Gulf War veteran linked to B.C. care-home shooting

[daftandbarmy]

Things that make you go 'hmmmmmm'


Gulf War veteran linked to B.C. care-home shooting

A woman at the centre of a shooting incident at a B.C. care-home is believed to have been suffering from both post-traumatic stress from the Gulf War and a head injury from a recent car accident, CBC News has learned.
On Tuesday, RCMP alleged an irate female resident opened fire on a manager at the Good Samaritan Canada Christenson Village, Ken Perrier, while he was attempting to evict her from the facility in Gibsons, north of Vancouver.
The woman then attempted to flee in a vehicle, but was shot by police, RCMP said Tuesday.
The woman and the manager were both airlifted to hospital in Vancouver and were in serious condition on Wednesday, according to officials.

Anxiety issues
David Croal, a friend, told CBC News on Wednesday he has known the woman for more than 15 years and said she had a history of mental health problems
He said she served in the first Gulf War with the Canadian Armed Forces and spoke openly about anxiety issues she brought back from the war.
Two years ago, she suffered a head injury in an accident when she was struck by a car while trying to rescue an injured owl off the highway.
Croal said her mental condition deteriorated after the accident, and he believes an incident at the care home must have triggered her behaviour.
"She had this sort of outgoing, bubbly, vivacious personality, a caring person. [She] was not one of those people who would ever pick up a weapon and use it on another person unless she'd been really provoked or pushed," Croal said.
Charges have not yet been laid in the incident, and the name of the woman has not been released by police. Officials were expected to release more information later on Wednesday.
RCMP said the officer shot the woman because she refused to obey commands and appeared to be armed with two weapons. A handgun and shotgun were recovered from the scene, they said.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada
/british-columbia/story/2009/04/01/bc-gibsons-shooting-gulf-war-veteran.html

 

[geo]

Gawd.... for crying out loud.  Don't blame "gulf war syndrome" for this one.

She got hit by a car while trying to recover an injured owl - and suffered a head injury!
She got hospitalized & she wasn't her "normal" self... wel gee willickers, no kidding!

Grrr! Leave the army outa this thing!

 

[Shec]

Gawd.... for crying out loud.  Don't blame "gulf war syndrome" for this one.

She got hit by a car while trying to recover an injured owl - and suffered a head injury!
She got hospitalized & she wasn't her "normal" self... wel gee willickers, no kidding!

Grrr! Leave the army outa this thing!

You can say that again.  The MSM yellow journalism and muckraking that associates misdeeds with former service is an  insult slap to all who have proudly and honourably worn the uniform.

Former Reservist Gets Parking Ticket

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Former Soldier in Hockey Fight

After surviving 8 years of the Embassy tavern he never seemed to .......

:

 

[Journeyman]

Update from The Province

Alleged Gibsons shooter was brain-injured veteran

Linda Howe was brain-injured after being struck by car while trying to save an injured bird

GIBSONS — A woman who allegedly went on a shooting rampage at a care home here was a military vet who claimed she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia following a car accident.

Linda Howe claimed in a writ filed in 2007 that she was hit by a car on a local road. The accident left her with brain damage and other serious injuries, she said.

She claimed post-traumatic stress disorder, cognitive impairment, paranoia and disassociations, and impaired mood and depression, among other ailments.

Cliff Morris, who said he lived with Howe for about six months, described the 40-year-old woman as warm, non-violent and an animal lover who doted on her cat Precious. He said she was hit by the car while trying to rescue an owl.

“But she’s fallen through the cracks and it’s just pushed her until the breaking point,” he told The Province yesterday.

Morris said being a lesbian in the military was tough on Howe, who was rumoured to have been in the Gulf War, but “she never talked about it. We would talk for hours on end, but she’d never want to talk about that.”

An employee at the Gibsons Garden Inn, where Howe lived for a few months before she was forced to leave because she was unable to pay rent, said they didn’t have any negative experiences with her.© Copyright (c) The Province

Complete article at link


From the Times Colonist

Accused nursing home shooter a Gulf War vet
Her post-traumatic stress disorder made worse by car accident: friend

Canwest News ServiceApril 2, 2009
 
A woman accused of shooting an employee at a Sunshine Coast assisted care home was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the Gulf War, a friend says.

And Linda Howe's condition worsened after she was struck by a car on a Gibsons road in 2005 as she tried to rescue an injured owl, friend Cliff Morris said.

A lawsuit Howe filed after the accident claims she suffered injuries from head to toe, including brain damage, psychiatric injuries and fractures to her neck and arm.

Reliant on a wheelchair and on disability insurance, she moved into Gibsons Garden Inn assisted living home, then into Good Samaritan Christenson Village.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Peter German said yesterday that after shots were fired inside, Howe, 40, allegedly left the building, fired again and forced a man out of his car at gunpoint. [From her wheelchair?]

When police ordered Howe to get out of the hijacked car and she didn't obey, they shot her.

Complete article at link

 

[PMedMoe]

From JM's first link:

GIBSONS — A woman who allegedly went on a shooting rampage at a care home here was a military vet who claimed she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia following a car accident.

 

[medicineman]

Was going to say something but I'm still shaking my head...

MM

 

[geo]

S'ok MM... I think we are all shaking our heads at this time.

 

[qjdb]

Not a vet according to dad

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alleged+shooter+Gulf+father+says/1459580/story.html

Ken Howe and his daughter Linda haven't always been close, despite living near one another on the Sunshine Coast.

Still, he was shocked when she was charged this week in connection with a shooting at an assisted living facility, and surprised by subsequent reports that she was a Gulf War veteran.

"As far as I know, that's been misrepresented," he said in an interview Thursday from his home in a trailer park surrounded by trees just outside Gibsons. "She never mentioned being in the Gulf War to me."

Howe said he and Linda's mother split up when Linda was 10 and they were living in Mackenzie. He admitted he doesn't know a lot about her life since then, although in recent years they have visited every few months and he said he was "pretty sure" he would know if she had served overseas with the Canadian military.

"Her brother called me today and said that story about the Gulf War is b.s.," he added.

The Department of National Defence wouldn't comment on whether Howe was ever with the military, citing privacy laws.

Linda Howe, 40, was charged Wednesday with three counts of attempted murder and seven related criminal offences following a shooting at the Christenson Village care facility that injured employee Kenn Perrier, 47. Both he and Howe are in stable condition in hospital recovering from bullet wounds.

Howe is accused of shooting Perrier after he entered her room in an attempt to evict her. She then left the room, pushing her wheelchair loaded with her belongings. She was shot by police outside the facility after she allegedly forced a man from his vehicle at gunpoint and ignored police commands not to enter the vehicle.

Perrier was shot once, but the bullet went through his arm and into his stomach. His family issued a statement Thursday saying they were shocked and traumatized by the attack. The statement said his wife, mother and sister were with him at Vancouver General Hospital. Although his condition has been upgraded from serious to stable, his family said it was "too early to tell what the outcome will be for him."

"Kenn is a loving husband and father to three children and they are all devastated by the violence that has been brought upon him and his family. Kenn is best described as a gentle man, devoted to his family and loyal to his friends and employer," the statement said.

On Thursday, police completed a search of Howe's room at the Christenson Village, where she has lived for more than two years. Cpl. Peter Thiessen said it recovered pertinent evidence but he refused to indicate what it was. Howe has been described as a packrat whose room was stuffed with belongings.

The information suggesting Howe was a Gulf War vet came from Gibsons residents Cliff Morris and David Croal, who said they had been friends with her for 10 years or more.

"She was on disability from the army. She had post-traumatic stress from being in the Gulf War," Morris told The Sun on Wednesday. "She never talked too much about it but she was seeing a psychologist once a week for her problem."

Howe's father insisted her problems began after she was struck by a vehicle on a Gibsons road in 2005.

Thiessen wouldn't comment on whether Howe was a Gulf War vet. But in a statement, he said police had been unable to confirm "any connection to any organizations as reported to the community by the media."

Ken Howe said he didn't know how his daughter might have obtained a rifle and handgun, which police allege were in her possession, but he knew she did target shooting as a teenage cadet in Revelstoke. Howe said his daughter hasn't held a regular job as long as she's been on the Sunshine Coast, but had worked at odd jobs before her accident.

The shooting was "quite a shock," he said. "It's bad enough that gunplay in Vancouver, but now it's here too."