Suicide Threat at a Community Bank

Suicide Threat at a Community Bank
Posted by Susana Marcelo on Dec 23, 2007 - 4:16:34 AM


FULLERTON—On Tuesday, December 18, Fullerton Community Bank was threatened by a man who claimed he was going to commit suicide. The 48-year-old man from Santa Monica called police from a pay phone and warned them that he was going to enter the Fullerton Community Bank at 2920 E. Chapman Avenue and kill himself.

When the 48-year-old suspect entered the building he announced his intentions because he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. The people at the bank dropped to the floor and crawled into the bank vault until police arrived. When police officers arrived at 3:30 pm they found the man sitting down and no weapon anywhere. He was then transported to a Santa Ana mental health clinic.


Sergeant Linda King, Fullerton Police Department PIO, said, “The man is being held on a 72 hour psychiatric evaluation. He did call us from a pay phone nearby and tell us he wanted to kill himself. He then ran into the bank, where we found him. We have had prior dealings with this man and he was held on a prior 72 hour exam back on June 17.”

King said that on June 17 the suspect went into the Starbucks across the street from the Fullerton Community Bank and threatened suicide that time as well. She also added that there are no criminal charges being filed and the identity of the man is withheld because of his suicide threat.

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What this does not say is why nothing was done for this man after the first time. What made him want to claim a suicide attempt with nothing to do it with? People do not do something this public unless they are trying to communicate some kind of message in a very public way. Is it that he simply lacks the ability to say what it is he wants people to know or is it that the police never bothered to ask him why he was doing this? Across the world people commit suicide all the time in private. Although their anguish may be known to others, most do not want anyone to stop them from carrying out their suicide if they are intent on doing it.

When I lived back in Massachusetts there was a neighboring family who experienced a private suicide. No one knew how depressed this son was. He was 20. His mother went to wake him up to go to work and found him hanging in his closet. Friends later told his parents they had no idea it was coming. His death left all of them shocked.

There are some who regret trying right after swallowing a handful of pills and call for help. Others will cut their wrist only to make a phone call to save them. They regret giving up, find just enough hope left within them to reach out for help one more time. Many will find themselves receiving the same attitudes they lived with before and try one more time to end their suffering.

Yet when they try to kill themselves in public, they are trying to deliver a message they want everyone to know. What was this man trying to say for the second time and why wasn't this clearly troubled man helped after the first time?