Suicide at Tritac Indoor Shooting Range in Salem

[Crazytrain]

Was there. Joined because I saw the posts about the incident, that was reported inaccurately by everyone. Doesn't really mater who was there I guess, the end result is the same. If it wasn't a firearm it would have been another way, unfortunately.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Sounds like he works there or was a customer..... he joined the site the same day it happened. So it's either or .....

If so he needs to say his peace to find some.
So POST AWAY.....
Either way I feel for him also.

I feel for Crazytrain as I have been really close in but did not actually witness something similar. It is a sick feeling to say the least.

 

[partsed]

There were so many red flags that young man displayed. It was a grievous error to hand him a weapon let alone ammunition.

Sorry you had to experience what happened there..

 

[BDA.45]

Im curious to the red flags....seriously....I usually dont shoot with peeps I dont know, but im still curious as to the red flags. Why wasnt something addressed or did it happen to fast.......

 

[Camelfilter]

Im curious to the red flags....seriously....I usually dont shoot with peeps I dont know, but im still curious as to the red flags. Why wasnt something addressed or did it happen to fast.......

I'm curious myself.

Will normally stop shooting and observe folks, when new folk come up to the line. Just to see they are familiar & safe is all.

Over at ARPC with the pistol bit at the end of the main range in particular. No ballistic protection for the rest of us down the line. Not needed if folks are following Coopers rules, but still like to keep aware.

Big fail is folk walking down the main range with there pistol, to use the pistol but at the end...and not taking care with there muzzle. Simple simple fix.

Cleared. Uncase it at the pistol, do the work, then case it back up. Cleared.

Not difficult.

 

[Crazytrain]

First red flag... he walks in the shop and he ignored personnel working the counter that were trying to engage him. Walked off mumbling to himself. We, including staff, discussed the odd behavior. They even followed him on the security cameras. Second red flag, when handed the weapon he immediately put finger on trigger and had to be told, by staff, to keep finger off the trigger. Inexperienced, yes. But, that combined with his entrance to the shop , which concerns were expressed by everyone including shop personnel, in my opinion were reasons to not allow this young man on the range. I posted up at the back of the room so I could watch and assist my two shooters as well as keep watch on the young man to ensure he was at least sending rounds in the right direction.

 

[BDA.45]

First red flag... he walks in the shop and he ignored personnel working the counter that were trying to engage him. Walked off mumbling to himself. We, including staff, discussed the odd behavior. They even followed him on the security cameras. Second red flag, when handed the weapon he immediately put finger on trigger and had to be told, by staff, to keep finger off the trigger. Inexperienced, yes. But, that combined with his entrance to the shop , which concerns were expressed by everyone including shop personnel, in my opinion were reasons to not allow this young man on the range. I posted up at the back of the room so I could watch and assist my two shooters as well as keep watch on the young man to ensure he was at least sending rounds in the right direction.

Well thanks for that, sorry you had to be there......In a non-judgmental tone, it sounds to me like multiple things were ignored. Why was dude handed a weapon in the first place if multiple people, including shop personal, were concerned? Thats my first question.....

Like I said man, Im not judging or being a dik or anything, Im just trying to figure out WHY?.....

 

[BDA.45]

I would NEVER have handed a gun to a dude who exhibits the couple of things youve told us......and thats just me.....

 

[Crazytrain]

This was only my second, and last time on a civilian ran range. Like I said multiple failures that day by myself as well. I don't do social media, Twitter- book as I call it, due to all the drama. But this incident I felt needed to be addressed . Just wanted to throw it out there to my fellow shooters To check policies and procedures and SOP's of your local ranges before putting yourself, friends, or family in danger. Be safe

 

[Caveman Jim]

First red flag... he walks in the shop and he ignored personnel working the counter that were trying to engage him. Walked off mumbling to himself. We, including staff, discussed the odd behavior. They even followed him on the security cameras. Second red flag, when handed the weapon he immediately put finger on trigger and had to be told, by staff, to keep finger off the trigger. Inexperienced, yes. But, that combined with his entrance to the shop , which concerns were expressed by everyone including shop personnel, in my opinion were reasons to not allow this young man on the range. I posted up at the back of the room so I could watch and assist my two shooters as well as keep watch on the young man to ensure he was at least sending rounds in the right direction.

Was he made to take the mandatory range introduction class? In Wa it is a firm rule.
Again, I know partly of what you are going through. I do not care to be around gun store gun ranges that rent guns anymore after my wife and I had rented a half dozen to find the one model that we both liked & bought two of the same.
Some good and some bad in everything I guess.

 

[Crazytrain]

I cannot say if he had or had not taken the video course they asked him if he had fired there before and he said yes. I was there for my wife she was there reluctantly. Just be safe , never know who is being handed a firearm

 

[tac]

Soooooo, basically, the range staff actually handed this guy the gun he used to kill himself, having seen that he was visibly way off beam? Posts #66 through 68 refer.

No matter how upsetting this may have been for the staff and other visitors, this is just unbelievable in the extreme. IMO, Crazytrain is not only doing us a favour by explaining what happened, but earning massive kudos in admitting to taking some part in it, simply by his presence at there at the time. Props to him, I say.

We had a probie attend the range for a few weeks who did not communicate with other members, but just stood there watching instead of joining in the general and inevitable chat and craic. So an Indian parliament was held by the two committee members and eight of the nine shooters present who were RCOs when he had been present. We decided to minimise the risk to everybody with withdrawing his membership. He was asked to hand over his club probie membership card, and to leave and not try to come back. As per the law here in UK, that action was notified to the county firearms licensing team so that he could not attempt to join another club in the entire UK. There are enough nutters around without having one with a live firearm in his/her hands. He may simply have had pretty severe Aspergers, but the last thing any gun club needs is an obvious loner who ignores other people around him.

Sure, we do things differently over here, but EVERYBODY is keeping a VERY close eyeball on every noob - the rare shooting visitor to our ranges is accompanied at all times by one of us. And BTW, a full 30% of our 400+ membership are fully-qualified NRA RCOs. We find that, in general, field shooters have little idea how to comport themselves on a target-shooting range.

tac

 

[EPS]

I read someplace years ago that a lot of single car accidents resulting in death were actually suicides. Must be more difficult to do in a car today with all the crash safety devices. Another question is how do you classify people who refuse medical treatment that could prolong their life? Is this a form of suicide? I have gone through this with both my mother and grandmother. A slippery slope.

I am sorry that the gun range has to be a innocent bystander but some people will blame them and guns in general. It feeds into the anti gun crowd.

Just had it happen up here a week or two ago a lady just drove her Jeep off the ferry dock into the guimus Channel SAN JUAN FEERY DOCK in Anacortes

 

[EPS]

One problem is people or the employees are so afraid that they are going to offend someone that they miss the red flags or they proceed even though they see them but are afraid to say something .the guy that did the mall shooting up here in Skagit county a few years ago accully tried to buy a gun before he stole his step dads but the girl at the gun store refused to help him .she just said there is something not right with him and she won't sell him or show him a gun and he left .next day he stole his step dad gun and shot up the mall

 

[etrain16]

This was only my second, and last time on a civilian ran range. Like I said multiple failures that day by myself as well. I don't do social media, Twitter- book as I call it, due to all the drama. But this incident I felt needed to be addressed . Just wanted to throw it out there to my fellow shooters To check policies and procedures and SOP's of your local ranges before putting yourself, friends, or family in danger. Be safe

As others have stated, thank you for sharing your experience that day. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be there, my sympathies not only to the family of the guy that took his own life, but to you and the others that had to be present for it.

If I could ask another point of clarification - can you wager any guess as to why no one might have responded to their intuition that something wasn't right with this guy? Perhaps they just didn't want to have a confrontation? I only ask because it's a chance for the rest of us here to hopefully learn from this experience in the event we see similar behavior at our local ranges.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

It's a sad event!
Guy gets depressed beyond what he can stand, then goes and suicides depressing those who must deal with the remains and clean up. Too bad!

 

[Captain O]

If someone wants to commit suicide, they'll manage to accomplish their mission. All the "gun control will prevent suicide" malarkey is just that.

There were a number of times that stress overwhelmed me and I'm still here. Awaken next to a cooling wife's body and tell me how you would feel? I'm still here.

Battling depression is not a case of "dealing with the blues" but frequently comes from continually dealing with negative situations that are often beyond your control. After dealing with feelings such as these for more than two decades, trying as one may, it can lead to mental resignation and a final decision to leave the world.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I cannot say if he had or had not taken the video course they asked him if he had fired there before and he said yes. I was there for my wife she was there reluctantly. Just be safe , never know who is being handed a firearm

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I'm wondering how fast this situation took place, what kind of timing? Was the person who handed over the pistol and ammo even aware of the persons situation, or the observations of the others?
Sad day for all!
Before 2004 I would have said that suicide was the chicken chit way out, but after seeing my first wife suffer unbearable pain the last 21 days of her life, and knowing full well there was no hope of recovery, she begged me to help her, or at least give her something to end it, any thing, she even begged me to give her my pistol and leave her to end it on her own terms!!! It tore my guts out to see her suffer, but I told her I would not allow it, nor would I help, that God would not allow it, our two young son's wouldn't allow it, her entire family would not allow it, and that was it! That was so difficult for every one to experience, but I still maintain that it was the right choice no matter what! What if I had helped her? How would our family have felt? What would my young son's thought of me? It was something far bigger then just her, and just me! Was it selfish?

 

[Captain O]

I'm wondering how fast this situation took place, what kind of timing? Was the person who handed over the pistol and ammo even aware of the persons situation, or the observations of the others?
Sad day for all!
Before 2004 I would have said that suicide was the chicken chit way out, but after seeing my first wife suffer unbearable pain the last 21 days of her life, and knowing full well there was no hope of recovery, she begged me to help her, or at least give her something to end it, any thing, she even begged me to give her my pistol and leave her to end it on her own terms!!! It tore my guts out to see her suffer, but I told her I would not allow it, nor would I help, that God would not allow it, our two young son's wouldn't allow it, her entire family would not allow it, and that was it! That was so difficult for every one to experience, but I still maintain that it was the right choice no matter what! What if I had helped her? How would our family have felt? What would my young son's thought of me? It was something far bigger then just her, and just me! Was it selfish?

I have been there. My Mary didn't ask to be "put out of her misery". The agony that we both suffered was incomprehensible. Her faith in the Almighty is what permitted her to endure the pain and see her safely to her Eternal Reward.

As they removed her body, a Police Officer asked, "Do you feel like committing suicide?" To this, I immediately replied, "What, and never see her again?" You can believe me when I tell you that death and I have an intimate and ongoing relationship.