My heart went out to all the victims, witnesses, families and lone gunman involved in the tragic Phoenix, Arizona incident this past weekend. Many questions are being asked and there's probably just as many blameable reasons for how something like this can happen. And No sports fans, the weird yet loveable character Uncle Fester of Addams Family fame (shown above),was never a suspect. The fact is that it happened and the most urgent question we need answered is how to prevent something like this from happening again? For me the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" applies here. One look at the picture of this obviously disturbed young man below tells me he was out of touch and in need of some type of outreach.
From what I've gathered about 22-year old Jared Loughner, the signs were there and alarms had been triggered in the past. I wonder though if he sported the same look of ecstasy when buying the gun, that he does here in this picture of him moments after killing 6 and injuring 14 with it? If so, then what does that say about the salesman who sold him the gun? Hell, what does it say about us Americans?
I return to another saying I used to see on bumper stickers as a youngster: Guns don't kill people, People kill people!Let Us Pray.Jared Lee Loughner's Disturbing Mugshot
EmailPrint..Saul Relative Saul Relative – Tue Jan 11, 1:55 pm ET
COMMENTARY
The mugshot photo of Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting 20 people, six of whom were killed, in Tucson, Ariz., Saturday morning, is nothing if not disturbing. Too reach for a more mundane descriptor, it is "creepy." And it isn't disturbing or creepy simply due to some unfortunately strange features of Loughner. Quite the contrary, for Loughner seems to have a rather unremarkable set of features. The mugshot photo of Jared Lee Loughner is unsettling because of the self-satisfied smile and his seemingly eager, intense gaze.
The mugshot is anything but the typical jailhouse photo of the disheveled, the drunken, the sullen, and/or the shamed.
Loughner stares straight at the camera, a seemingly unnatural intensity to his gaze that a pop psychologist might refer to as concentrated, direct, even defiant and a wide-eyed sort of way. A quick off-the-cuff reactive diagnosis might see Loughner labeled as "psychopathic," especially in light of the heinous act he had committed just minutes before the photo was taken. And the smile would only add to the pop psychologist's choice of descriptive words about a man that seems satisfied with himself, perhaps even smug and prideful, almost to the point of giddiness and laughter.
But it is definitely the self-satisfied smile upon the bald young man's face that lends the "creep" factor to the mugshot.
Mugshots of those who commit crimes are offered to the public as a way to put a face with the name, to allow the public its moment of scornful condemnation for a criminal act, and to add to the onus of shame being placed upon the suspected or arrested criminal.
There is little doubt that actor Nick Nolte's now famous wild-haired mugshot photo is a source of shame for the talented thespian. And there is little doubt that Lindsay Lohan has flashbacks of regret when she sees that sullen-eyed younger version of herself staring petulantly from the mugshot taken of her after her arrest for DUI and cocaine possession.
But there is none of that in Loughner's mugshot. He seems to be sharing a joke with himself, ready at any second to burst out laughing. The image is -- in a word -- unnerving.
The photo only seems to reinforce what is generally known about the 22-year-old college student that showed up at a Tucson political outreach gathering held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, representative to Arizona's 8th District, and began shooting into the crowd. The mugshot can easily be seen as a reflection of a man driven, easily the same man that had posted rambling writings of perceived conspiracies of government interference in the lives of the governed, not to mention a seeming persecuted dissatisfaction with the government altogether. The image seems supportive of the idea that Jared Lee Loughner was (and is) mentally unstable in some way, a troubled young man who somehow allowed his political fears and convictions to over-ride normal personal and social constraints to commit a heinous act of premeditated and wanton violence against his fellow Arizonans.
Loughner has refused to talk with authorities about the shooting. He has as yet refused to cooperate with authorities, leaving investigators and the public at large only speculation thus far as to his true motive for committing such a horrendous crime.
Loughner was charged with five counts at his arraignment in an Arizona courtroom on Monday. His charges included the attempted shooting assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who appears to have been his primary target, and who still clings to life in critical condition at University Medical Center in Tucson. Loughner was also charged with the killing of federal employees, including a staff aide to Giffords and District Court of Arizona Chief Justice John Roll.
Loughner also faces non-federal charges in the shooting incident.
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