Man commits suicide at Highsmiths gun shop in Greenfield this morning.

[halfmileharry]

I'm mid 60s now and I went through a time that I had to realize that a lot of V.Nam vets were kissing trains and dying of lead poisoning. Two of my buddies decided to play tag with bridge concrete at over 100 mph.
I know what was in their heads.
You get up every morning, put your pants on one leg at a time, and put one foot in front of the other. What ever is bugging you, face it. IF you can't face it.....Don't involve others in your fu..ed up selfish act.

 

[IndyDave1776]

As I see it, several comments suggest that some of us see suicide as a monolithic phenomenon subject to single-issue judgment. I would point out that, in a matter of speaking, there are as many different motives and thought processes going into it as there are people doing it. It is easy to declare it an act of unfettered selfishness, an act of revenge (especially when done in such a way as to multiply the impact on others), or at minimum as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It can be any of these or perhaps take in even more territory. A person can simply be looking for an escape from what they see as unending torment. It could be that they really don't want to kill themselves but don't see a viable alternative. Maybe they do want to leave a mess for the people they deem responsible for their misfortune in addition to escaping from it. It could be that they have reached the point of being just plain f***ing nuts. As mentioned upthread, it is important that if you are motivated to truly understand what you are addressing that you account for the fact that we tend to impose rational thought on an inherently irrational act.

Another important and frequently overlooked point is that human beings are not standardized products. Our first inclination is to compare the decedent with others we perceive as having had it as bad or worse, which opens several doors for poor interpretation of what we are seeing. OK, Chuck just checked out and we look to Bill who seems to have experienced everything Chuck has and then some. First, we have to account for the fact that Chuck may well just not be as of strong of constitution as Bill. Second, it could be that we are just more familiar with Bill's circumstances and are unaware of a lot of bad things happening to Chuck outside the realm of our knowledge. It could be that Bill has, say, a religious-based fear (like going to Hell, for example) of committing suicide, otherwise he would have checked out long before Chuck did. We don't know what last-minute stimulus may have applied. I will hold up my alpacas as an example. I have had a lot of days when they have turned what would have been a day with no redeeming qualities whatsoever into at least a salvageable day. What if Chuck had been having one of those days in addition to being approximately suicidal in general, comes home, and finds that the coyotes just wiped out his alpacas? All of a sudden, the one thing that could salvage the day was gone in dramatic fashion.

I am certainly not arguing against the idea that going to someone else's handgun range to kill one's self, thus maximizing the impact on others, or similarly doing so in a way that multiplies the impact on one's family is a sh*theaded thing to do, but it is also important to remember that this is a far more complex issue than being the dick who eats all the chocolate chips knowing that his wife is about to make cookies and lets her discover it unannounced as she is in the middle of mixing ingredients.

In the end, I can think of only one suicide of which I am aware that I would consider truly selfish. It was a young lady (granddaughter of friends of my pastor) who had either just graduated high school and been accepted into Bible college (Pensacola, if I remember correctly), or maybe got in one year of college. She was very intelligent, very attractive, pleasant-natured to the extent I could tell, and appeared to have everything going for her. She left a note indicating (to paraphrase) that the world was going down the crapper and she didn't want to deal with it. No personal trauma, no observable depression, no specific grievance of any type, just treating life in its entirety the way we would treat a business whose crap we were tired of putting up with. That one still makes me scratch my head when I think about it.

 

[hardtrailz400]

We all gots to die at some point.

 

[Scuba591]

For those that know... I'll just leave this here...
Embezzlement investigation snares Fortville PTO officer

 

[CindyE]

Yes, many times suicide is selfish and cowardly...but maybe not always. I agree that if it's going to be done, it should be done in a way that causes the least trauma to others. I know of a person who had battled cancer and it came back, terminal. She chose not to put herself and her family through those final days. I can't find fault with that, don't know if i would do it. I do know that I've felt desperate and hopeless enough inside that i can understand why someone would want to end it.

 

[Tactically Fat]

For those that know... I'll just leave this here...
Embezzlement investigation snares Fortville PTO officer

Uhh....question. Why is this post in this thread?

 

[Cameramonkey]

Uhh....question. Why is this post in this thread?

My math could be faulty, but if I put two and two together, I would have to assume there is a common person between the two stories. Is the PTO the coward? Or someone else on the wrong end of that investigation?

EDIT: after comparing stories, the shooter appears to be the SO of the PTO. They appear to be directly connected.

 

[17 squirrel]

I was going to say... Beer

 

[VUPDblue]

I hate going on suicide runs

 

[Dead Duck]

Court records - Brent Alan Smitley And Marcy Marie Smitley - S-D-IN

 

[Cameramonkey]

So he wasnt sick, he was a chicken, afraid to face the consequences of his actions.

I double down on my comments upthread.

 

[BE Mike]

There have been veterans who showed bravery on the battlefield and police officers who never showed a hint of cowardice commit suicide (those rates are pretty high), so I can't say that it is the coward's way out. They sure don't consider the mess and hurt that they leave, which scars those they love or don't even know. I've known folks who did the deed, intending to strike out at someone who hurt them. I've known more who intended to help those that they loved. Others were just thinking of getting out of the mess that they were in. Anyone who has actually seen the results of a violent suicide knows how wide spread the aftermath gets. That is why I never could understand a cop wanting to eat his gun, yet it happens pretty often.

 

[Tactically Fat]

My math could be faulty, but if I put two and two together, I would have to assume there is a common person between the two stories. Is the PTO the coward? Or someone else on the wrong end of that investigation?

EDIT: after comparing stories, the shooter appears to be the SO of the PTO. They appear to be directly connected.

Thank you.

I was kinda sorta thinking that there had to be a connection for the post to have been made; but I hadn't yet read anything where the deceased was identified.

 

[Tyler-The-Piker]

allegedly

she was stealing money from the HOA from 2009-2014
they ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in May 2015
fast forward to March 2016 - 8 days ago -
story in the Indystar appears about her role as PTO treasurer, etc
(no funds have been reported missing as of yet from the PTO)
her husband commits suicide 2 days ago


from what I gather at least...

 

[GIJEW]

As I see it, several comments suggest that some of us see suicide as a monolithic phenomenon subject to single-issue judgment. I would point out that, in a matter of speaking, there are as many different motives and thought processes going into it as there are people doing it. It is easy to declare it an act of unfettered selfishness, an act of revenge (especially when done in such a way as to multiply the impact on others), or at minimum as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It can be any of these or perhaps take in even more territory. A person can simply be looking for an escape from what they see as unending torment. It could be that they really don't want to kill themselves but don't see a viable alternative. Maybe they do want to leave a mess for the people they deem responsible for their misfortune in addition to escaping from it. It could be that they have reached the point of being just plain f***ing nuts. As mentioned upthread, it is important that if you are motivated to truly understand what you are addressing that you account for the fact that we tend to impose rational thought on an inherently irrational act.

Another important and frequently overlooked point is that human beings are not standardized products. Our first inclination is to compare the decedent with others we perceive as having had it as bad or worse, which opens several doors for poor interpretation of what we are seeing. OK, Chuck just checked out and we look to Bill who seems to have experienced everything Chuck has and then some. First, we have to account for the fact that Chuck may well just not be as of strong of constitution as Bill. Second, it could be that we are just more familiar with Bill's circumstances and are unaware of a lot of bad things happening to Chuck outside the realm of our knowledge. It could be that Bill has, say, a religious-based fear (like going to Hell, for example) of committing suicide, otherwise he would have checked out long before Chuck did. We don't know what last-minute stimulus may have applied. I will hold up my alpacas as an example. I have had a lot of days when they have turned what would have been a day with no redeeming qualities whatsoever into at least a salvageable day. What if Chuck had been having one of those days in addition to being approximately suicidal in general, comes home, and finds that the coyotes just wiped out his alpacas? All of a sudden, the one thing that could salvage the day was gone in dramatic fashion.

I am certainly not arguing against the idea that going to someone else's handgun range to kill one's self, thus maximizing the impact on others, or similarly doing so in a way that multiplies the impact on one's family is a sh*theaded thing to do, but it is also important to remember that this is a far more complex issue than being the dick who eats all the chocolate chips knowing that his wife is about to make cookies and lets her discover it unannounced as she is in the middle of mixing ingredients.

In the end, I can think of only one suicide of which I am aware that I would consider truly selfish. It was a young lady (granddaughter of friends of my pastor) who had either just graduated high school and been accepted into Bible college (Pensacola, if I remember correctly), or maybe got in one year of college. She was very intelligent, very attractive, pleasant-natured to the extent I could tell, and appeared to have everything going for her. She left a note indicating (to paraphrase) that the world was going down the crapper and she didn't want to deal with it. No personal trauma, no observable depression, no specific grievance of any type, just treating life in its entirety the way we would treat a business whose crap we were tired of putting up with. That one still makes me scratch my head when I think about it.

I got this again: "You must spread some Reputation around..."

 

[CindyE]

I got this again: "You must spread some Reputation around..."

I got him, 1 pt for me, 1 for you.

 

[Scuba591]

So he wasnt sick, he was a chicken, afraid to face the consequences of his actions.

I double down on my comments upthread.

He knew nothing about his wife's actions

 

[Cameramonkey]

He knew nothing about his wife's actions

Bull! Or am I speaking with the Amazing Kreskin? If not there is no way to know for sure whether he indeed knew or not.

 

[Scuba591]

Bull! Or am I speaking with the Amazing Kreskin? If not there is no way to know for sure whether he indeed knew or not.

Opinions... Everyone has one

 

[Cameramonkey]

Opinions... Everyone has one

It is your OPINION that he didnt know. You cannot factually know with certainty whether somebody else knew something or not. Only that person truly knows. And they could SAY "I didnt know" and be lying through their teeth. Or she could have truly covered it up and he was clueless.

The point is we can never know what is in someone else's brain.