Wartime stress as a defense for murder
By Chris Lawrence and Jennifer Rizzo
Raymond Williams had just retired and was looking forward to traveling out west with his wife and spending time with his three grandchildren. But all those plans were shattered on April 6, 2009. As Williams, 64, went to get the mail on that spring day, he was gunned down by a man he'd never met.
His wife found his body. "She said, you know 'Matt! Matt! Somebody shot Dad,'" recalled Williams' son, Matt. "It didn't register. I'm thinking, 'OK where is he now? Did they take him to the hospital? What hospital is he in?' And before I could even get another word out, she goes 'And he's dead.'" A short time earlier, the same gunman had killed a teenager and wounded a woman at a store in the same working-class town of Altoona in central Pennsylvania.
The gunman, Nicholas Horner, was a husband, a father, and a veteran soldier who had been awarded multiple medals for his service in Iraq, including a combat action badge. Less than a year after returning from combat, Horner faced two first degree murder charges and the possibility of the death penalty. "Not in a million years could I believe this was true because Nick would never, he could never hurt anyone," said Horner's mother, Karen. "I know Nick. Nick pulled the trigger, but that wasn't Nick."
read more here
Showing posts with label Sgt. Nicholas Horner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sgt. Nicholas Horner. Show all posts
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Nicholas Horner sentenced to 2 life terms plus 29 to 59 years
UPDATE
July 17, 2013 Horner gives up appeals
July 17, 2013 Horner gives up appeals
The U.S. Army veteran whose murder trial last year focused on the issues of post traumatic stress and the treatment he received has decided - against the advice of his lawyer - to give up his appeals.
PTSD on trial. Was justice served? Will Horner get help in prison?
Iraq war vet sentenced to 2 life terms plus 29 to 59 years in 2009 Pa. slayings during robbery
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: April 23, 2012
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. — An Iraq war veteran has been formally sentenced to life in prison in the shooting deaths of two people during the robbery of a west-central Pennsylvania sandwich shop three years ago.
The Altoona Mirror says Blair County President Judge Jolene Kopriva gave 31-year-old Nicholas Horner of Altoona two consecutive life terms on Monday plus 29 to 59 years in prison.
Jurors who convicted Horner of first-degree murder last month deadlocked on whether he deserved execution or life in prison without possibility of parole in the April 2009 deaths of 19-year-old Scott Garlick and 64-year-old Raymond Williams during the robbery of the Altoona Subway shop.
Defense attorneys argued that Horner was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time, but Williams' daughter, Melanie Kollar, told Horner on Monday that she didn't believe that. She said "I pray nightly you will finally accept responsibility."
read more here
Nicholas Horner Pennsylvania Iraq war veteran convicted of first-degree murder
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Mom Befriends Wife of PTSD Vet Charged With Murder
Mom Befriends Wife of PTSD Vet Charged With Murder
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 25, 2009
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- When the envelope arrived, Windy Horner was talking with her husband, Nick -- Windy on a cell phone, Nick in the Blair County jail.
Windy did not recognize the return address. She feared hate mail; her husband is charged with killing two men and robbing a sandwich shop, and she blames his actions on post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq, but others do not agree.
''Just because horner went to iraq,'' read one reader comment on a newspaper Web site, ''doesnt mean he shouldnt get what he deserves!!!!!!!''
Now, she wondered: Should she open the envelope? Go ahead, Nick said.
The note was from a complete stranger, a woman named Laurie Claar. It was written on a card decorated with a rainbow and flowers, bearing the message, ''Caring Thoughts Are With You.''
''I'm not sure what to say to you all except I understand and you all are in my prayers,'' Claar wrote. ''And I don't think bad of Nick as he needs help to deal with PTSD.''
Her words reached a young couple sorely in need of encouragement.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 25, 2009
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- When the envelope arrived, Windy Horner was talking with her husband, Nick -- Windy on a cell phone, Nick in the Blair County jail.
Windy did not recognize the return address. She feared hate mail; her husband is charged with killing two men and robbing a sandwich shop, and she blames his actions on post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq, but others do not agree.
''Just because horner went to iraq,'' read one reader comment on a newspaper Web site, ''doesnt mean he shouldnt get what he deserves!!!!!!!''
Now, she wondered: Should she open the envelope? Go ahead, Nick said.
The note was from a complete stranger, a woman named Laurie Claar. It was written on a card decorated with a rainbow and flowers, bearing the message, ''Caring Thoughts Are With You.''
''I'm not sure what to say to you all except I understand and you all are in my prayers,'' Claar wrote. ''And I don't think bad of Nick as he needs help to deal with PTSD.''
Her words reached a young couple sorely in need of encouragement.
On April 26, Laurie Claar sat in the darkness next to her son's grave, cradling a doll she dressed in the clothes he had worn as a newborn. She was waiting for the clock to strike 11:04 p.m.
Exactly 25 years before, Matthew Claar had been born.
''I just had to be there at that time,'' Claar said tearfully. It comforted her, she said, to remember a time when she could still protect her son.
More than seven months before his mother's vigil, fueled by guilt and PTSD, the Marine Corps veteran had pulled the trigger on the 9mm pistol in his mouth.read more here
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
PTSD On Trail:A Combat Soldier on Death Row?
A Combat Soldier on Death Row?
Tim King Salem-News.com
Prosecutors want to kill a three-tour combat veteran who was prescribed dangerous drugs by the same government that trained him to kill.
(ALTOONA, Pa.) - Somewhere along the way, Americans convinced themselves that you can train a soldier to kill, send him to war, then bring him home and deactivate the killer inside with a magical switch.
We learned during the Vietnam War, or re-learned more specifically, that it doesn't work that way. When you train thousands to survive in combat, a percentage will not easily shed those skills.
A highly decorated three-tour Iraq Army soldier named Nick Horner, a father of two beautiful children, snapped and did the unthinkable last year. The Iraq War vet went on an unprovoked shooting spree that left two people dead and a third injured.
read more here
A Combat Soldier on Death Row
Tim King Salem-News.com
Prosecutors want to kill a three-tour combat veteran who was prescribed dangerous drugs by the same government that trained him to kill.
(ALTOONA, Pa.) - Somewhere along the way, Americans convinced themselves that you can train a soldier to kill, send him to war, then bring him home and deactivate the killer inside with a magical switch.
We learned during the Vietnam War, or re-learned more specifically, that it doesn't work that way. When you train thousands to survive in combat, a percentage will not easily shed those skills.
A highly decorated three-tour Iraq Army soldier named Nick Horner, a father of two beautiful children, snapped and did the unthinkable last year. The Iraq War vet went on an unprovoked shooting spree that left two people dead and a third injured.
read more here
A Combat Soldier on Death Row
Sunday, June 7, 2009
PTSD On Trail:Sgt. Nicholas Horner and the wound he spread
by
Chaplain Kathie
It is very easy to think of only the obvious. A man killed an innocent person and wounded another. Of this, the family does not dispute the accusations. While it's easy to limit your thinking, it will not prevent another tragedy from happening. Can we prevent all that may come? No, not any more than we can prevent all of the suicides that may come, but when we try, when we try to look beyond the obvious, we save some. That's what Sgt. Horner's family is trying to do.
Sgt. Horner had already sought help for PTSD, but he was sent back into combat with prescriptions instead of being kept out of danger while he was treated for PTSD. His family says he tried to commit suicide three times, yet he was not sent to the hospital for an extended stay to treat him properly. This could have been predicted when the military decided they would send back PTSD wounded with prescription drugs and weapons.
These are just some of the stories I was posting on over the last few years. They are on my other blog, Screaming in an Empty Room, showing clearly the problem was already being report on in 2006, but the practice continued with deadly results.
What you may think as obvious depends entirely what it is you actually know. I've been tracking everything about PTSD since 1982. In 2005 I started posting on it on Blog Spot, after years of posting on AOL. Obvious to me is that they knew what was coming but just didn't care. If anyone is responsible for the outcome of sending these men and women back into combat already wounded by PTSD, it's the military commanders deciding to do it.
Was Sgt. Horner responsible for the shootings? In a way no. There have been many trials and the outcome has been they were not responsible at the time they occurred. If they put him on trail without informing the jury about the wound he carried back home and rest of the facts regarding this dangerous practice the military was willing to do, then justice will never be served. It won't be served for the families or the victims. What is more maddening is that it won't be served unless there is such a public outcry to take care of these men and women, veterans of combat so scared, it is predictable they will continue to commit crimes, commit suicide and end up suffering needlessly.
PTSD is not a criminal predictor but it is a predictor of suffering. Some suffer from mild PTSD and others suffer so severely they lose themselves in the pain they carry. Face it. They were taught to kill and risk their lives. Conditioned to fight. They were also told that if they conditioned their mind to be "tough" and ended up with PTSD, it was their fault. Take a look at the program called Battlemind and see how it begins. This is the message they were given. Then there was the attitude of the commanders attacking those who dared step forward asking for help.
There really appalling aspect in all of this is we knew what we needed to know by 1978. There were 70 veterans centers already open and 500,000 already diagnosed with PTSD. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. It is all the untold price paid by those who serve but a price paid just the same. They paid when they suffered, when they ended up losing their jobs, their families and their families paid. They paid when they ended up reaching for alcohol and drugs to kill the pain they carried and victims of crimes in order to obtain them. They paid when they drove drunk and so did their victims. They paid when they committed suicide and so did their families. They paid when they ended up homeless on the very streets they risked their lives for right back home in American cities and towns.
No they are not all criminals, druggies or alcoholics any more than they are all cut from the same cloth. The only things they have in common is the wound they carry and the way they are betrayed by the rest of us when we judge them instead of helping them. When we read about stories like Sgt. Horner and his victims without ever once stopping to think about what we did to him.
Chaplain Kathie
It is very easy to think of only the obvious. A man killed an innocent person and wounded another. Of this, the family does not dispute the accusations. While it's easy to limit your thinking, it will not prevent another tragedy from happening. Can we prevent all that may come? No, not any more than we can prevent all of the suicides that may come, but when we try, when we try to look beyond the obvious, we save some. That's what Sgt. Horner's family is trying to do.
Sgt. Horner had already sought help for PTSD, but he was sent back into combat with prescriptions instead of being kept out of danger while he was treated for PTSD. His family says he tried to commit suicide three times, yet he was not sent to the hospital for an extended stay to treat him properly. This could have been predicted when the military decided they would send back PTSD wounded with prescription drugs and weapons.
These are just some of the stories I was posting on over the last few years. They are on my other blog, Screaming in an Empty Room, showing clearly the problem was already being report on in 2006, but the practice continued with deadly results.
American Chronicle: US troops in Iraq taking drugs to cope with ...Medications may temporarily help our troops cope enough to return to Iraq and continue combat operations. Drugs may put a chemical band-aid on our damaged ...Some of the best reporting came out of the Hartford Courant, and then there were the reports from the GAO
ASHP News: Army Pharmacists' Roles Increase with Mass Rotation ...The maneuver is the first "full change out" of troops in Iraq and the fifth ... Tripler pharmacists had to special order medications for some reserve and ...
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Military -- Some troops headed ba...Some troops headed back to Iraq are mentally ill ... nationwide are heading back to Iraq with a cache of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications.
The Iraq War--On Drugs -- In These TimesThe issues around mental health and medication are exacerbated for the more than 378000 troops who have served multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. ...
Army sent mentally ill troops to IraqMore than two dozen suicides by US troops in Iraq, and hundreds of ... "Now we follow all the FDA guidelines for using this medication," Winkenwerder said. ...
Some troops headed back to Iraq are mentally ill - RINF ...... questions that would arise from sending draftees back to War on medications.” ... Now word comes that “mentally ill” troops are being sent back to Iraq.
Policies on mentally troubled troops questioned - baltimoresun.comThe number of troops taking psychiatric drugs remains a military mystery. ... only limited records on medications prescribed for service members in Iraq.
US soldiers: Iraq massacre not exceptionHowever, on May 20 US group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) issued a statement ... Then they throw medication at you. You can take Prozac, or Xanax . .
Ask Our DoctorsSince then, the total number of cases of skin leishmaniasis among American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has risen to more than 500.
Injured US troops in Iraq treated with deadly narcotic...but, don ....Title: Injured US troops in Iraq treated with deadly narcotic...but, don't worry, ... The patient therefore never received the medication from the patch.
Political Affairs Magazine - Wounded Soldiers "Recycled" ...In the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan multiple deployments are ... that has cost the lives of over 2500 US troops and over 75000 wounded – whose scars ...
Political Affairs Magazine - Wounded Soldiers "Recycled" ...The policy of both allowing mentally ill troops to fall through holes in the ... In the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan multiple deployments are almost ...
Courant InvestigationShe went over there with a year's supply of the medication and made a suicide ... "Thank you Hartford Courant reporters for, again, bringing this to light,
Mentally Unfit, Forced to FightPotent Mixture: Zoloft & A Rifle The Hartford Courant, May 16, ... Kiley insisted that troops receiving medications are afforded a balance of care,
Daily Kos: UPDATED: DOD Served by Sen. Boxer, GAO, Hartford CourantAt the time, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the DOD was reinserting troops back into the battlefield while prescribed anti-anxiety medications.
Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight
By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN
The Hartford Courant
May 14, 2006The U.S. military is sending troops with serious psychological problems into Iraq and is keeping soldiers in combat even after superiors have been alerted to suicide warnings and other signs of mental illness, a Courant investigation has found.Despite a congressional order that the military assess the mental health of all deploying troops, fewer than 1 in 300 service members see a mental health professional before shipping out.Once at war, some unstable troops are kept on the front lines while on potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, with little or no counseling or medical monitoring.
And some troops who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq are being sent back to the war zone, increasing the risk to their mental health.These practices, which have received little public scrutiny and in some cases violate the military's own policies, have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths.The Courant's investigation found that at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress. In at least seven of the cases, superiors were aware of the problems, military investigative records and interviews with families indicate.http://www.courant.com/news/specials/hc-mental1a.artmay14,0,6150281.story
Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight - Still Suffering, But Redeployed
by LISA CHEDEKEL, The Hartford Courant
May 17th, 2006They have post-traumatic stress and other combat-related disorders. So what are they doing back in battle?Eight months ago, Staff Sgt. Bryce Syverson was damaged goods, so unsteady that doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center wouldn't let him wear socks or a belt.Syverson, 27, had landed in the psychiatric unit at Walter Reed after a breakdown that doctors traced to his 15-month tour in Iraq as a gunner on a Bradley tank. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and was put on a suicide watch and antidepressants, according to his family.Today, Syverson is back in the combat zone, part of a quick-reaction force in Kuwait that could be summoned to Iraq at any time.http://www.mfso.org/article.php?id=606
A look at claims blending with some of the other factors in the neglect.
From the GAO
May 28, 1996"Over 700,000 men and women served in Southwest Asia during the Persian Gulf War. Some of these veterans began experiencing symptoms--such as fatigue, weight loss, and skin conditions--that could not be diagnosed or associated with a specific illness or disease. In 1994. the Congress enacted legislation allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to pay compensation benefits to veterans for Persian Gulf related disabilities caused by undiagnosed illnesses. As of July 1995, VA had denied almost 95 percent of the 4,144 claims it had processed for Persian Gulf veterans claiming such disabilities."http://www.gao.gov/archive/1996/he96112.pdf
Date: Friday, January 24, 2003 9:21 PMWritten by: Terry Higgins
Now 700,000 vets are on appeal taking on average 6 to 10 years to process a claim. All the VA has to do is keep up the good work and you will have perpetual adjudication with no merits of a claim ruled on, just the incompetent by choice errors by the VA being recycled for the entire life of the veteran.According to the National Veterans Organization Inc. A VA study called Compensation and pension performance summary states "the average time to process an original claim for compensation is 139 days. If that claim is not adjudicated in the veterans favor and he appeals the decision to the board of Veteran Appeals, it takes an average of 533 days for the claim to be heard by the BVA. According to this report, an average of 38.4 % of all claims submitted to the BVA are remanded back to the regional office for further development or action. The same report reveals that it takes an average of 496 days for that same claim to be dealt with once it has been returned to the regional office. This means that on average it takes a total of 1,160 days for a veteran to receive a final decision before he can appeal his claim to the court of veterans appeals. If the veteran appeals the decision to the court. He can expect to wait another 3 to 5 years to get the final decision from the court".According to the 6th judicial conference held by the Court of Veterans claims. 99% of the CVC remands are for VA error.http://www.v-r-a.org/docs/VAfoe2.htm
From the GAO
June 9, 2005
A 2004 thesis prepared by the director of a state department of veteran's affairs evaluated state-by-state variances in the percentage of veterans receiving disability benefits and the percentage of veterans rated at different degrees of service-connected disability. The thesis noted that in 2001 the nationwide percentage of total veterans receiving disability compensation was 10.2 percent, with a low of 6.3 for Illinois and a high of 15.9 for Alaska.https://www.1888932-2946.ws/vetscommission/e-documentmanager/gallery/Documents/June_2005/OIGStatement_Staley_6-9-05.pdf
What you may think as obvious depends entirely what it is you actually know. I've been tracking everything about PTSD since 1982. In 2005 I started posting on it on Blog Spot, after years of posting on AOL. Obvious to me is that they knew what was coming but just didn't care. If anyone is responsible for the outcome of sending these men and women back into combat already wounded by PTSD, it's the military commanders deciding to do it.
Was Sgt. Horner responsible for the shootings? In a way no. There have been many trials and the outcome has been they were not responsible at the time they occurred. If they put him on trail without informing the jury about the wound he carried back home and rest of the facts regarding this dangerous practice the military was willing to do, then justice will never be served. It won't be served for the families or the victims. What is more maddening is that it won't be served unless there is such a public outcry to take care of these men and women, veterans of combat so scared, it is predictable they will continue to commit crimes, commit suicide and end up suffering needlessly.
PTSD is not a criminal predictor but it is a predictor of suffering. Some suffer from mild PTSD and others suffer so severely they lose themselves in the pain they carry. Face it. They were taught to kill and risk their lives. Conditioned to fight. They were also told that if they conditioned their mind to be "tough" and ended up with PTSD, it was their fault. Take a look at the program called Battlemind and see how it begins. This is the message they were given. Then there was the attitude of the commanders attacking those who dared step forward asking for help.
There really appalling aspect in all of this is we knew what we needed to know by 1978. There were 70 veterans centers already open and 500,000 already diagnosed with PTSD. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. It is all the untold price paid by those who serve but a price paid just the same. They paid when they suffered, when they ended up losing their jobs, their families and their families paid. They paid when they ended up reaching for alcohol and drugs to kill the pain they carried and victims of crimes in order to obtain them. They paid when they drove drunk and so did their victims. They paid when they committed suicide and so did their families. They paid when they ended up homeless on the very streets they risked their lives for right back home in American cities and towns.
No they are not all criminals, druggies or alcoholics any more than they are all cut from the same cloth. The only things they have in common is the wound they carry and the way they are betrayed by the rest of us when we judge them instead of helping them. When we read about stories like Sgt. Horner and his victims without ever once stopping to think about what we did to him.
Accused killer’s family hopes tragedy draws attention to PTSD
By JIM PENNA
For The Tribune-Democrat
They know most people see a monster, not a son – a beast, not a brother.
But when Karen Horner and her family think of accused murderer Nicholas Horner, they remember the man they love.
Horner, 28, is in prison, charged with killing two people and wounding a third during the robbery of an Altoona sandwich shop on April 6.
His mother understands better than most what the families of 19-year-old Scott Garlick and 64-year-old Raymond Williams are going through, as well as the anguish of Michelle Petty, who was critically injured.
Karen Horner has family ties to a state trooper who was slain in the line of duty in 2002. She recalls weeping and wondering: “What kind of animal could have done this?”
Now, as her own son faces prosecution on double murder charges, Karen and her family have come forward. They say they are not making excuses for the accused, but believe the tragedy should spotlight Nick Horner’s military service and his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.“They gave (Nick) a box full of pills, seven or eight bottles of different drugs so he could cope,” Dan Horner, father of the accused, said. “The military doctor wanted to keep him in the states for at least a month. They sent him back (to Iraq) right away anyhow, and when he got there he was reprimanded for having the drugs.Family members said Nick Horner tried to kill himself three times prior to the Altoona shootings. They said he had become moody and short-tempered, living in a daze.
go here for more
Accused killers family hopes tragedy draws attention to PTSD
Sunday, April 19, 2009
PTSD on Trial:Tragedy that followed Sgt. Horner home from Iraq
Iraq Vet in Pennsylvania Murders Was Radically Changed by War and PTSD
Tim King Salem-News.com
PTSD sufferers can't always leave the war behind.
Photos of Nicholas Horner: HelpHorner.com
(ALTOONA, Penn.) - Tragedy and war-inspired Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can meet like a head on crash when the nation's care providers at the Veterans Administration, notorious for lies and deceit, deny our combat veterans the care they need.
This story of deadly, senseless shootings in Altoona, Pennsylvania April 6th is possibly the most tragic story I have ever reported, and if it isn't, it is among the very worst.
The most agonizing fact is that it possibly could have been avoided with a proper diagnosis from the VA. Sergeant Nicholas Horner is a highly decorated war veteran who was sent to Iraq repeatedly. On his third tour things went south and he was sent home.
But according to what we can tell, this soldier, in spite of having his weapon taken away and being sent home early from Iraq, on his third tour, was never officially designated as having PTSD.
Family and friends say this father of two came back from the third tour as a changed man. He had to fight to receive treatment from the VA and nobody should have to do that. In the most basic sense, being damaged goods from the war is not what anyone wishes. They are placed in extremely dangerous positions for long periods of time and they do it for a year each time they deploy.
Tim King Salem-News.com
PTSD sufferers can't always leave the war behind.
Photos of Nicholas Horner: HelpHorner.com
(ALTOONA, Penn.) - Tragedy and war-inspired Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can meet like a head on crash when the nation's care providers at the Veterans Administration, notorious for lies and deceit, deny our combat veterans the care they need.
This story of deadly, senseless shootings in Altoona, Pennsylvania April 6th is possibly the most tragic story I have ever reported, and if it isn't, it is among the very worst.
The most agonizing fact is that it possibly could have been avoided with a proper diagnosis from the VA. Sergeant Nicholas Horner is a highly decorated war veteran who was sent to Iraq repeatedly. On his third tour things went south and he was sent home.
But according to what we can tell, this soldier, in spite of having his weapon taken away and being sent home early from Iraq, on his third tour, was never officially designated as having PTSD.
Family and friends say this father of two came back from the third tour as a changed man. He had to fight to receive treatment from the VA and nobody should have to do that. In the most basic sense, being damaged goods from the war is not what anyone wishes. They are placed in extremely dangerous positions for long periods of time and they do it for a year each time they deploy.
go here for more
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Solider goes on alleged shooting rampage; ties to SW Florida
There will be many more people suffering, many more families grieving, many more cases like this until we finally treat all of them with the best care and end the excuses for not doing it.
Solider goes on alleged shooting rampage; ties to SW Florida
By Cristin Severance
Story Created: Apr 11, 2009 at 11:29 PM EDT
Story Updated: Apr 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM EDT
CAPE CORAL, Fla. - Nicholas Horner is accused of shooting two people inside a Subway and another man on the street in Blair County, Pennsylvania on Monday. Two people shot by Horner have died.
"I sympathize with the families and what is happening right now is horrible," said his cousin Tim Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick, who lives in North Fort Myers, says Horner is a victim too because he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
He says they are trying to understand what happened in Altoona, Pa and what happened to Horner. He says the husband and father of two changed after he was sent back from his third deployment.
go here for the rest
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/42860862.html
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
3 Tour Iraq veteran, "getting out on anxiety disorder" charged with shooting rampage
Two people dead, two innocent people killed and another one wounded, but that is not the only part of this story. Wonder what would have happened if this three tour Iraq veteran had been treated properly for his own wound? Wonder if he would have gone into "combat mode" if he had been given the right treatment by the DOD instead? Wonder what the families of the two dead could have been spared, or the wounded's family or even this soldier's family? Well, I have news for you. Until we finally make sure no one else gets away with the way they are treating wounded men and women in the military, this will keep happening and this war will be here for many, many more years. If it hasn't been enough for this country to demand proper treatment for them, just for their sake alone, then think of the innocent people also suffering now because we didn't~
Fellow Soldier Says Shooting Suspect Was In 'Combat Mode'
Posted: 12:53 pm EDT April 8, 2009
Updated: 5:32 pm EDT April 8, 2009
A fellow soldier said the man suspected of killing two people Monday suffered from flashbacks and was in "combat mode."
Nicholas Horner, 28, is charged in connection with the shooting deaths of two people in Altoona, a high school student working at a Subway restaurant and a man who was out getting his mail.
Horner, an Iraq War veteran, is also accused of wounding a third person during the rampage Monday afternoon in Altoona.
The suspect was living in Altoona and is a 1999 graduate of Conemaugh Valley High School in Cambria County. Police said he was arrested last month in Cresson and is awaiting a hearing there on counts of driving under the influence and possessing drug paraphernalia.
A fellow soldier who would not give his name said he has been friends with the suspect since 2006. He said Horner was a "family guy" who loved his wife and was a proud father.
On video from his MySpace.com page, Horner wrote about being back in Johnstown after three tours in Iraq. Horner said, "I think the Army may have broke me. I'm getting out on anxiety disorder but the doctors don't want to call it that."
Horner's friends said that during Horner's third trip overseas, he called to talk about flashbacks he was having from his first two tours. The friend said he knew the situation was bad when other soldiers in Iraq started calling him as well.
"A buddy of his that's a squad leader called me one time and said 'Your boy isn't doing too good over here.' They had to take his weapon a couple of times because he almost opened fire on what he thought was threats," the friend said.
go here for more
http://www.wjactv.com/news/19128187/detail.html
Previous Stories:
April 7, 2009: School Community Copes With Killing Of Student
April 7, 2009: Police Identify Altoona Shooting Suspect
April 7, 2009: Police Arrest Accused Gunman In Triple Shooting
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