28 Bells

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Bells were rung around the country today as a sign of rememberence on the week anniversary of the Newtown shooting. Many rang 26 bells, some 27. At this point in time, from the information available, I would ring 28.

20 for the children
6 for the teachers
1 for the Mom
1 for the mentally disabled murderer

The Mom was as much a victim as any one else, and struggled 20 years to raise a mentally disabled son. She tried her best, and though she failed in the end and made a great error in judgement, it was an error and she was not an accomplice. For the shooter I have anger and it is incomprehensible but I can't at this point hate. He too was a victim of sorts, of the inequalities of life. There was no question this man had serious mental disabilities all his life. I don't know, but it may be he was not even sane at the end, or if he was, it was not by much.

We don't have the same data, as it seems. How can you say that ? I'm maybe uninformed. Tell me. I don't agree that "there is not question that...".

Else, yes, I agree. I don't think many people would admit the 28th bell ring, but they should understand that before he did his murders, the killer was not a killer. Tainting of evil the person he was before he did them, seems morally wrong.

I've read every article published on this story, including what anyone who knew the Mom and son has had to say. Its hard to summarize 100 storys. But I can say, this man was never high functioning socially. If he had aspergers it was in the severe catagory. He also had at least one other condition that effected his nerves, so that he could not feel physical pain, or felt it less then normal. He apparently never had a single real friend. His ability to read and get good grades moved him along in the mainstream, and he doesn't seem to have been in the special education program (?). Eventually due to increased outbursts at school that required his mother to intervene he was removed from school and attended college classes early, at age 16. The divorce came then and he quit attending school and got a GED eventually. Between age 17 and 20 is a black hole info wise so far, and he had very little interaction with the outside world. He stopped speaking to his father and brother and only spoke to his mom the last years of his life. He stopped speaking to her 3 days before the end, perhaps because she was trying to get him to move out.

But this is all just what I have gleaned and my own opinion. The next official information will probably be when the authorities have gotten possesion of the medical records and any results of autopsy and DNA testing.

I don't think the mom was a victim.

I would ring 28,once the mom and the shooter were babies,I have no idea what life dealt to either one of them.I doubt if when he was little he aspired to murder innocent people,and no matter what kind of mother she was, I doubt if she wanted her child to grow up to commit such an atrocity.

None of us knows the torment he lived in in his mind.
No one knows what he comprehended in his last day.
I do not believe that his mother wanted him to 'move out', she must have been the one person aware that he would never be able to live on his own.
I believe that he was in some dissociated state, living in a video game, for instance, when he committed his final, tragic acts.
His mother's life became a tragedy, too, but she did have money for an in-home caretaker, or could have afforded a live-in facility.
R.I.P. to both of them, and may the bereaved parents of the children find forgiveness for them.

Sylkat