Shooting shows failures of US mental care — experts
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WASHINGTON — The Arizona shooting rampage has exposed a gaping hole in the US mental health care system, according to experts and lawmakers, who said numerous red flags went unheeded before the tragedy.
Dozens of witnesses, police officials, neighbors, friends, teachers and classmates of the accused gunman, Jared Loughner, pointed to warning signs that should have alerted authorities to the 22-year-old’s descent into mental illness.
There were the alarming comments to students and teachers at the community college that eventually suspended him; the reported looks and comments at his local bank, where tellers felt for the alarm button whenever he walked in; and behavior that Arizona authorities said showed Loughner hoped to acquire a firearm — even after being rejected by the US Army for failing a drug test.
Despite what some experts believe are clear signs of emerging schizophrenia in Loughner, there is no record of him undergoing a mental health evaluation, they said..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110119com5.html
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