Thursday, December 08, 2005

CNN.com - Alpizar shot by Air Marshals

This is a sad story. On the surface, this situation sounds different than the London Underground shooting. If he did announce that he had a bomb and then approached the marshals, it's hard to argue that they shouldn't have shot him. But there are conflicting accounts.

Either way, it sounds like the real tragedy is Alpizar's bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder has been featured enough on TV over the last several years that I think most people are aware what a devastating illness it can be. It's really sad that this was the end result.

My mom's sister is mentally ill. Mom thinks she's bipolar with psychotic features, but she's not sure since we've never been able to get her in for treatment long enough to confirm a diagnosis. Talking to her and reading letters she writes you can tell that her mind isn't working correctly. We're just lucky that she hasn't been in a situation where she's considered a danger to others. Too bad we can't say the same for Alpizar.

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3 comments:

John Howard said...

It sounds like they probably did what they thought they had to do, although, if it later comes out that he didn't say anything, didn't run, and didn't even have a backpack, I'm going to be pretty disgusted.

The Disgruntled Chemist said...

That's right, John - the London situation sounded a lot more reasonable at first, while the police lies were the only story coming out.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but for now it seems like the police were totally justified.

michelline said...

Of course, you're right. There are already conflicting stories about what happened. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a London situation.