Would the Gov't paying millions to all families effected by psycho killers solve anything truthfully? Are their claims legit or not? Read the article and post your thoughts.
I ask this because there are obvious financial and moral ramifications for allowing families to sue/win for the deaths of love ones killed. Seems like when there are more and more terrible mass killings, ppl seem quick to hire lawyers seeking monetary compensation for the loss of their loved ones.
Greed might have crept into the grieving process it seems. Maybe I'm wrong the that's the impression I'm getting here.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The family of a woman slain during the mass shooting
at the Washington Navy Yard is seeking $37.5 million from the
government, saying the Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs ignored
red flags about the killer’s deteriorating mental health.
During a news conference Friday in Tampa, attorneys for the family of
Mary DeLorenzo Knight said they were seeking the money in an
administrative claim. The claim, one of the first steps toward filing a
lawsuit, has been delivered to the agencies.
Knight was one of
12 people gunned down by Aaron Alexis on Sept. 16
before he was killed in a shootout with police.
The lawsuit said the
contractor Alexis worked for should have told the Navy about his mental
health problems and that the Navy should not have given him security
clearance. Navy officials have said they found no record the company
alerted the Navy about his mental health.
Knight, a 51-year-old divorced mother of two adult daughters, was
born into a military family and worked as an expert in cybersecurity at
the Navy Yard.
“My sister would want me to fight for her and fight for the girls,” said Patricia DeLorenzo, Knight’s younger sister.
DeLorenzo wanted to know why a man with a mental illness was allowed into the Navy Yard with a gun.
The FBI has said Alexis entered the Navy Yard in a vehicle and parked
in a deck across from Building 197. He went into the building carrying a
bag and came out of a fourth-floor bathroom with a shotgun.
“We can stop crazy guys with guns from coming on our property,”
Knight family attorney Sidney Matthew said. “Since 9-11, there is no
excuse for any governmental agency not to pass along information that
there are dangerous crazy guys out there.”
Alexis was employed by the Fort Lauderdale-based company The Experts. The company declined comment on the claim.
The Navy has ordered an in-depth investigation into the shooting and
the events that led up to it, including a detailed look at the shooter,
his mental health background and whether any adverse information was
ever reported to the service about him.
According to the lawsuit, Alexis was delusional and believed “he was
being controlled or influenced by low-frequency electromagnetic waves.”
The lawsuit said the VA failed to treat his mental illness when Alexis
went to a VA emergency room Aug. 23 for insomnia and detailed three
arrests involving Alexis and his post-traumatic stress disorder, anger
management problems and alcohol abuse.
The VA has said Alexis visited hospitals in Washington and Rhode
Island in the weeks before the rampage but denied that he was depressed
or having thoughts of harming himself or others.
The VA has also said he was evaluated for mental health problems that
might have contributed to his insomnia, but records don’t reveal a
history of mental health disorders.