• Mother Shoots 2 at State Office, Then Kills Herself
    59 replies, posted
[release] SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office on Monday and staged a seven-hour standoff with the police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself, officials said. The children, a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter, were in critical condition Tuesday. The mother was identified as Rachelle Grimmer, 38. A police investigator, Joe Baeza, said Ms. Grimmer had recently moved from Zanesville, Ohio.Ms. Grimmer first applied for food stamps in July but was denied because she did not turn in enough information, said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.Ms. Goodman said it was not immediately clear what information was missing. She said the Grimmers’ last contact with the agency appeared to be a phone call in mid-November. When the family entered the Laredo office on Monday, shortly before 5 p.m., Ms. Grimmer asked to speak to a new caseworker, not the one whom she worked with previously, Ms. Goodman said.Ms. Goodman said Ms. Grimmer was taken to a private room and she showed a gun and the standoff began.Police negotiators tried to stay on the phone with Ms. Grimmer throughout the evening, but she kept hanging up, Mr. Baeza said. Around 7:45 p.m., she let a supervisor go unharmed. After hanging up the phone around 11:45 p.m., the police heard three shots. A SWAT team found Ms. Grimmer’s body and her two wounded children.[/release] [URL]http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/us/woman-seeking-food-stamps-shoots-her-children.html?_r=1&ref=us[/URL]
What a responsible parent
Bitch. I know the system doesn't necessarily work in peoples favor at times, but for fucks sake.
Lets look at the bright side, the children are still alive, let us hope they make a recovery.
I want food stamps to feed my children! Won't give me food stamps? then I'll just kill them and me. that'll solve my problems!
[QUOTE=ReligiousNutjob;33614243]Lets look at the bright side, the children are still alive, let us hope they make a recovery.[/QUOTE] They'll probably heal physically, but they may never recover mentally. Being shot by your mother (and from what it sounds like only parent) and then watching her off herself might have that effect.
Why the fuck can people afford guns and ammo, but not a box of friggin Top Ramen..?
You guys are completely missing the point. She was so much distress because she wouldn't get benefits to feed herself and her children. It goes to show that certain people desperately need these stamps or other benefits but can't get them. You should read all the technicalities when it comes to getting benefits. I was unemployed a long time ago and I couldn't even qualify for food stamps or any benefits to help me stay a float while looking for a new job because apparently I made to much money when I had a job. THAT MAKES SENSE RIGHT. The system is really fucking broken, we got people who don't need benefits on them. I mean look at this for example. [url]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seattle-welfare-recipient-lives-million-dollar-home-161252749.html[/url] [QUOTE=Spybreak;33614315]Why the fuck can people afford guns and ammo, but not a box of friggin Top Ramen..?[/QUOTE] I can go downtown where I live and get a stolen hand gun with that is fully loaded with ammo for like 40 bucks. It isn't fucking hard. The gun she had was likely a stolen gun, or a gun that was handed down or owned before trouble started. It isn't like guns have expiration dates they get handed down generation to generation all the time. And a box of top ramen isn't suitable for a sustainable food supply, specially with children. They're terrible for you due to the sodium and lack all the nutritional requirements. At least food stamps allow a person to get some food that can be somewhat beneficial to the family. That is why poor people are generally in poor health because cheap food = bad food.
[QUOTE=MR-X;33614320]You guys are completely missing the point. She was so much distress because she wouldn't get benefits to feed herself and her children. It goes to show that certain people desperately need these stamps or other benefits but can't get them. You should read all the technicalities when it comes to getting benefits. I was unemployed a long time ago and I couldn't even qualify for food stamps or any benefits to help me stay a float while looking for a new job because apparently I made to much money when I had a job. THAT MAKES SENSE RIGHT. The system is really fucking broken, we got people who don't need benefits on them. I mean look at this for example. [url]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seattle-welfare-recipient-lives-million-dollar-home-161252749.html[/url] I can go downtown where I live and get a stolen hand gun with that is fully loaded with ammo for like 40 bucks. It isn't fucking hard.[/QUOTE] The system is broken right now, but holding people hostage, trying to kill your children, then yourself isn't the answer. Life is tough, but homicide/suicide isn't the answer.
And now the kids have to live with no mother. :(
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;33614344]The system is broken right now, but holding people hostage, trying to kill your children, then yourself isn't the answer. Life is tough, but homicide/suicide isn't the answer.[/QUOTE] The fact is that the woman shouldn't be brought to that point, ever. What sickens me is I've seen people pay with foodstamps before... then pull out a fucking iPhone. How the fuck can you afford an iPhone but not fucking food?
[QUOTE=MR-X;33614320]You guys are completely missing the point. She was so much distress because she wouldn't get benefits to feed herself and her children. It goes to show that certain people desperately need these stamps or other benefits but can't get them. You should read all the technicalities when it comes to getting benefits. I was unemployed a long time ago and I couldn't even qualify for food stamps or any benefits to help me stay a float while looking for a new job because apparently I made to much money when I had a job. THAT MAKES SENSE RIGHT. The system is really fucking broken, we got people who don't need benefits on them. I mean look at this for example. [url]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seattle-welfare-recipient-lives-million-dollar-home-161252749.html[/url] I can go downtown where I live and get a stolen hand gun with that is fully loaded with ammo for like 40 bucks. It isn't fucking hard. The gun she had was likely a stolen gun, or a gun that was handed down or owned before trouble started. It isn't like guns have expiration dates they get handed down generation to generation all the time.[/QUOTE] This. Starvation does fucked up things to people, especially when it's not just you starving, but your offspring as well. I mean, when your faced with the choice between paying for shelter or paying for food, your mind tends to become a little unhinged. Especially when help is so close but you're consistently refused. [editline]7th December 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;33614344]The system is broken right now, but holding people hostage, trying to kill your children, then yourself isn't the answer. Life is tough, but homicide/suicide isn't the answer.[/QUOTE] The answer is to just lay down and starve to death, right? 'Cause that's what any human would do, right?
[QUOTE=MR-X;33614320]That is why poor people are generally in poor health because cheap food = bad food.[/QUOTE] I hate how true this.
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;33614344]The system is broken right now, but holding people hostage, trying to kill your children, then yourself isn't the answer. Life is tough, but homicide/suicide isn't the answer.[/QUOTE] People do irrational things when even their basic needs aren't being met. If the system can't even do that, it needs an overhaul or replacement. Granted this is a wild example, it's an example none the less. People are unpredictable. You only make it worse by saying 'sorry, ya'll ain't eating today' when its obvious they barely get by.
This what happens in a society where the inequality in said country becomes a subject of mass debate and attention is sociology classes all around the world. We literally fascinate foreigners with how severe the schism is in the US. And you guys think the woman was in the right state of mind? You've never been in her situation, your mind has not experienced being snapped and having a mental dissease literally form. Any person of socioeconomic knowledge can tell you this: Poverty causes crime.
[QUOTE=The Baconator;33614452] Poverty causes crime.[/QUOTE] Indirectly.
Stupid bitch, the reason her kids are alive is because she couldn't kill her children, but still shot them anyway? i'm not saying it's a bad thing that the kids are alive, but come on, how can you shoot two children with the intent to kill them, and not kill them? She obviously didn't have it in her, which is a good thing, but she still shot them, fucking stupid bitch of a woman. Shoulda just killed herself and not have shot them.
Dumb bitch. This is sickening.
[QUOTE=furious_d;33614393]I hate how true this.[/QUOTE] I am really jealous of it.
Whoa shit that's fucked up, and in my city too.
We've witnessed the response many mammals and other creatures have to immense stress and anger caused by near intolerable living conditions, and from experiencing mental torment we have vegetate felt. It's like that tortured Chinese bear that escaped and millet her cubs, then herself. Or a few years ago when that father who lost his job and his house was gonna be foreclosed, he burned down his house with his family and him in it. The mind can only tolerate so much beating until permaneant damage and insanity occur. Who knows what was going on in her head, it probably all seemed right in her head, but not in ours. Her ability to percieve things was damaged or altered.
[QUOTE=Ultra Violence;33614375] The answer is to just lay down and starve to death, right? 'Cause that's what any human would do, right?[/QUOTE] Killing her children, and herself, is justifiable because she was hungry? She never should have reached that point, no one should have, and she shouldn't had to have starved to death, but she shouldn't kill herself or her children, that is never the answer to anything.
You guys like to over exaggerate. I highly doubt she was STARVING ON THE BRINK OF BECOMING A CHINESE BEAR, ETC.
[QUOTE=Aman VII;33614930]You guys like to over exaggerate. I highly doubt she was STARVING ON THE BRINK OF BECOMING A CHINESE BEAR, ETC.[/QUOTE] Clearly you're missing the point, a person who has a chance and is in a clear mindset normally does not do this type of shit. This woman was clearly at the edge.
[QUOTE=MR-X;33614967]Clearly you're missing the point, a person who has a chance and is in a clear mindset normally does not do this type of shit. This woman was clearly at the edge.[/QUOTE] Or she was already insane to begin with.
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;33614852]Killing her children, and herself, is justifiable because she was hungry? She never should have reached that point, no one should have, and she shouldn't had to have starved to death, but she shouldn't kill herself or her children, that is never the answer to anything.[/QUOTE] This would have never come even close to happening if the system wasn't so broken
There may have been some misguided justification for these actions in her mind, but these are not the thought processes of a mentally healthy human being. Whether or not she was pushed to madness by the food shortage or simply resided there by lifelong mental imbalances, however, can only be speculated. One thing [I]is[/I] clear, and this story is a reminder of it: the financial safety net of the American people has very large holes. Nobody should want for food and shelter in a first-world country such as ours. America needs to enter a long period of self-reflection and self-improvement, so that we can discover and correct the fundamental flaws of our system.
[QUOTE=wewt!;33615005]This would have never come even close to happening if the system wasn't so broken[/QUOTE] Right, the system is broken, and needs fixing, but the system being broken isn't an excuse to kill your children, then yourself.
Just, what the fuck.
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;33615178]Right, the system is broken, and needs fixing, but the system being broken isn't an excuse to kill your children, then yourself.[/QUOTE] Of course it isn't, she's obviously guilty, but simply leaving it at that is missing the point and ignoring the inherent problem that had played a big part in this happening
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