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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Gilroy tragedy an extreme example of PTSD

Gilroy tragedy an extreme example of PTSD

Kevin Fagan

Saturday, March 17, 2012
Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle



Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle
Mourners hold a moment of silence at a memorial for Lucero Gutierrez, 11, on Thursday, March 15, 2012 in Gilroy, Calif. Guitierrez was apparently shot and killed by her brother Abel Gutierrez, an Iraq war veteran, who then shot himself on Wednesday.

Post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans of the nation's wars of the past decade has skyrocketed, experts say - and there is no worse result than what happened in Gilroy this week, when an Iraq war veteran allegedly killed his young sister, himself and probably their mother.

Textbook warning signs of PTSD had been apparent for months with former Army Spec. Abel Gutierrez. But although police, veterans counselors and Gutierrez's family tried to help him, in the end it was not enough.

Gutierrez was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait twice between 2005 and 2010, and relatives told police that after he came home from the second tour he was not the same. He woke screaming at imaginary enemies and took to swearing at people in the street and packing pistols, they said.
read more here

Iraq veteran likely shot mother

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