Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Tragic Neighborhood Murder

Today I received the most chilling phone call of my life. My brother called me as I was walking into my apartment after class and the call left me heartbroken and completely lost for words. Something happened that you only hear about in Lifetime movies. Something that you see and then think, 'oh my gosh, people don’t really do those things in real life. That would never actually happen to me or someone I know.'

My neighbor drove to his wife’s work, shot her and then killed himself.
I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing. This is a man I’ve known my entire life. They have two children, 25 and 23. My sister has been best friends with the daughter since preschool. Their son was one of my best friends growing up. This wasn’t just a random neighborhood family, which makes the situation even more difficult. They appeared to be a normal family…but clearly their marriage was not healthy. The dad had a bit of a temper, but he was a good person and an amazing father to my two friends.
I can’t even begin to describe how bad I feel for my friends. They lost both of their parents in the same day. How do you even process that information? No one deserves to go through something like this.
To make the situation even worse, the daughter is engaged and getting married this year.

My neighborhood has experienced too much tragedy. Alec’s mom passed away from a heart attack six months ago, Dani and Jake’s mom passed away three weeks ago, my next door neighbor was recently sentenced to 8 years in prison and now this horrific tragedy. It needs to end!
I am a true believer in the phrase ‘everything happens for a reason’ but I don’t understand this.
Please say a prayer for my friends.  

6 comments:

  1. Praying now. We can't know why these things happen, but we can be there for people when it does take place. I pray He comforts them, and somehow encourages them, and you, thru this time.

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  2. Your friends will need all the support and comfort they can possibly get right now. Through helping them perhaps you can help yourself and make some sense of this. No one will ever understand why someone commits such a horrible act. Thoughts and prayers for both you and your friends :(

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  3. that's terrible man. i'm hoping for the best whatever that may be in this situation

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  4. It's pretty obvious it wasn't because there marriage was bad - if that were the case, he probably would not have killed himself. There were clearly underlying mental health issues, which probably contributed to his temper. Divorce would have solved nothing as it was not a marital issue - and while marital issues may certainly have existed and divorce may have spared her, at the same time there is no way to know that. They could've divorced and he still could've done it.

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  5. I read the story about that couple in Boca. Sorry to hear. Glad no other bystanders got hurt. Hope you are being a good friend to the kids.

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  6. (Sorry to storm in and comment on your latest post, but I couldn't find an email for you.)

    I wrote a book on the repressed and hidden sexual flexibility of *most* men. It's free and available as an audiobook too: http://grero.com/

    If you have the time or interest, let me know what you think!

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