locked ‘em up” cause you are “not a fan of meds”.
Your response is not only ignorant but lacks compassion for people who can be helped. I suppose you are also not a fan of heart disease, diabetic, high blood pressure and cancer medications?
NO.
Thank the medications that are now available. As for ‘crazies on the streets” you can thank the general citizenry....It was a “cost cutting” measure that the state hospitals were closed, not compassion or medical advances. Then the citizens didn’t want to pay taxes to treat people appropriately on an outpatient basis.
The dead and wounded soldiers at Ft. Hood are a result of this policy. A known nut job was allowed to murder those people.
“It was a “cost cutting” measure that the state hospitals were closed, not compassion or medical advances.”
I beg to differ. Cost cutting was the democratic mantra after the Libs decided that people shouldn’t be locked up.
Think back to Geraldo and Willowbrook
Was he “vey, very, angry”.? Or was he very, very, very, very, very, very, very, angry?
No. this is not the fault of the mental health laws in the FT Hood shooter. He was highly functioning and not “mentally ill.”
THOSE are the MSM talking points!
The FT Hood shooter was a Muslim Jhihadist with a sociopathic personality that was PO’d cause he would lose his cushy job at Walter Reed and hated infidels.
By your logic, ALL suicide bombers would be “menatlly ill” and in need of treatment, not killing.
Hassan should have been taken out of the Army by command. Period.
I see lots of folks talking about Mental Hospitals (loony bins if you will). Simple fact, the ACLU made that concept very unpopular years ago and the costs of operation were too high. The proponents of closing hospitals were successful because they could point to the abuse of power that is inherent when your liberty can be taken without due process. Now, that money has been diverted to Nanny Policies, Educational Diversity, and projects aimed at controlling the general population.
Be very careful what the state is permitted to do about your liberty in the name of safety.
Angry and sick people will always be with us. We have an obligation to protect ourselves and if that requires predator control, so be it. Don’t place all of this burden on the State.
It was driven by “cost cutting.”
It was already shown in the mental hospitals that the meds were working fine. I would not relinquish ‘people should not be locked up in hideous state hsopitals “ as compassion to the Libs. conservatives are compassionate also. conservatives ALSO want the best treatment for the mentally ill. Do not “give ‘ that one to the LIbs.
That is one reason why our 2nd Amendment rights are so important, and one that rarely seems to be mentioned.
do not relinquish humane treatment of the mentally ill to the “Libs” or ACLU.
Conservatives are compassionate, we just have a better way to do deal with problems. It is ridiculous to say “ oh, the libs just wanted to be kind “ and thus put conservatives in the place of “lock ‘em up!”
We pay a very high price for our freedoms. It is funny to see these ‘live free or die” posters suddenly ready to “lock’em up and throw away the key” if someone is “out of line”. ha.
Wasn’t it the Republicans who turned people out of the Mental health facilities? I thought Reagan was instrumental in that. One of his few questionable decisions.
you obviously have no clue about mental health treatment...of course conservatives just want to ‘lock’em up and throw the key away”.Right.
We used to lock away FOREVER women who had post partum depression or busness men who suffered an acute severe depression. Yeah, lets go back to that and “correct’ Reagen’s mistake.
The results of having Libs make the rules is never a compassionate end.
The reality is, that we have permitted them to create the problems we face. We have permitted them to divert the resources necessary to solving problems.
If we really want to solve some of these problems; we have to accept individual responsibility in solving them. We cannot expect government to take on our responsibility and not take our freedom at the same time.
As opposed to the innocent coworkers with holes in their heads this poor child of God left in his wake? Ain't no help for them--but I'm sure they don't mind.......
/S
I have no doubt that turning them out corrected some excesses.
But I also remember a lot of clearly insane homeless people, that should have been in a facility where they could get help. At least they looked insane to me because they were talking to people who weren’t there.
In NY State it was Mario Cuomo that turned the mentally ill out onto the streets, and then the liberals proceeded to blame Reagan for the homeless problem.
Hey Marooon!
Why don’t you just lock up ALL the angry people, throw out our laws and liberty while you are at it! That is what they do in dictatorships!
And of course, YOU in your infinite wisdom will let us know WHICH dperessed or angry people will go off! wHY DON’T YOU LOCK UP THE very depressed young mother too..maybe she will go off?
Just keep yapping your “tough conservative dribble” ...because after all, conservatives can not be compassionate and rational and tough. You would be the first one to yelp if someone locked up someone without due process!
DUH????
EVERYONE complains about the mentally ill homeless....
WHERE IS THE FRIGGIN MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM? The only place where they receive excellant care is Las Vegas..you know why?
Homeless ill people are bad for business...so the Casinos and wealthy put in a lot of money. Try telling THAT to cities and states.
I am not yelling at you but at all the people on this thread who have such great ideas but have no clue about mental illness or our laws on liberty.
Have a wonderful day.
yeah, sure. a lot of pretty words. Now pay for the care and try to get the money. wow, it gets ugly then.
You prefer murder of innocents to locking them up?
Why don’t you PREDICT which ones will go off?
No, lock up everyone that MIGHT go off...get real , get some information on the subject, the reality of it and our laws. THEN tell me what I prefer.
yes, i am angry that the only thing a conservative website can say is “Lock’em up “...
This thread was back in the early twentieth century of treating mental illness and most of the posters do NOT want to
a) Lose THEIR freedom if someone calls the police to “go get that angry guy and lockem up”
or
b) Pay for treatment of the menatally ill.
Your “struggle buggy” comment says it all.NICE.
This is the product of one of the wack job notions of the 60’s Leftists. They decided it was “unfair” to involuntarily commit people so they repealed the laws that allowed that to be done. We had to “mainstream” the degenerate and the deranged to be “Fair”.
The result is we have had a massive increase in violence in this society. Especially violence directed at children by sexual predators.
There are lines in this society that once you cross, you are not coming back to the side of light. Sexual violence directed at children, random violence directed at people are the same sort of warning signs in people that foaming at the mouth is in an animal.
It indicates a rabid beast who must be put to death to protect the health of society as a whole.
Very few violent criminal predators are 1st time offenders. They almost always work up to it thru repeated violent acts. If after the 3th or 4th time they commit such acts we recognized that, instead of trying to “fix” them we would have much less of these sort of psychopaths wander around
There are lines in this society that once you cross, you are not coming back to the side of light.
Sexual violence directed at children, random violence directed at people are the same sort of warning signs in people that foaming at the mouth is in an animal.
It indicates a rabid beast who must be put to death to protect the health of society as a whole.
Very few violent criminal predators are 1st time offenders.
They almost always work up to it via repeated violent acts.
If after the 3th or 4th time they commit such acts we recognized that, instead of trying to “fix” them we would have much less of these sort of psychopaths wander around
Divorce in Florida Bingo we have a winner.
He should have been discharged as unfit for military duty since he supported the enemy.
I don’t believe an American soldier who openly sided with the Viet Cong during that war would have been allowed to remain in the military.
I come back to my earlier point. If the mental health system doesn’t do anything, then let’s shut it down entirely. Right now, the only function of the mental health system is to defend the insane from criminal charges and make sure that they aren’t locked up. That is not a useful function, in my view.
It’s not all or nothing, Einstein—they didn’t lock up “everybody” back then. Nor should they now. However, there are appropriate circumstances to take action for the good of society at large.
Glad you liked my comment.........
Apparently there was an ACLU lawsuit that required governments to turn out anyone that was not deemed a physical threat to others.
Reagan is credited with cutting federal funding during the period, but as we all know, a President doesn't really cut spending, Congress does. Apparently many states were also cutting funding of mental institutions at the time either in response to federal funding, or the decrease in patients due to the legal ruling.
I see your point.
See my post 43.
“Nanny policies” —> “Nanncy Pelosii”
I see more of them all the time. Of course, maybe it's just Bluetooth.
This guy was letting everyone know, including the people he shot that he was enraged and blaming them for his problems and that he is a paranoid nut case.
What that should have to them is to be prepared just in case he showed up - being armed and ready in case he showed up. He can not be arrested before he beats or kills someone but the people he’s targeting, because of the second amendment, can prepare themselves to not be his victims.
Maybe they were just early adopters.
“I do not relinquish humane treatment of the mentally ill to the “Libs” or ACLU.
Conservatives are compassionate, we just have a better way to do deal with problems. It is ridiculous to say “ oh, the libs just wanted to be kind “ and thus put conservatives in the place of “lock ‘em up!””
No one is saying that.
What I am saying, is that the laws regarding hospitalizing the mentally ill were changed after pressure from the ACLU and Libs and resulted in people who are truly mentally ill and a potential danger not being able to be confined unless a court deems them an immediate danger to themselves or others. That’s why these people are roaming the streets
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