'He And Brennan Loved Each Other So Much'

Why a grandfather killed his grandson and then killed himself outside the Monroe police department may be one of those questions.

But Friday night in an exclusive interview, the grandmother wanted to tell KOMO 4 News she doesn't know how her husband could kill. But she does understand what triggered it.

This is a story of corporate downsizing, unemployment, health care coverage for the few, and mental illness.

Two months ago Bryan and Carol Hetherwick moved to Washington. They came here hopeful, looking for work.

Thursday hope gave way to hopelessness.

"He's wiped out my whole house at once...just why the baby, why the baby?" Carol Hetherwick asks why her husband killed their grandson, Brennan, 5, and then turned the gun on himself.

Bryan walked arm in arm with his grandson to the entrance of the Monroe police department and pulled the trigger.

"He and Brennan loved each other so much," remembers Carol.

Everywhere you look in the family's living room, you'll see the bond between granddad and grandson. The walls are practically a shrine to Brennan. The two even had matching recliner chairs that sat side by side.

"I don't have my best friend, or my husband, or my baby," cries Carol.

Carol says her husband, Bryan, was depressed and had been suicidal on and off ever since he lost his insurance job last June. He couldn't find a job and he couldn't get health insurance coverage. Even more devastating was the fact he couldn't find help for his grandson.

"He worshipped Brennan," says Carol.

Brennan was bipolar and needed special, expensive, care. "Who else needs help more if you're unemployed, disabled, you can't work and you have a child with special needs," she wonders.

Bryan was fighting mental illness, Carol is fighting Multiple Sclerosis. "I spent days on the phone just calling all these places and could not get a thing."

Bryan left Carol a note saying he felt hopeless. He worried Carol didn't have the mental or physical strength to take care of Brennan.

Carol blames the system. "I didn't even get to say goodbye or kiss him, either one of them."

Carol and Bryan had custody of Brennan since he was a baby. Because they couldn't afford his care, they had just decided they would put him up for an open adoption. That way he could get the care he needed and they could still be a part of his life. It was something Bryan was struggling with.

Brennan's biological parents have been located in Texas and are just learning their son's fate.