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Neighbor: Suspect parents blame selves (Louchner)
ABC 15 ^ | 1/11/2011

Posted on 01/11/2011 8:49:50 AM PST by markomalley

A neighbor says the parents of the suspect in Saturday's shooting spree in Tucson are devastated and guilt-ridden.

Jared Loughnerappeared in court Monday on federal charges that he tried to assassinate U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed a federal judge. He is also accused of killing five others and wounding or injuring 13 others.

Wayne Smith, who lives across the street from the family, said Randy and Amy Loughner blame themselves.

(Excerpt) Read more at abc15.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: amyjoanneloughner; amyloughner; blame; giffords; jaradsparents; jaredloughner; loughner; loughnerfamily; loughnerparents; loughnersparents; mentalhealthsystem; parents; randyleeloughner; randyloughner; schizophrenia; selves
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>>>>>"Smith said he told the couple they didn't fail."

Sure.

1 posted on 01/11/2011 8:49:54 AM PST by markomalley
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To: markomalley

Did they get him help????


2 posted on 01/11/2011 8:54:09 AM PST by GoCards (Why me? Why not me?)
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To: markomalley
Wayne Smith, who lives across the street from the family, said Randy and Amy Loughner blame themselves. Smith said he told the couple they didn't fail.

They failed if they never tried to get him help. Too early to speculate whether they did everything they could to help him or if they just stuck their heads in the sand. If that's the case then they did fail and have blood on their hands.

3 posted on 01/11/2011 8:54:25 AM PST by MissTed ( Do women in burqas have fun tagging each other in Facebook photos?)
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To: markomalley

Personal responsibility - what a concept!


4 posted on 01/11/2011 8:57:28 AM PST by Last Dakotan (Hunting - the ultimate in organic grocery shopping.)
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To: MissTed

He’s 22. Parenting is done at 18. However, it depends on his high school time. I know they say he was quiet and a stoner. I am not saying that is normal, but if that is all he was, the parents may have though it was a phase. I am hoping the parents were ok and the kid was just a criminal who chose his own road.


5 posted on 01/11/2011 8:58:21 AM PST by napscoordinator
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To: markomalley

Somewhat typical of modern-day parents. Their kids can do no wrong.

A 22 year-old probably shouldn’t be living at home unless a full-time student.

But at least he can still stay on their health plan until age 26. (barf)


6 posted on 01/11/2011 8:59:06 AM PST by Retired Greyhound
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To: markomalley
(neighbor) Smith said he told the couple they didn't fail.

Wow, Smitty. How could they NOT feel like a failure?

Presumably, they put the best effort they could into raising a decent human being. It seems obvious that that didn't happen.

If they were jerks who didn't care about their kid, that's a failure.

The only way it's NOT a failure was if they TRIED to raise a sociopath.

You might argue that it's not their FAULT, and you might or might not be right, but there's no way it's not a failure.

7 posted on 01/11/2011 8:59:52 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Izzy Dunne

We don’t know how much or often the parents tried to help him. I know plenty of parents who try to help their kids 24/7 to no avail.


8 posted on 01/11/2011 9:03:20 AM PST by varina davis (Life is not a dress rehearsal)
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To: Izzy Dunne
The only way it's NOT a failure was if they TRIED to raise a sociopath.

Love your logic!

9 posted on 01/11/2011 9:04:20 AM PST by savagesusie
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To: napscoordinator
He’s 22. Parenting is done at 18.

Could you tell my MIL that.

10 posted on 01/11/2011 9:04:24 AM PST by MissTed ( Do women in burqas have fun tagging each other in Facebook photos?)
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To: markomalley

It seems clear the parents need a whole lot of help themselves.


11 posted on 01/11/2011 9:05:06 AM PST by bvw
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To: varina davis
Worth repeating:

We don’t know how much or often the parents tried to help him. I know plenty of parents who try to help their kids 24/7 to no avail.

Are we liberals that we must pile on with absolutely no facts at our disposal?

Does this not mirror the behavior of a certain Sheriff? (Can't remember his name off hand, but it starts with DU)...

12 posted on 01/11/2011 9:08:44 AM PST by null and void (We are now in day 721 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: GoCards

I’ve heard that Pima County Comm College mandated that he be evaluated by a mental health professional before being re-admitted, but have never heard/read that he actually saw anyone.

However I also read that sheriff’s deputies assured all who had complained about Loughner that he was being ‘managed’ by psychiatric professionals. Yeah, right.

Hence Sheriff Dipstick blaming the right ASAP.


13 posted on 01/11/2011 9:09:26 AM PST by Let's Roll (Save the world's best healthcare - DEFUND Obamacare!)
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To: markomalley
We are all, to one degree or another, a product of our upbringing and environment. Individually, we exercise free will and make our own decisions, but frequently the decisions we make are forged by our value system, which is in turn, largely a response to our environment and our experience.

If you look in the respective closets of a resident of upstate Maine and a resident of Miami, you'll probably notice that the decisions they've made in the kind clothes they buy generally reflect their environment. If they do not, i.e. the person in northern Maine owns no gloves, coat, etc., you can deduce that the person has not made the wisest decisions, and "should know better".

There's no doubt in my mind that Loughner is a truly disturbed person, but his leering mug shot and other evidence suggest he was fully cognizant of his actions...he chose poorly.

With regards to parental culpability, I would be very interested in finding out if mom used her position and connections in the county government to have the previous complaints against Loughner downplayed and swept under the carpet. If that was the case, she has blood on her hands.

14 posted on 01/11/2011 9:10:41 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: markomalley
We really do not know what influence the parents had on their son.

Some parents do everything they can to get help their children need and when they become legal adults there is nothing more they can do. It seems we can't look up these nut cases until it is too late.

Some parents ignore their kids problems and blame society and the system for the path their kid takes. I do not know what these parents did or did not do but it sounds like he was in a downward spiral and he decided to take a few people with him.

15 posted on 01/11/2011 9:11:05 AM PST by Kimmers (Tell a lie often enough it becomes political........)
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To: markomalley; All

You have no idea how hard it is to get psychiatric help for an adult child who does not want help. There is no legal mechanism to compel an adult child to take medication, listen to therapists, or show up for appointments. Parents can’t tie an adult child up and drag him to appointments or ram psychotropic medications down his throat. I have friends who have broken their hearts and emptied a once-huge bank account in a vain effort to get help for a schizophrenic adult son, appealing to every government agency for cooperation, but they have no more ability to force him to get care than for a stranger on the street.


16 posted on 01/11/2011 9:12:01 AM PST by ottbmare (off-the-track Thoroughbred mare)
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To: napscoordinator

“Parenting is done at 18”
Hardly, being a parent only ends when you are in the grave.


17 posted on 01/11/2011 9:13:30 AM PST by enraged
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To: napscoordinator
He’s 22. Parenting is done at 18

He lived in their home and depended on their income to live off of. . How does the fact that he was 22 get them off the hook ?

18 posted on 01/11/2011 9:14:07 AM PST by Nonstatist
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To: Retired Greyhound
A 22 year-old probably shouldn’t be living at home unless a full-time student.

agreed. nor building skull castles in your yard or on your health insurance till age 26...

19 posted on 01/11/2011 9:15:50 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: markomalley

Mom was a mid-level county bureaucrat, with enough power that whenever sonny boy was in trouble the authorities did not pursue it, to avoid “making trouble” (their words)

I have seen this type in action here in my local county government.

She gets favors in return for hiring ‘cousin jeffrey’ to mow the lawns in the parks department... in return her son gets to slide on what is looking more and more like very obvious warning signs.

Cousin Jeffrey’s father is local town superintenant, he calls the sherrif, the sherriff calls the deputies and says drive the kid home and give him a talking to.

YES I KNOW I AM SPECULATING and this is opinon... but wanna put some money on it?

Your kid or mine would have been in trouble long before this.


20 posted on 01/11/2011 9:16:13 AM PST by Mr. K
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