On Monday morning I was walking my dog in the park and some police cars rolled in. I thought some homeless person or college student was going to get busted.
I see the police cars stop next to a gazebo next to the lake. I see a guy laying between the gazebo and lake and thought he happened to just be hanging out where the were the police cars were. When we got closer, I saw a stretcher being wheeled out and a guy with plastic gloves walking out with a plastic bag.
I think....ah fuck...A stretcher with no ambulance...that dude is dead. He looked older and there was an old folks home next to the park, so I wondered if it was a suicide or an old guy had a heart attack.
I looked online and didn't see anything in the papers until today. It was a suicide. The guy was 55 and a coach at the high school about 3 miles away for a number of years until 2 years ago. He transfered to another school and built up that program. He was 55 and getting ready to retire in a couple years.
He burned his car at the high school 3 miles away and shot and killed himself at the park.
The damn article was so unsatisfying. It talked about how well liked he was by the kids he coached and quoted kids that are in college that he coached and how much they liked him. And he was liked by his assistant coaches. And noted he hung out with the principal and played tennis with him once a week. But no mention of what would motivate him to take out a gun and blow himself away.
I can only imagine what he was thinking while he walked the about three miles from where he burned his car at the high school to the park. I wonder what demons he had inside him that would drive him to take his life. Did he do something that he could face up to? Was he severely depressed? Did he find out he had a medical condition and didn't want to be a burden on others and suffer? Was he drunk and/or on drugs and just lost his shit that night? He probably walked along the bike trail where there are lots of people walking and biking and running. Were those people at risk or could any of them helped him? I'll never know.
I see the police cars stop next to a gazebo next to the lake. I see a guy laying between the gazebo and lake and thought he happened to just be hanging out where the were the police cars were. When we got closer, I saw a stretcher being wheeled out and a guy with plastic gloves walking out with a plastic bag.
I think....ah fuck...A stretcher with no ambulance...that dude is dead. He looked older and there was an old folks home next to the park, so I wondered if it was a suicide or an old guy had a heart attack.
I looked online and didn't see anything in the papers until today. It was a suicide. The guy was 55 and a coach at the high school about 3 miles away for a number of years until 2 years ago. He transfered to another school and built up that program. He was 55 and getting ready to retire in a couple years.
He burned his car at the high school 3 miles away and shot and killed himself at the park.
The damn article was so unsatisfying. It talked about how well liked he was by the kids he coached and quoted kids that are in college that he coached and how much they liked him. And he was liked by his assistant coaches. And noted he hung out with the principal and played tennis with him once a week. But no mention of what would motivate him to take out a gun and blow himself away.
I can only imagine what he was thinking while he walked the about three miles from where he burned his car at the high school to the park. I wonder what demons he had inside him that would drive him to take his life. Did he do something that he could face up to? Was he severely depressed? Did he find out he had a medical condition and didn't want to be a burden on others and suffer? Was he drunk and/or on drugs and just lost his shit that night? He probably walked along the bike trail where there are lots of people walking and biking and running. Were those people at risk or could any of them helped him? I'll never know.
