Fort Collins Suicide Leaves More Questions

He was a combat medic trying to save lives and served for 8 years risking his own life. He had PTSD and did something wrong. The questions pile up on this one.
What kind of help did he get before this?
What kind of help did he get in the military?
If he asked for help, which he apparently did, since he was on VA disability, why wasn't it enough to help him heal?
I could go on, but after all these years, I doubt anyone will ever be able to give an acceptable answer.

Man convicted of Islamic Center vandalism dies by suicide
Coloradoan
Cassa Niedringhaus
Jan. 8, 2018

The man convicted of vandalizing the Islamic Center of Fort Collins was found dead Saturday at an east Fort Collins motel.

Joseph Giaquinto, 36, died by suicide Friday, according to the Larimer County coroner. The coroner's office performed an autopsy Sunday and publicly identified Giaquinto on Monday morning.

Larimer County Sheriff's Office deputies responded Saturday afternoon to the Motel 6 at 3900 E. Mulberry St. for a death investigation, according to spokesman David Moore.

The department did not provide further information about the investigation.

Giaquinto's public defender, Heather Siegel, told Field during his sentencing hearing that the six-month work release sentence would jeopardize his veteran's benefits, which he was using to support himself after diagnoses of chronic post-traumatic stress and substance abuse disorders.

Michael Giaquinto, Joseph Giaquinto's father, previously told the Coloradoan that his son was a combat medic in the Army for eight years and served tours in Baghdad, Iraq, and Korea.

During his case proceedings, Joseph Giaquinto was able to have his bond reduced so he could take part in a five- to seven-week PTSD residential rehabilitation program in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
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Fort Collins Murder Suicide Investigation Involves Florida Airman

Florida man killed in Fort Collins shooting was Air Force veteran
Coloradoan
John Borja
October 21, 21017

The 26-year-old Florida man who died in a Fort Collins shooting Thursday was a kind-hearted and brave individual, according to his family.

Investigators say U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael A. Zamora shot and killed Tristian Kemp and 22-year old Savannah McNealy outside a condominium complex early Thursday morning. Zamora also shot and injured another woman before killing himself, police said.

The woman who survived the shooting was taken to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland and is expected to survive her injuries, police said.

Kemp spent part of his youth in Guam, and he was a 2009 graduate of George Washington High School.
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Suicide Calls Up 40 Percent

Suicide calls are up and so are suicides. So what good does all the "awareness" do when they reach the point where they do not want to live instead of getting what they need to heal?

Increase in suicide calls takes toll on 911 dispatchers
The Coloradoan
Sarah Jane Kyle
June 21, 2016

Increasing suicides and suicide threat calls have become "a daily occurrence" in the last five years, he said. Last year, 81 people died by suicide in Larimer County, nearing the record of 83 set in 2014.

Shortly after completing his training to become a 911 dispatcher in Fort Collins, Brendan Solano handled a call he'll never forget — a suicidal man "holding the gun in his hands."

Solano spent an hour on the phone talking with the man about his military service, his kids and anything else he could think of to keep him on the phone until police could intervene and help the man.

"I didn't know what to ask, what to say," said Solano, 24, who became a dispatcher nearly three years ago. "I didn't know this guy. He doesn't know me. ... Those calls are really hard to deal with."

And there have been many of those calls.

“It's another person calling in and asking for help. You've got to be able to get them help, just like anybody else.”

Suicide and suicide threat calls to Fort Collins 911 increased by 40 percent from 2011 to 2015, according to Fort Collins Police Services.
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Fort Collins Major Couldn't Even Get Respect with PTSD Service Dog

Chicago restaurant apologizes after turning away vet with service dog
BY WGN WEB DESK
SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

CHICAGO
A restaurant in Chicago is apologizing for kicking out a military veteran because he had a service dog with him.

Maj. Diggs Brown, from Fort Collins, Colorado, was in town participating in a walk for veterans with disabilities.

Brown uses Arthur Barker Black, a black Lab service dog, for his post-traumatic stress disorder.

He went to Cochon Volant in the Loop on Saturday and says a manager told him he couldn't come in with his dog.
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Retired Fort Collins Special Forces Major urges veterans to get help for PTSD

Former Fort Collins councilman convicted of drunken driving, urges fellow vets to get help for PTSD
Apr 4, 2013
Written by
Trevor Hughes

With his service dog at his side and tears in his eyes, a former Fort Collins city councilman and retired Army Special Forces major pleaded guilty Thursday to drunk driving and said the incident got him the help he so desperately needed.

Diggs Brown said an incident in Afghanistan four years ago where soldiers under his command accidentally killed four children left him with PTSD that roared to the surface of his brain while drinking at an Old Town bar last year.

“That one day, if I could just take it back ...” the 34-year Army veteran said Thursday in court. “It’s just made my life hell. You blame yourself.”

Brown, 56, said his experience is prompting efforts to push for a special veterans-only court in Larimer County. And he urged other veterans to get the help they need. Brown’s service dog, a black Lab named Arthur, wakes him from nightmares and helps comfort him on bad days.

Colorado State University police arrested Brown in October 2012, and he resigned from his position as deputy Larimer County clerk and recorder as a result. Prior to working for the clerk’s office, Brown served in the Army and was a member of Fort Collins City Council, helped establish the community’s memorial to veterans and ran for the Republican nomination in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in 2010.
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Fort Collins truck fire put out by Iraq Veteran

Fort Collins truck fire knocked down by Army Veteran
Feb 21, 2013
Written by
Robert Allen

A potentially destructive truck fire at a Fort Collins shopping center was stopped at its source by a quick-thinking Army veteran with a fire extinguisher.

The smoke rising from the compact pick-up parked just outside a liquor store near Shields Street and Drake Road first appeared like blowing snow.

"I was having a drink after work, and we thought at first it was stuff blowing off the roof," said Rodney Ring, 25. "But the smoke got darker."

Ring, who served eight years in the Army, including tours as a scout sniper in Iraq and Kuwait, said he received National Guard training last year to serve this year as an emergency wildland firefighter.
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