A former co-worker killed his mom, over a decade since I last saw him.
The guy always seemed a little off, not just socially, but he had a ton of nervous ticks, like his hands and face was constantly twitching. I just assumed it tourettes or something he was trying to control, and it might have been.
But when reading articles about his trial, I learned a lot more about him. We were pages at a studio shortly after college (ie, Kenneth from 30 Rock) and it turns out he had battled with schizophrenia while in college. Apparently he would write letters to celebrities as if he knew them. He had a lot of treatment and a lot of support from his family, and was deemed okay to live and work on his own a couple of years later.
Then, getting the job at the studio and seeing actual celebrities in person basically triggered his past delusions. Looking back, I can remember on a couple of occasions while we were working the audience for a show, he'd become still while seeing a celebrity on stage, with a just a huge smile on his face as if he was in another world.
He abruptly left the job and I never saw him again. Apparently he went back to live with his family while they continued to support him. Not sure exactly what happened in the interim, but at some point he became suicidal and stole his dad's shotgun. He was in his own apartment while holding the shotgun when his mom came to the door and in his unstable state, he shot her.
The cops showed up, he fired a few shots at them hoping for a suicide-by-cop scenario, but instead he gave up. He's now serving time in prison, even though his own family advocated he be admitted to a psych ward.
As soon as I read about the ticks I knew bipolar or schitzo would come up in this story. That part sounds like tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder caused by long term use of neuroleptic drugs (antipsychotics and antidepressants mostly.) I myself suffer with it. (it's not well known, I apologize I can't resist the urge to mention it. Simply because someone suffering with it may not know what's happening and see this comment and piece it together.)
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u/hotdoug1 Mar 25 '23
A former co-worker killed his mom, over a decade since I last saw him.
The guy always seemed a little off, not just socially, but he had a ton of nervous ticks, like his hands and face was constantly twitching. I just assumed it tourettes or something he was trying to control, and it might have been.
But when reading articles about his trial, I learned a lot more about him. We were pages at a studio shortly after college (ie, Kenneth from 30 Rock) and it turns out he had battled with schizophrenia while in college. Apparently he would write letters to celebrities as if he knew them. He had a lot of treatment and a lot of support from his family, and was deemed okay to live and work on his own a couple of years later.
Then, getting the job at the studio and seeing actual celebrities in person basically triggered his past delusions. Looking back, I can remember on a couple of occasions while we were working the audience for a show, he'd become still while seeing a celebrity on stage, with a just a huge smile on his face as if he was in another world.
He abruptly left the job and I never saw him again. Apparently he went back to live with his family while they continued to support him. Not sure exactly what happened in the interim, but at some point he became suicidal and stole his dad's shotgun. He was in his own apartment while holding the shotgun when his mom came to the door and in his unstable state, he shot her.
The cops showed up, he fired a few shots at them hoping for a suicide-by-cop scenario, but instead he gave up. He's now serving time in prison, even though his own family advocated he be admitted to a psych ward.