Austin Veteran Affairs Clinic shut down after suicide on Tuesday

update Veteran who killed self at Austin clinic was referred from local VA

McLennan County Veteran’s Service Officer Steve Hernandez said the veteran was a patient who had been enrolled in the Phoenix program at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple and was discharged, but somehow his case was transferred to the Austin facility.

“When he found out he couldn’t get the help he needed there, he chose to take his own life,” Hernandez said.

Suicide inside Austin Veterans Affairs Clinic shuts down building

KXAN News
Tom Miller
Posted: Apr 09, 2019

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin's Veteran Affairs Clinic shut down Tuesday as detectives investigated a suicide in the first-floor waiting room.

Witnesses reported hundreds of people were inside the room when a man shot and killed himself shortly after noon.

Ken Walker, who's been going to the VA Clinic on Metropolis for more than two years, said he continued with his group therapy class for nearly an hour after the shooting before he learned what happened.

"All of a sudden, over the intercom, they have this statement about everyone must clear the building including staff, so it was a little surprising," Walker said.

Despite signs prohibiting weapons, the VA does not have metal detectors in the building. Instead, VA police do random bag searches.
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They gave up for themselves but when they do something like this, they do it for all the other veterans.

Have we heard enough of them to know we have to change what we are doing? 

To our veterans: #BreakTheSilence with words...not a gun! #TakeBackYourLife and fight to heal...not to leave!

Murder suspect is former Marine

Murder suspect is former Marine
KXAN.com
Friday, 04 Jan 2013
Shannon Wolfson

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The man suspected of murdering his girlfriend in Southwest Austin on December 29 is a former Marine who worked as a guard at the T Don Hutto Detention Facility in Williamson County, according to Austin police.

Ryan Clarke, 27, is charged with first degree murder in the killing of Cassandra Clark, 26. An arrest warrant for Clarke revealed Williamson County deputies found him in a white Chevy Trailblazer at the Southwest Williamson County Regional Park on Saturday morning. Clarke was slumped over the driver's seat of the vehicle. According to the arrest warrant, Clarke was covered in blood and holding a knife.

Clarke was then transported to Seton Hospital in Williamson County. The following day, Clarke told a hospital social worker he had injured someone at an apartment complex on West William Cannon in South Austin. When Austin police arrived at the apartment, they found Clark dead in the bedroom, with obvious physical trauma.
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Austin veterans react to alarming increase in military suicides

Local veterans react to alarming increase in military suicides
by SHELTON GREEN KVUE News and
Photojournalist MATT OLSEN
kvue.com
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:26 PM

AUSTIN – As the nation reflects this Memorial Day on the men and women who served our country both past and present, there is also a growing focus on an alarming number of military suicides with the present generation of U.S. Veterans.

“Those of us who've served and been in war, we've seen things that you haven't seen," said James Floyd, an Air Force veteran who served four tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan in six years. "We've done things that maybe some of us aren't so proud of, not that we wouldn't do it again if we had to.”

Floyd credits strong family support and the support of his veteran family at the V.F.W. Post 8787 in North Austin for helping him reacclimate back in to society. That hasn’t been the case for every veteran.

“Actually, I just found out that on Mother's Day one of my former troops committed suicide. He was having martial issues,” added Floyd.

The Associated Press reports that a staggering 45% of the 1.5 million soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are now filing for disability benefits at an historic rate. Other research also suggests that military suicides are now up 80%

“They're doing three, four and five tours. Where in Vietnam, unless you really wanted to, I would say the maximum tour, I would say a maximum of two years,” said P.K. Wright, a Vietnam Veteran who spoke to KVUE News Monday.
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Dallas County judge creating court for troubled veterans

Dallas County judge creating court for troubled veterans

03:11 PM CDT on Tuesday, March 30, 2010
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
choppe@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – Soldiers who survive combat only to fall into addiction, depression, rage - and, sometimes, criminal behavior - will have their own court in Dallas County, starting next month.

State District Judge Mike Snipes of Dallas attended training in Austin today to handle a new docket devoted to veterans.

If he can, he’s going to get them into a Veterans Administration bed instead of a prison bed.

“The veterans have unique problems that come from their service - not only in Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s still some from Vietnam,” Snipes said.

“We’re seeing more and more examples of people coming out of there with post-traumatic stress disorder, unique mental difficulties that have to do with combat-related issues.”
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Dallas County judge creating court for troubled veterans

Austin TX rookie police officer called hero after shootout

Austin police close 7 campuses, kill man armed with AK-47
By JANET ELLIOTT Austin Bureau
Nov. 6, 2008, 5:22PM
AUSTIN — A man armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor was shot and killed by a rookie police officer in an early-morning shootout on this city's east side.

The shooting came after an attack that left two other men wounded and spurred Austin school district officials to call off classes at seven campuses in that area for the day.

Police Chief Art Acevedo praised the young officer as a hero. The dead suspect is believed to have been involved in the earlier shooting that left two people wounded at a nearby residence.

The fatal shooting occurred after a chase in which a pickup truck that was seen leaving the residence crashed into a closed hamburger stand while fleeing police.

Five men ran away from the truck, one of them firing an AK-47 at police, Acevedo said.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6098264.html

Ten state school workers fired after audit

July 14, 2008, 3:42PM
Ten state school workers fired after audit


By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


AUSTIN — Texas is failing to follow the wishes of many mentally retarded residents who say they want to leave large state institutions for smaller, community-based homes, an audit found.

The report faulted the Department of Aging and Disability Services for failing to provide community living options for 449 residents of the state schools during fiscal year 2007. That number represented 70 percent of 644 residents who expressed a preference for an alternative living situation.

Auditors also identified 10 state school employees who were listed in a state misconduct registry as unemployable due to prior acts of abuse and neglect. When their names were brought to the agency's attention, all were fired.

Additionally, the audit said the agency should better document its discussions with consumers, as well as the reasons for not providing community living arrangements. Such documentation could help explain why half of state school consumers had expressed no preference for specific living arrangements.

"These issues are significant because Texas has the nation's largest population of consumers of mental retardation services living in large, state-run institutions," said the report from State Auditor John Keel.
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