Iraq veteran arrested in killing

[leftchick]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-02-Tue-2005/news/26983251.html

When Matthew Sepi returned from Iraq a few months ago, he spoke to his family reluctantly of gunbattles and the "weird noises" children make when they die. He never told relatives whether he killed anyone during combat but said he recently had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had been placed on a waiting list for treatment.

To help shield his psyche from images of bodies, family members said, the 20-year-old soldier had adopted a simple technique: Just don't think about it.

But early Sunday morning, Army Spc. Sepi found himself thinking about killing in front of homicide detectives. They interrogated Sepi about a double shooting in a neighborhood near Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue.

Based on Sepi's version of events, a 1 a.m. walk to a 7-Eleven proved nearly as dangerous as his tour of duty in Iraq.

[Mari333]

1. Just another story of one of the thousands of young people

coming back from Iraq, mentally crippled for life, who are getting NO treatment, thrown back into the streets. Just Like Vietnam, folks.And it was all UNNECESSARY.

[Daphne08]

4. This is so unfortunate,

and yes, it was all unnecessary.

It reminds me so much of Vietnam, too. I lost two classmates in that war and knew many others who returned traumatized (to varying degrees).

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. "placed on the waiting list"

that says it all.

[Rose Siding]

3. Yes, it does

:(

Even the heartless should be able to see that treatment (on an EMERGENCY basis) for any hint of psychological trauma is cost effective for society -both materially, spiritually AND politically!

[deadparrot]

10. Simply abhorrent.

:grr:

[leftchick]

5. Suicide by Cop: Marine gone mad....

Remember this kid's story? It is all so very sad and UNNECESSARY!!

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7504249

<snip>

On Sunday, January 9th of this year, Marine Lance Cpl. Andy Raya left Camp Pendleton, took a one-way flight from San Diego to Sacramento, grabbed an SKS semiautomatic assault rifle he had obtained illegally, and made his way home to Ceres, a farming town in the Central Valley. Three months earlier he had returned from Iraq, where he had spent seven months driving supply trucks in the Sunni Triangle. Other than Marine Corps barracks, Ceres was the only place Raya had ever lived. He was nineteen.

At 8 p.m., carrying the SKS and several spare clips, Raya walked out of the night's drizzle and into the safety lights of George's Liquors, screaming that he hated the world. A toxicology report would later show that he had a "potentially toxic" level of cocaine in his bloodstream. George's is just a few blocks from the Camp, the migrant-farmworker projects where Raya grew up. The community is working-poor and encroached on by several white middle-class neighborhoods, but it turns briefly slummy around George's. Raya hadn't mentioned his homecoming to anyone. His friends and family thought he was at Camp Pendleton. In his long, hooded rain poncho, lustrous in the wet, he was not immediately recognizable.

Before walking into the store, Raya fired once at a nearby building. Inside, he said he had been shot at and asked the clerk to call the police. To the clerk, he seemed to be elsewhere. Another employee tried to calm him down. Both employees noticed the rifle under his poncho. Raya told them not to be afraid -- they were civilians and would not be harmed. Then he walked outside.

The employees immediately locked the front door. The clerk described Raya's behavior to the 911 dispatcher. Raya was pacing in front of the store, bouncing on the balls of his feet, scanning the street, waiting for the police to arrive, readying his rifle. The SKS is a Russian-designed, Chinese-made semiautomatic. It is similar to the M-16 Raya had carried in Iraq, but it fires bigger, heavier rounds, rounds powerful enough to pierce the body armor cops wear. Raya had bought it for that purpose.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Yeah..the RW dismissed his war activity and blamed gangs

[Sunkiss BlueStar]

7. I saw the Raya story

Raya never came home from Iraq (mentally). So there was no need to inform anyone of his return. The RW did blame gangs for his behavior, I guess Post Traumatic Stress Disorder doesn't exist if you are Christian.

[krkaufman]

8. "had been placed on a waiting list for treatment"

WTF!?! Yes, post-traumatic stress disorder ain't no big thang.

[krkaufman]

9. Self-defence?

From the article...

Some evidence might lend credence to Sepi's self-defense story.

"We do know the victim's boyfriend (Ratcliff) got off a few rounds as well," police Lt. Tom Monahan said.

Police said they recovered a 9 mm pistol and three spent 9 mm casings at the crime scene.

Although tucking an assault rifle under an overcoat and taking back alleys doesn't seem to exemplify "defensive walking."