On Chris Kyle's Murderer

Posted: 1/9/2016

Trigger

In response to the strong criticism of President Obama’s latest, autocratic and useless anti gun measures, gun control advocates appear to have discovered the double murder or former sniper Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield as a pro gun control argument like ridiculing yeah he was murdered in a gun free zone.

I would argue that the murder of Chris Kyle raises a lot of good questions about e.g. the inadequate health care in the U.S. and more.

Notes & Questions

1. Yes, Chris Kyle kind of knew his murderer who lived in the same town. The mother of the murderer approached Kyle to help with her son. However, was Chris Kyle told beforehand in detail about the background of his murderer? Would he have offered to help had he known more about the murderer? Do we know whether Chris Kyle chose to help despite being fully briefed on this man?
2. The murderer was reported to have been severely mentally ill and was in and out of mental hospitals for at least two years. Why was he not diagnosed for being a danger to himself or others? Why was he not institutionalized and treated?
3. If it is true that “[murderer] met the criteria of risk factors for violence in a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia: male sex, age below 30, prediagnosis history of violence, paranoid subtype, nonadherence to medication regimen, and heavy substance abuse.” (source), then you wonder even more why the heck not more was done to treat this man possibly even against his will?
4. From what little I was reading about the murderer, his mother, father, and sister perhaps knew much more about the severity of his mental condition and his drug abuse habits, but may have not done enough to help him get proper treatment. Why do parents or siblings do not have better options in the U.S. to seek treatment for their loved ones?
5. What is known about the murderer’s military recruitment and service? It was reported (source) that the murderer never really faced combat; that during his recruitment possible significant warning signs were failed to be noticed or willfully ignored; that he like a bully severely beat a fellow soldier and suddenly slammed another soldier, who became unconscious, during his service in Iraq; on his Haiti assignment, another soldier also noticed that the murderer was “really wild”; on his Haiti assignment, the murderer supposedly stayed on ship the whole time and did not encounter PTSD triggering situations.  Unfortunately, it was not reported whether the murderer was sanctioned by the military for his violence against fellow soldiers
6. If it is correct what I described above about the murderer’s military recruitment and service, then it would suggest that the U.S. military needs to do a whole lot more to handle possibly mentally unstable men or women.
7. It was reported (source) about the murderer’s life after military service that he suffered a heatstroke at work; fantasized about a tapeworm; several encounters with the police on DUI, possible safety concerns reported by a woman; fistfight with his father and threatening to blow brains out with a weapon; mother reports a burglary and stolen medications; mother requested to admit her son to a mental ward and he was taken to psychiatric hospital; his girlfriend noticed paranoia and him clutching a knife when girlfriend’s roommate texted police and he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital again, but was transferred immediately to Veteran’s administration. Why does a civilian psychiatric hospital quickly transfer an obviously, severely mentally ill patient to the VA when adequate treatment is likely not assured?
8. Finally, but not least important is the question whether the murder of Chris Kyle was perhaps a Herostratus crime or a crime for fame?