BP Oil claims one more life after Captain committed suicide

Family: Oil disaster devastated captain who committed suicide
By Rich Phillips, CNN
June 25, 2010 1:49 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Authorities: 55-year-old boat captain committed suicide
Allen Kruse had been helping with BP cleanup for past two weeks
Captain did not leave note, but relatives say oil disaster devastated him
Orange Beach, Alabama (CNN) -- On Thursday evening, a boat returned to its dock without its captain -- his vibrant personality and smile gone. On the dock was a wreath memorializing the Gulf fisherman known as "Rookie."

His family and friends say "Rookie," whose real name was Allen Kruse, was stressed beyond belief by the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. On Thursday, a coroner ruled his sudden, tragic death a suicide.

Kruse, 55, a charter boat captain who had been hired by BP to help clean Gulf waterways and render them safe, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday on board one of his own vessels.

"Most definitely a suicide," said Rod Steade Sr., deputy coroner for Baldwin County, Alabama. "No question about it."

Kruse shot himself with his own gun, kept on board his boat, which was also named "Rookie." He sent two of his deckhands on an errand before killing himself. He did not leave a note, and none of his friends suspected he would do something so extreme.
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Oil disaster devastated captain who committed suicide