The Aurora shooter
Reflections After Seeing the Aurora Accused Killer on CNN
Whacko. Nut job. Crazy ass. These are references on my newsfeed about the young man accused of Aurora killings. All I can think is how familiar he seems. How he reminds me of my daughter's college friends. How frequently I see his figure loping down Bardstown Road. Mostly, I note how he resembles countless 20-somethings I met on forensic units during my tenure as chaplain at our state psychiatric hospital.
Imagine regaining a few grains of sanity only to discover you'd been living (sometimes for months and years) in states of delusion and had awakened to find yourself in a nightmare. The alien you'd shot to protect your family had been a sheriff's deputy. The little brother you adored was dead--at your own hand. He wasn't the anti-Christ;the voices had lied. The reason your family never brought your tiny daughter to visit was because you had "known" she'd be brutally gang-raped" over & over" if she was ever out of your sight so you had drowned her (to save her) in a dish pan.
None of us know what happened last Friday night, what precipitated this horrific event. But before any of us scoffs "He'll just enter an insanity plea," know mental illness is real and more awful than most of us can ever imagine. Let us pray for the victims and their loved ones. God grant us grace to pray, likewise, for the accused and his loved ones...and the courage to work for a world who cares for some of our society's most vulnerable persons.
*Mera Corlett posted the above on her Facebook page.