Essex Shooting Update

The latest updates on the Essex shooting are here and here. The Free Press article, in particular, has a lot of details, including a timeline of the shooting spree and Christopher Williams complete criminal record.

A couple of things that jump out at me: first, the usual nonsense from the mental health counselor about his unhappy childhood and how he appears to be suffering from the one-size-fits-all post traumatic stress disorder. I don’t mean to be flippant or seem uncaring about Mr. Williams…well, on second thought, maybe I do. When something like this happens, the first thing people want to know is why and the notion that he had a troubled childhood becomes a catch-all of a reason.

No doubt the people he shot are all broken up about his childhood.

“Domestic abuse” is another catch-all phrase. If I had to guess, and in the absence of any facts that’s all I can do, I would say that as a young child, he witnessed his father beating his mother. Or perhaps his father wasn’t around. Maybe he doesn’t know who his father is. There could have been a succession of “fathers” and all of them could have been abusive to his mother. I’d also guess that drugs and alcohol were prevalent in the home.

While the reports suggest that Williams himself was not the object of abuse (there’s no reference to child abuse), he was, according to CNN, “exposed” to it. And yes, these things matter. In trying to understand what makes him tick, of course they matter. It’s also interesting to note that this is the second time that he has reacted violently (or threatened to) when breaking up with a girlfriend and that both instances involved the girlfriend and her mother (or stepmother, in the MA case).

I’d be willing to bet, when all is said and done, that men have not played a dominant role in his life and what role they have played has been almost entirely negative.

The other thing that intrigues me about this case is the realization that Williams has been a fugitive for the past three years and during that time he has managed – by accident or design – to live and work in a neighboring state without calling any attention to himself.

Until now, of course.

Alphecca posts his picture and wonders why was he NOT in jail?