Dallas Office Shooting Gets Very Personal 20100309

Hello, all.  This is sort of an irregular blog for me.  Except about myself, I rarely talk about other family members to protect their privacy.  However, this has been on national news, so their privacy is not very protected already.

Everyone is familiar with violence, at least on the news.  This piece affects me personally, and even though I watched some of the news feed in real time, it was after the medics had already left with the victims.

A local Dallas TeeVee Station ran a feature here.  If you closely at about 1:08 minutes, you will see a 66 year old, white haired man being carted on a gurney to the ambulance.  At around 1:13, give or take, a younger man is shown in a similar manner.

The older man is MY BROTHER!  The younger one is MY NEPHEW!  My two closest living blood relatives were nearly exterminated yesterday by the action of what appears to be a very disatsified customer.  You see, my relatives were in the financial planning and stock selling business, and apparently the former customer, a disbarred attorney (for bribery of a public official) wanted them to pay.

As I said, I never gave it a second thought whilst I watched the live feed.  Dallas is big, and there are lots of Pop and Son firms.  I have never been to their building, so it did not register.  Thus, I gave it no mind.

Things changed early this afternoon.  I was working on tax returns for the former Mrs. Translator and the boys, and the telephone rang.  I was in the middle of calculations, and almost all of the calls that I get are telemarketers, so I let it go.  A few minutes later I checked the Caller ID, and then I knew.  Whilst I have a very cordial and loving relationship with my aunt and uncle, we do not call “just to talk”.  She and my brother were much closer than he and I were, mostly because of the closeness in age and the absence of sibling rivalry.  Before I called my aunt, I hit the net, and sure enough, the names had been revealed.

The funny thing is that when I had spoken with the former Mrs. Translator last evening, she specifically asked me if it were my brother and nephew.  I said no, because I had not heard anything at the time and also because the odds were pretty slim.

At the risk of sounding sexist, let me state this here as an axiom for the future for me.  Women seem to have a knack for cutting through bull, quickly.  I spoke with her today a couple of times, and she indicated to me that she KNEW, from the first news report, that the victims were them.  I was clueless, and just chalked it up to another news story.  Folks, check out the female intuition until it is found to be baseless, and it rarely is baseless.

Here is what happened, from my very morphine-dosed brother:

He was working at his desk and he heard a shot.  Our family is very experienced in firearms, and he immediately knew that a large bore pistol was used.  He jumped up from his desk and started to the door of his office.

The shooter had aimed for my nephew’s head, but somehow he ended up striking his mouth (it is not clear if from the inside or the outside at present), and the bullet tore though his neck.

About the time that my brother was standing up, the shooter came into his office and shot him in the leg.  Obviously, my brother immediately fell to the floor.  Then the gunman ordered him to go sit in his chair.  My brother indicated that he could not walk, after being shot in the leg, so the gunman ordered him to crawl there.  It is unclear whether or not he did so, but in any event, the gunman shot him in the other leg, damaging bone.

My brother and the gunman talked for a while, and then the gunman left.  By that time, police were all over the place and the gunman tried to leave, brandishing his weapon.  After a couple of missed shots by the police, the gunman reentered the building and shot himself under the chin, as I understand it.  He was taken to hospital, as were my brother and nephew.

My brother told me that he attempted to talk the gunman out of killing himself, after the gunman asked my brother what killing shot to himself would leave the least disfigurement for his funeral.

After four shots, all hits, were done, the three people still live.  The fate of the gunman is shaky, as he is still in extremely critical condition.  My brother and nephew came through surgery well, and are expected to recover without not much sequalae, but the cosmetic aspects of my nephew’s wounds are unknown as of yet.  My brother is expected to regain full use of his legs after some rehabilitation.

Now for my armchair psychologist’s view of this situation.  Real psychologists, please comment.  I think that the shooter was looking to make my brother miserable for the rest of his life, but to let him live.  I believe that he had little anger towards my nephew, but knew that killing the apple of his father’s eye would hurt my brother.  Thus, the attempted head shot that by the wildest accident happened not to be fatal.

Then he shot my brother in the legs, damaging one quite a bit.  I think that the shooter wanted my brother to live in the agony of knowing that his only, dear son was dead forever and that my brother could never walk properly again.  Sometimes a living hell is worse than a dead one.

Obviously, I am on the side of my family.  But I must say this, in all fairness:  the shooter had many demons, and did the wrong thing this time, and other times before.  I may in time forgive him, but it too early to say that right now.  But there must be family of his that are suffering.  I extend my hand and a wish of good wishes in what is probably their very worst days in their lives now.  I have no animosity towards his family, and I hope that they are able to come through this less damaged that might have been.  I want them to know that I am not their enemy, and never will be.

Tears are rolling now.  I apologize for any typos.

Warmest regards,

Doc

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