Have I mentioned lately that journalism is dead? DEAD as a doorknob. Because what else would explain the ridiculous reporting on the mass slaughter of an entire family. To read the headlines, you would think that Ervin Lupoe was some tragic figure caught up in the aftermath of the economic downturn. He’s not. He’s a brutal woman and child killer.
The murder-suicide of seven members of the Lupoe family in Wilmington is a tragic reminder of what despair can lead to in troubled times such as our current economic crisis. This is a wake-up call for all of us to do everything we can to avoid such tragedies in the future. La Opinion
The edge, in this case, is not just a distressed individual committing suicide but taking out his or her family, too. This horrific and desperate act has been tragically played out three times in the last two weeks in Los Angeles County. Each time a family member, apparently despondent over job loss or financial worries, killed himself and other family members. New American Media
Then this nugget from the Mayor of Los Angeles:
With unemployment in Los Angeles at a 14-year high of 9.5 per cent and climbing – higher than the national rate – Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa fears there could be more.
‘Unfortunately this has become an all too common story in the last few months but that does not and should not lead people to resort to extreme measures,’ said Villaraigosa. ‘I don’t think there is any shame in this economy for anybody who has been laid off in accessing support and help to get through this because it is a traumatic experience.’Source
Folks are attempting to tie mass execution of innocents to job losses sweeping the country, but reports are that Ervin did not lose his job because of an economic downturn. He and his wife were medical technicians who were let go for non-economic reasons.
This had NOTHING to do with the economy. Ervin Lupoe was fired for cause, not layed off. There is a difference.
The man believed to be responsible for killing his wife, five children and himself in Wilmington had been fired from his hospital job along with his wife for allegedly forging a supervisor’s signature on a child care application, according to Kaiser Permanente officials. LA Times
This was a classic case of a narcissist and control freak attempting to exercise control over his family through violence. ..and a cowardly control freak at that. Because what else would explain his defamation of his murdered wife on his way to HELL.
Instead of accepting full responsibility for slaughtering his children, he blames his wife and says they got together and had a “conference” about how it would be in everyone’s best interest for them to “not leave the kids” to someone else.
Lupoe wrote in the fax, “after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone else’s hands … we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go.[Yet he called his wife's brother to tell them she was dead. ].” Source
Bull@%$!
Then came the words that left Ramirez stunned. Lupoe said, “Your sister and the kids are dead,” a source familiar with the case said. Lupoe asked Ramirez to leave the keys to the house in one of the family cars so the police wouldn’t break down the door. “Then he said, ‘I’m sorry, I had to do it. We love you and I’m next,’ ” and he hung up, sources said. LA Times
You think this crazed loon actually sat down and had a rational discussion with his wife? He didn’t have a rational discussion with his boss. He didn’t have a rational discussion with the bank. He didn’t have a rational discussion with the unemployment insurance folks. He didn’t have a rational discussion with any family or friends to see if they could provide temporary assistance, but he wants us to believe that he and his wife got together and had a problem solving session and came up with this solution together? yeah right!
The family car was packed to head to stay with relatives in Kansas:
Cortez says Lupoe planned to take his family to his brother-in-law in Garden City, Kan. The family’s vehicle was packed with children’s clothing and snow chains. AP
For all we know, Anna Lupoe thought she and her kids were on their way to Kansas. And how do we know that Ana Lupoe even knew Ervin had forged his supervisor’s signature on the daycare form?
So yesterday while listening to the radio, why was some psychologist talking about the role Mrs Lupoe played in the murders? What evidence do we have that this woman had any inkling that her husband was about to go on a murderous rampage?
Ana Lupoe was “always talking about the kids,” said co-worker Hamlet Narvaez. Source
Why are we believeing a man who faxed his suicide note to news stations? Clearly he wanted to control the narrative about what he did. You know what? IT WORKED.
Why isn’t the media covering this as a domestic violence story? Why is this cold blooded murderer being treated like a victim?
Today everyone is reporting that Lupoe had “CONSIDERABLE DEBT.” So what’s considerable?
Detective David Cortez said Wednesday that Ervin Lupoe was at least one month behind on his mortgage. He says the 40-year-old Lupoe owed at least $15,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and thousands more on a line of credit. Source
15,000, 25,000, 50,000 is not “considerable debt” That’s the average student laon burden for most college students these days.
This ain’t the first time folks have lost their jobs? I grew up in an area where the petrochemical industry was the largest employer. Do you know how many times plants closed down?
The worst case scenario in a bad economy is homelessness and starvation and both are optional. Yes I said OPTIONAL. It ain’t PC, but its true. You could always move to the woods near a fresh water source, hallow out a tree for shelter and live off the land.
Or pick up the kids and move to several small towns that are giving away land to increase the population -sell your blood plasma- sign up to be a human test subject- give the house back to the bank take whichever car is paid off and live in the dayum car- ask a relative to take your kids- ask a relative to stay in their garage- go get a job at Taco Bell….or here is a stretch…head to the Gulf Coast, plenty of construction work- not to mention thy are building a liquified natural gas terminal and that means lots of high wage refinery construction jobs.
To repeat, this man would have been fired during an economic boomtime. He wasn’t fired from his job because of the economy. He was fired for fraud. That alone OUGHT to be a sign that you shouldn’t believe a word he says.
The news media is too obsessed with reliving the great depression. Nope, this is the run of the mill domestic violence case we hear too often about and I am offended that these people would print this man’s final act of control by dragging his wife into this. Ervin Lupoe did this. He didn’t do it because he was broke. He didn’t do this because of the economic downturn. He did this because he was a control freak with no impulse control and you can’t convince me that Ana Lupoe was involved in any way.
44 comments ↓
I read this story on MCNBC and was wondering why it was being spun as a tragic consequence of the economic downturn. They reported that he was fired for cause – so why turn around and imply otherwise? Not to mention the fact that he faxed his suicide note to new stations. If that doesn’t scream “NARCISSIST,” I don’t know what does. Da hayel????
Perfect example of why we can’t just take the news at face value. Thanks for calling a spade a spade.
This is just a tragedy all around. Here we see a person who only saw hoplessness and seem to be self centered on STUFF and perhaps his self identificationty as a seemingly faild provider.
He failed to realize that where there is life there is hope. He could have prevailed if he realized that this bump in the road was not hopeless.
I just pray that No other person follows suite
All the articles I’ve read stated that police don’t believe Mrs. Lupoe had anything to do with it.
Presumably they’re not calling it a DV because there’s no evidence that there was DV in the home. Might have been, but if they don’t have police reports or anything, how would they know?
I think it’s safe to assume that there was DV in the form of emotional/mental abuse at least. You can’t go from no abuse to mass murder + pre-meditated, thoroughly-executed spin.
***
Gina, thank you for covering this. I call bullshit on the lie he told. His debt is diddly squat nothing compared to my law school debt.
How dare he defame her like that.
I am so so glad you posted this story. I didn’t believe for a second that the mother agreed to suicide pact. Even before the evidence started to pour out through the media. It’s just my motherly instincts telling me that no mother would agree to killingly her own children. You took the words right out of my mouth, this was a weak control freak who couldn’t own up to responsibility and handle it wisely.
The evidence of DV in the home came in the form of six dead bodies, that is the evidence.
See, I see the handling of this story slightly different. The “liberal white media” and that are in quotation marks because the definition changes depending on the story are too afraid to demonize a black man (or I should say darker than white man, in case some one were to argue ethnicity vs. race or what have you). This to me is enough to roll my eyes at all the post-racial hype and/or I do not see color crap that so-called liberal types spout at their convenience. I say this because I believe the “liberal white media” are afraid that if they covered the story how it actually is they may slip up and reveal their racism. In other words, they cannot highlight a black man’s crimes without contributing it to his blackness. That is what makes them racist. In addition, they know it, or if they do not consciously know it, they sense it and fear it, so they divert and find other straws to grasp, like the economy, etc.
At Christmas time when a white man killed his ex-wife, the white man in a Santa suit, the media had no problem presenting him as a murderer (although there were sympathizers for him as well).
If, if journalists wanted to take on a social angle I would think it would be how one has to lie to get childcare. We do not have affordable and adequate childcare in this country. But I digress.
I don’t believe the wife had anything what so ever to do with this murderous rampage. He and he alone killed his family. Used to, marriage entitled men to rape their wives (I’m talking about how the law allowed it), now it seems marriage (and in many other cases, no marriage, just the fact a woman has a baby with a man) entitles a man to murder the woman and children. And there is no recourse, because he is dead.
This man was a cowardly weak murderous bastard. And damn him in hell for trying to act like the wife/mother consented.
I agree the media is taking this story totally out of context.
Villaraigosa is such an asshole. Any opportunity to come out and show his stupid face for the cameras!
This story sickens me for so many reasons. My health insurance is through Kaiser and my doctor is atthe same health center the Lupoe’s wroked at. I will just say that I am not at all suprised by this story. Saddened, yes. Suprised? Not at all. The obssession with “the Jonses” among the LA working class is at a fever pitch.
This man was a coward who had no business being a husband and father in the first place. I don’t believe for one second that this woman was OK with murdering her children.
And I agree with Kitty, the media is scared to paint a nonwhite man as a murderer. They had no problem calling Bruce Pardo all types of names and calling his crimes a “massacre”. Why does Lupoe get treated with kid gloves?
I just left Los Angeles.. and I disagree with the person who stated that” The worst case scenario in a bad economy is homelessness and starvation and both are optional”…Neither are optional options when you have no job in California. 1st: There is a penalty for receiving unemployment if you were fired. Maybe you will get it months later, or maybe you won’t. 2nd; When applying for benefits from State ageny “Social Services,” you are treated and talked to so bad, by the intake worker due to their insensitivity, that you become sorry that you wasted your time in applying, aside for the long length of time that it may take receive assistance, minimum 3 months later. If it was so easy.. Why are thousands of homeless people and families, sleeping on the sidewalks in residental neighborhoods? Once you become down & out your life is at a big risk for death, and it is so common, and is seen so much, that everybody who see the homeless families, become insensitive to it. 3rd;California doesn’t have social programs for the homeless like many other States. Once you become homeless in California, without the support of family & friends if there are any! But for the few that are available, the red tape in receiving the benefits is so much, that the only person who gets paid are the administrators and the staff, not the clients who are in need. The only thing that the homeless is guranteed to receive is food stamps.. So before you ash this couple, put yourself in their shoes. I personally wouldn’t want to experience the nightmare in California.. I’am a native of California without the problems of this couple, but thing including crime got so out of hand in California that I gathered my saving together to pay for my permanent move out of that State with no intentions of returning, and I was born and raised there..
And I agree with Kitty, the media is scared to paint a nonwhite man as a murderer. They had no problem calling Bruce Pardo all types of names and calling his crimes a “massacre”. Why does Lupoe get treated with kid gloves?
I got so flustered I couldn’t even finish my thought. Thank you Hollywood Blackout for refocusing where I wanted to go. Yeah, I call it white guilt combined with racism (white supremacy). If Lupoe had committed a “black” crime, as in robbing a store, killing a cop, dealing drugs, what have you he would be rightfully painted as the criminal that he is? However, he has committed a “white” crime, more specifically a white male crime. That’s the rub. What can the media do with this story when all they see when looking at the picture is a black (non white) man? Therefore, in the vein of white guilt they know they cannot demonize him because he is a human after all, a human man killing his family just like white men have done, so they cannot touch on his blackness. When the crime is similar to a crime that white men have been known to commit, the black man is human. If his crime had been a crime that is not readily associated with white men and almost exclusively associate with other than white men, he would have been painted as the nastiest criminal on the planet. So in order to reconcile white guilt with the fear that their own racism will be exposed, the media divert and find a sympathetic reason to assign to this man. This is racist in itself.
Perhaps the media needs to refocus its attention, not on bashing the growing, and even more relevant blogger community – but on the lack of real reporting that has become the fate of many of these outlets. This type of factual manipulation is becoming all too common and its distressing how many people fall for it without question.
I just left Los Angeles.. and I disagree with the person who stated that” The worst case scenario in a bad economy is homelessness and starvation and both are optional”…Neither are optional options when you have no job in California. 1st: There is a penalty for receiving unemployment if you were fired. Maybe you will get it months later, or maybe you won’t. 2nd; When applying for benefits from State agencies “Social Services,” you are treated and talked to so bad, by the intake worker due to their insensitivity, and uncompassionate behavior that you become sorry that you wasted your time in applying, aside for the long length of time that it may take to receive assistance, (minimum of 3 months) later. If it was so easy.. Why are thousands of homeless people and families, sleeping on the sidewalks in residential neighborhoods? Once you become down & out, your life is at a big risk for death, and it is so prevalent and is seen so much that everybody who observe the homeless families ongoing, become insensitive to it as well. 3rd; California doesn’t have social programs for the homeless like many other States. Once you become homeless in California, without the support of family & friends (if there are any) you are on your own! But for the few programs that are available, the red tape in receiving the benefits is so much, that the only person who gets paid are the administrators and the staff, not the clients who are in need. The only thing that the homeless is guaranteed to receive, is food stamps.. So before you bash this couple, put yourself in their shoes. I personally wouldn’t want to experience the nightmare in California.. I’m a native of California without the problems of this couple, but other things including crime got so out of hand in California that I gathered my saving together to pay for my permanent move out of that State with no intentions of returning, and I was born and raised there..
I feel very sad for this family, regardless of who did what because if one individual like Mrs. Barker (the wife of Bob Barker) can offer to give a million and a half dollars to relocate an elephant who is not homeless, from the LA zoo, truly something is wrong with this whole picture.. One cannot disagree that people have more love for an animal, then they do for human beings.. So sad..
@ Kitty
Wow, you have spelled it out brilliantly. I never considered the white supremacist angle – just the white guilt angle.
But what you said makes perfect sense. We can see this in the case of the DC sniper. He became much more human in the media’s eyes and there were all types of probings into his background and military history. People were even casting Denzel Washington to play him in a film. He was an attractive black man committing what we all nornally see as a white male crime.
My problem with the Lupoe case is that in their quest to paint Lupoe as a human they have turned his wife into a monster. I even heard someone on a popular black blog say that she could see why he was stressed because as a black woman she probably “nagged him to death”. It’s amazing how we internalize so many stereotypes.
I didn’t buy the ” victim of economy” version of this story from the beginning, and I left comments as such at other blogs. Something is dreadfully wrong with a man who could carry out this kind of murder/suicide. Aside from a possible legitimate mental health problem, I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for him.
Thank you for breathing some truth into this story Gina.
And I must add this: Lets pretend the wife did want to end the family’s life, taking the kids with them (since the media insists). Even half a man would know to march her bahind down to the nearest mental health facility and not carry-out the bizarre plan.
In other words, homeboy doesn’t look good in ANY version of this story.
Kitty, I agree. While there may be options, if it were that easy, the homeless rate would be a hell of a lot lower than it is. I walk around them everyday on my way to work. A lot of times these people are stark raving mad and have been PUT on the streets because the state comes up with bogus reasons to let them go. If you are insane, how the heck do you know a tree from a lightpole? So they roam the streets.
People think fast food joints hire anyone and that’s not the case. It’s competitive because everyone falls back on it. It’s harder than one thinks. I say, however, that if more people hustled, they might find that with some real perseverance they might land just one foot short of being homeless which is a hell of a lot better.
“The man believed to be responsible for killing his wife, five children and himself in Wilmington had been fired from his hospital job along with his wife for allegedly forging a supervisor’s signature on a child care application, according to Kaiser Permanente officials.”
He was fired for THAT? I know people who’ve done things a million times worse ( like stolen money from departments ) and they were allowed to retire. So that’s not cause enough to fire someone IMO.
I can see him getting so despondent that he killed himself, but I can’t see why he’d kill his children.
This reminds me of the story I saw on Oprah, where a widow had five or six children and no money whatsoever. Turned out that her husband (who had committed suicide on Thanksgiving Day) stopped paying his life insurance policy. Nice.
I think this story says more about where we are as a country. We think we are our jobs, our stuff, and when we lose that, we’re lost.
While it is not true that “no mother” would kill her kids (I can name a few high-profile cases), this story smelled from the beginning. But the news coverage is the way it is partially b/c the perp is dead too. Remember after Columbine there was all this discussion of societal problems and bullies as well as the mental illness of the perps.
Yes, this was a most heinous case of domestic violence. It was all about the way that some men think that everything and everyone in the household is their property. If the man goes, everyone goes with him. It was inconceivable to him that his wife or children would have a life that extended beyond his. It’s patriarchy at its worst. And it’s not new.
One other thing – the pressure for the man to be “breadwinner”, as opposed to simply being a responsible adult partnered with another responsible adult to find solutions to life’s problems, is also a part of patriarchy and so the economic stuff is relevant, even if the current nat’l economic downturn is not.
I live in California and I know of plenty of social programs for those displaced. It doesn’t solve every problem but there is something available to catch a few people with the will to survive. It’s true that some have medical problems where they may not be able to reason coherently but a lot of people who mill about and ask for money look plenty able-bodied to me. I’ve seen some of the same people for numerous years in fact. I’m not funding a drug habit or other bad habits that overtake a life, sorry!
This man was a killer plain and simple. This wasn’t a crime of passion or despair. It was deliberate and premeditated.
Society hesitates to accept and the media refuses to show and tell how widespread domestic violence really is. It is easier to paint a different picture, so we are hearing about economic downturns for the family, job loss, etc.
@Faith: You are right. He was a killer.
He prepared for and executed the killings so well that the horror of what he did is getting redirected into his wife’s memory, the economy, and his former employer. Just another proof of how the lives of women and children of color are devalued.
What your doing is no different than the media. your just trying to spin the story to fit into your world view. Why the guy had no job is irrelevent. He did an irrational act of killing his whole family and your trying to rationalize it. The ecomony had nothing to do with it simply is not true. It could easily be assumed that had he been employed and debt free he probably would have eventually done something as bad or worse, but that does not change the situation at hand. The economy has many people very upset and some in serious trouble. To acknolwedge why he did this is not to condone or rationalize his behavior, that can not be done. This republican economy is a disaster and spinning everything around it helps no one.
Actually, there have been many cases where there’s no DV and the husband murdered the entire family. Including the one this fall in southern CA as well.
As for no mother agreeing to kill their children, surely you jest? There are plenty of women who have outright murdered their children, as well as entering in pacts with men to do so.
My point is, in jumping on the media for defaming the woman, you’re accusing this man of DV, and there’s no evidence that there was any. Might there have been? Most assuredly. Clearly dude was more than just a little bit wacko, but plenty of folks have murdered their families without beating them first.
coward coward coward coward coward coward coward and don’t forget coward!!!!!!!!!
Are some of you serious? Social programs to help you when you’ve lost a job? If you are serious, and really need to work, get thee to McDonalds, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, etc. These places are always hiring. There is a big problem when people think they are too good for minimum wage when they have a family, or themselves, to support. You need to do what you have to do, legitimately to survive. No one said that this would be your final job in the world, and you can still send out resumes. If you have to eat, you better get to work.
As an employment specialist I can honestly say that even getting a job at Fast Food places isn’t as easy as the snap of a finger. Some fast food places now are starting to require associates degree unless you’re a current High School student. You’d be very surprised at how many “blue collar” jobs are raising the bar.
As far as the mom not having any involvement. I would hope she didn’t know, but to be honest I can see her have a conversation with her husband about it. We could be talking about two people with severe mental health issues. IMO, I think we are. And I’m talking about undiagnosed mental health issues. You got tons of people walking around that need to be seeking help or need to be on meds and aren’t. A person can seem to be fully functional with little sign of issues until something triggers it. Maybe its because of the population that I work with. I just see anything as being possible now. Again just my opinion.
Either way its sad, especially since either one or two people in this case saw no hope for themselves.
@TD1016–you will never know unless you apply.
@ Jermitt – You’re right, but my point was that even for those “blue collar-line work jobs”, it’s not to just get a job like that, b/c they’re always hiring, as most people think it seems.
I’ve had plenty of clients get rejected or those Fast Food/Line jobs, who presented well and perfectly capable.
“The news media is too obsessed with reliving the great depression. Nope, this is the run of the mill domestic violence case we hear too often about and I am offended that these people would print this man’s final act of control by dragging his wife into this.”
My sentiments, exactly. Thank you, Gina, for cutting thru the bull****. This man was nowhere near an economic depression.
When I saw the size of their house and their cars on the news, my first thought was “why would anyone kill themselves and their whole family with all of that???” Mr. Lupoe could have easily cut back and decided to live at a lower economic standard and would still not come even close to being poor. So I don’t buy that he was so economically desperate.
I hate to sound like my Grandma, but I remember when my father and mother – literally – gave us canned beans and campbells tomato soup every day for , like, a year when my father got layed off from the steel mills. We would go the whole year with no birthday or holiday gifts, but always had lots of love and discipline from my parents. My dad also worked a bunch of little jobs to help us make ends meet – he painted houses, delivered newspapers, fixed cars for friends, etc., until he found a permanent position. He’s now an engineer. My mother and father, as broke as they were, never went on welfare (not that there’s anything wrong with that, as my father and grandmother lived a few years in the Ida B. Wells projects before we were born). And to top it all off, neither of my parents had college degrees at the time. But now me and all 3 of my siblings are college-degreed world travellers – not rich, but worldly.
So I agree, this media bunk about Lupoe’s impoverishment led to this slaughter is garbage. They weren’t even close to poor, and poverty has never made people killers anyway.
He killed his family because he was exactly as you said – a control freak psychopath. Personally, I think he decided to commit suicide and then, being the control-freak that he was, also decided that only he should be able to be with his wife and kids and if he was gone, they would have to die too. That If-I-can’t-have-’em-then-nobody-can mindset. Sick, twisted, and unfortunate.
Thanks Gina.
Maybe dude was a psychopath from the jump and this was a final act of a lifetime of behaviour tolerated because he appeared to be “a good black man”. Maybe those two shared their pathology and she very well could have been in on the slaughter of those beautiful children. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened.
Or maybe it was the lack of coping skills. I feel sorry for those people grasping to their middle class status. Not remembering how their parents scrimped and scraped to make ends meet. The not knowing that it ready is “just money”. Let the bill collectors call. Screw them. You take blood from a turnip. Take this house, this car, these clothes. They aren’t who I am. You can take it all, I’ll be okay.
I suppose those ideas fly in the face of the assimilationist model we are supposed to aspire to. We as Americans are supposed to graduate and get good jobs, get married, have babies and acquire things. But what happens when you lose that good ass job or you get sick and you can work, those investments flounder, and that home everyone told you to buy loses its value. They don’t cover that in that manual you get after you make it.
This horrible event is just another death rattle of the American middle class.
its crazy that so many of you choose to believe she had no part simply because of her gender. there is no reason to believe he lied.
how do you explain cherri yates or mary winkler? the gender bias in the law is thick as soup.
if a man commits a crime he is just evil, if a woman does, she is damaged goods who needs counselling, right?
unless you have something to base it on, you should keep your blind biases to yourselves. if a wife did plan with her husband (which many cold-blooded witches are capable of), it would look just like this would it not?
speculate on facts atleast, not just what you hope is true to back up your sexism.
@leslie
killing your whole family is not necessarily motivated by selfishness. most people agree that children go straight to god when they die.
letting them linger with no father and stain of suicide is bad. ask kids who have lost a parent to death and ask them how that effected them. than multiply that by self-inflicted death-the messages are strong and imply some bad things about those left behind.
suicide is the coward way out, but the murder part of murder-suicide is not necessarily motivated by selfishness.
there was a story in the news a while ago about a man who attempted to murder his wife because he had a problem with pornography. he thought she deserved to go to heaven and was pure, and should not have to suffer with an evil husband.
the circumstances of this story’s mental anguish and how it contorts the mind may not be readily apparent to internet bloggers, or even those ‘in the know’ since the direct witnesses are no longer around to tell their story.
Well the Dude was not a psychopath from the jump I grew up with Tony and he was a great kid with hart! I saw him just two years ago and all I heard him talk about was his two sets of twins, so I like the rest of the world wonder what happened. Yes I have read that he and his wife forged letters on company letterhead to get a break on daycare, crime or mistake I don’t know. Would I have fired him if I was his boss tough call.
Tony was all of about 4 foot something on a good day and I always saw him try much more than i had to at 6 ft 225. I had it easy so I don’t want to judge my friend.
Was it the economy or mental health issues or what, I don’t know. I olny know that at the end of his life the pain and darkness must have been incredible to hurt his children. I feel sorry that I wasn’t able to be there to listen and offer an encouraging word, I know I cound’t help him finacially but i could have listened and maybe that would have been enough, only GOD knows.
I hope that they are all at peace in GODS loveing arms, maybe I am being a little easy because he was a friend, but I sure don’t care what color he was cause his blood is the same color as mine and mine could spill just as easilly.
Jethro. 1986 LO
“after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone else’s hands … we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go”
“Why are we believeing a man who faxed his suicide note to news stations?”
Now I TRULY understand what Nigerians mean when they say
((((((((WONDERS SHALL NEVER END!!!!!)))))))))
So all those beautiful children are gone, wow. Who in this world, especially a mother, would have a calm “conference” with their spouse of not only killing themselves BUT THE CHILDREN TOO!!!
Thanks for showing me a different perspective on this story.
I don’t get your take on this story.
Yes, he was fired for cause, but the cause was him and/or his wife forging the supervisor’s signature on a daycare form – economic
He owed 15,000$ to the IRS and had no job and neither did his wife. The IRS will take EVERYTHING and then some, not the same as owing student loans that you can get deferred or placed in forbearance – econmic
Is this economy the likely hood of him finding another job anytime soon was slim to none – economic
If you’re unemployed 50,000$ worth of debt is significant – econmic
No refinancing the house, getting loans, credit cards or anything else without a job (hell, even with a job) – economic
We have no evidence this was a domestic violence issue. NONE. There is nothing to suggest he ever laid a hand on his wife or kids. And this wouldn’t be the first time a woman has colluded with her husband to end their lives and those of their children.
Clearly the current economy contributed to what would have been a bad situation in boom times, but seemed hopeless in bad times.
And no starving and homelessness is rarely an option. Barring generous friends and families you won’t have help or a place to stay.
And as other commenters have noted getting a fast food job isn’t as easy as folk make it out to be. And minimum wage is hardly going to feed, clothe and house a family of 7.
U will be the working homeless at best. Living in a shelter while working, assuming there is shelter space available.
Yes, the man seemed a bit narcissistic, but when you’re driven to the edge…
To Photoguy -
“”
Short-man syndrome! Not a good thing to have when you’re already psycho.
To UCRAZY -
“killing your whole family is not necessarily motivated by selfishness. most people agree that children go straight to god when they die……..the murder part of murder-suicide is not necessarily motivated by selfishness……..he thought she deserved to go to heaven and was pure, and should not have to suffer with an evil husband.”
UCRAZY! Aptly named. Anybody who would justify murder by using God and crazy statements about not wanting a woman “to suffer” (please) truly IS CRAZY, as you have admitted. If you are married or have kids, I feel sorry for them if you have a bad day and decide you’re going to do them a favor by fasttracking them all to God. Last time I checked MURDER was a sin in God’s eyes (of most all religions). You’re craaaaa-zzzyyyy!
Nice to see this conversation brings out the usual amount of excusers and deniers.
If you are going to kill yourself, kill yourself, don’t kill others you don’t own their lives.
I agree with Daphne, people who kill others in these murder suicides are serious narcissists.
Anyone who is even contemplating this should realize that he does not own the lives of others, the others will get on just fine without him, a lot of people have come up from very poor backgrounds and become successful, if he wants to kill himself, he should leave other people out of it.
Well, we know how the stupid liberal White media works. He is a Black male, therefore he is the innocent victim no matter WHAT disgusting crime he commits (They especially think it is irrelevant if it involves hurting a Black female like this one did) so this is par for the course for this pack of hypocritical, trifling losers.
Meanwhile, if a sister so much as jaywalks, the same “Non-racist”, liberal White media would be screaming “HANG HER” nonstop, and the clown-ass Black media would go right along with it!
No amount of possible economic problems EXCUSES murder. He is a murderer, pure and simple. I am appalled by the media for excusing this heinous crime.
What a disgusting man. I see that beautiful baby being held by his mom and I see my nephew’s face.
It’s a wonder how anyone could still dismiss psychology after this horrible situation.
This is definitely an interesting take on the story. I hadn’t really thought about it from this angle.
I am saddened that this man chose this route for himself and his family. But I must be honest and say that’s all I see here, tragedy.
Sure, there could be something more to this, but the fact that he forged a signature for child care makes me think there was more financial trouble going on here than we know. The firings were, unfortunately, the tipping point that sent him over the edge.
I also don’t buy that they discussed this. I can’t imagine many mothers willing to murder their children.
But at the same time, we know that someone who kills himself and his whole family is obviously not right in the head. Just a horrible, final end to temporary problems. It is shame that no one was able to get to this man before this happened.
Dear all,
Though I amn’t a psychiatrist, this dreadful tragedy sounds like a classic case of,”family annihilation”. The perpetrators of this sort of crime are almost invariably depressed and socially isolated (in that they don’t appear to have close friends in whom to confide), and usually seem to have planned the deed well in advance. There doesn’t seem to be a typical pattern of physical domestic violence, but instead threatening or controlling behavior. These men appear to think of their families as possessions, rather than individual human beings. Ucrazy, it’s always POSSIBLE that the mother was involved in the plan, but it’s very unlikely, as that doesn’t fit the pattern of this type of crime. As for U.S. racial politics, I must profess ignorance, and hence can’t comment. We have the same phenomenon here in the U.K.: in the past few years a police constable and a wealthy businessman carefully planned and then carried out the slaughter of their entire families, and then themselves. It’s very tragic, and clearly more study needs to be done on the matter.
This story is so sad that it took me a couple of days to respond. So I guess Mr. Loco’s actions suggests that I should just kill my family and commit suicide over my student loan debt. NOT. I’ll be d*%m if I take my life and my family’s lives over debt.
I can’t believe that those beautiful babies and their wonderful mom were assassinated because Mr. Loco’s evil and ignorant azz. He was a COWARD!!!
Sidebar: I apologize for my few choice words.