Friends of accused shooter say violence was 'so out of character'
SEATTLE -- Jeff and Cheri Snyder first heard last week's news on the radio and it broke their hearts.
It was the news of how their friend, Carolyn Piksa was accused of shooting a fellow parks employee in the chest.
"So out of character of the person that we knew," Cheri said.
The couple knew Piksa as their friend from church, but this week they spoke to her for the first time in months during a jail visit.
"She appeared very tired," Cheri said.
What happened a week ago didn't come up because it didn't have to. While the pain was unspoken, faith and love came easy.
"Our goal was to let her know that we cared about her, that God loves her and that we're supporting her," Cheri said.
The Snyders first met Piksa following a revival meetings, and that led them to a Des Moines church. But over time, the friendship frayed.
"Probably in the last year or so her attendance had not been regular," Cheri said.
Their last contact came in November, about five months after Piksa's house was broken into and her family said her dog had been killed.
Police and the family say Piksa had been taunted by hallucinations and mental anguish. She only made thinly veiled references of that to Cheri.
"She had called and asked that we pray for her. She was feeling extremely threatened," Cheri said.
When the criminal charges finally came after that day of fear, the Snyders opened their heart and their faith. They say they'll keep that faith in their friend.
"If anything, this incident has drawn us closer and wanting to have a closer relationship with her," Jeff said.
The victim of the shooting, 65 year old Bill Keller, is still at Harborview, where he is being treated for gunshot wounds to the chest.
It was the news of how their friend, Carolyn Piksa was accused of shooting a fellow parks employee in the chest.
"So out of character of the person that we knew," Cheri said.
The couple knew Piksa as their friend from church, but this week they spoke to her for the first time in months during a jail visit.
"She appeared very tired," Cheri said.
What happened a week ago didn't come up because it didn't have to. While the pain was unspoken, faith and love came easy.
"Our goal was to let her know that we cared about her, that God loves her and that we're supporting her," Cheri said.
The Snyders first met Piksa following a revival meetings, and that led them to a Des Moines church. But over time, the friendship frayed.
"Probably in the last year or so her attendance had not been regular," Cheri said.
Their last contact came in November, about five months after Piksa's house was broken into and her family said her dog had been killed.
Police and the family say Piksa had been taunted by hallucinations and mental anguish. She only made thinly veiled references of that to Cheri.
"She had called and asked that we pray for her. She was feeling extremely threatened," Cheri said.
When the criminal charges finally came after that day of fear, the Snyders opened their heart and their faith. They say they'll keep that faith in their friend.
"If anything, this incident has drawn us closer and wanting to have a closer relationship with her," Jeff said.
The victim of the shooting, 65 year old Bill Keller, is still at Harborview, where he is being treated for gunshot wounds to the chest.
I keep wondering about this part where someone broke into her home and killed her dog. Very strange.
Only the religious will pat you on the back and pray for you after you shoot an innocent person in the chest.
@Seahawker ...and only rabid and self-righteous anti-Christians will openly criticize them for it.
I might have concern for this woman, who apparently is suffering from some type of mental illness, but my sympathy lies with her innocent victim who, if he survives, will suffer for the rest of his life. Where are the articles about his friends and family's concern, and what terrible problems they are having to deal with since this woman shot their loved one? They are not only concerned and fearful that their loved one might die, his family has to worry about the loss of income and the cost of medical expenses. Their whole world has been turned upside down. Who is visiting them, praying for them, helping them with their expenses, giving them moral support as they wait to see if their loved one will survive?
@justmyopinion I agree: it would be nice (or at least appropriate) to hear more of the victim and of his needs as well.
Napoleon said, religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.....
@swansong68 Boy, he should have seen TV.
@swansong68Â Doesn't seem t work, as you've just proved.
With "friends: like that...
@wysoumible If you don't have friends like that, you are in the deepest of deep poverty.
or it could be that a mentally unstable person (male/female, christian, white, black, mexican etc whatever) snapped became the victim of her own mental illness, shot a co-worker and is in need, desperate need of meds, counseling, and any other psychological help and committed a crime. Guess what? it happens A LOT. for those that play judge jury and executioner, please remember, the media only reports what it wants. What YOU have demanded to read. "If it bleeds, it leads".  Show some compassion regarding the person, victim, friends and family of all and know that unless you know every detail of a story, you only know what you are TOLD by the people that decide what you KNOW.  if this was your loved one being so twisted by sound bytes, would you be so quick to cast judgement?
and no. i dont think she should be set free. I just dont think that rushing to execute her is the answer.
So it matters why???????????? Yeah if this was a poor black man, we would hang em before he ever made an appearance in court. If it was a drunk white man, we would have thrown away the key by now. Only a poor Russian woman, or a Mexican single mother would gather such sympathy. Sorry none here.
@Magicalwoman
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
--John Donne, 1624
Excuses ... Excuses.... Excuses.... sorry but whatever the reason for her being 'cracked' ...either way they did what they did and deserve the punishment... we have too many people around as it is and one less crazy and now criminal should make little difference as you know what... you cannot 'save' everyone but this constant 'It is because of anything but myself... ' crap it way overused!
@TheNewsChick could be what drugs was she on
Politicians:Â Do as I say not as I do.
Liberal thinking
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/14/Mark-Kelly-s-AR-15-Stunt-Provokes-Giffords-Photo-Leak
@Tacobender50Â Nothing quite like a bullet in your brain convince you or teach you that you have been wrong, eh?
@JLS1950Â @Tacobender50Wrong about what?
That Gabby had a gun in her hand or Liberal thinking, Do as I say not as I do.
@JLS1950Â @Tacobender50Thats the problem with Liberal like you.
You ramble on and live in the Twilight zone.
@Tacobender50Â So in other words, when lifelong smoker Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and became an anti-tobacco evangelist through a series of public service television ads that ran even long after his death - that in your estimation was hypocrisy. But if he had merely quit smoking on demand of his doctor but appeared before Congress to declaim that cigarettes and tobacco are not addictive and do not cause cancer - as at least five tobacco CEOs did - that would be "expressing the courage of his convictions" - is that not how you see it?Â
See if you can find a photo of Gabby with a gun which was taken SINCE she was shot in the head without warning!
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This woman is lucky she's attractive. If she was not, or if she was a man who committed the shooting, the media would not have given her so much sympathy. Just like the Amanda Knox case, where our local media was so sympathetic to her, despite the fact that even if she didn't commit the crime, there's no way she doesn't know the circumstances surrounding the whole crime scene. What about the people this woman, Piksa, shot? Where's the sympathy there? It seems according to KOMO TV, KING, KIRO, etc., it's their fault for being the victim.
I don't know about anyone else, but people who I don't talk to in 5 months aren't my friends. I highly doubt that these people really knew this woman at all. Â
The amount of time KOMO is spending drumming up sympathy for this woman is ridiculous.Â
@lakeview Or, perhaps, the simple reality is that this woman shooting someone is not something anyone who knew her would ever think she would do. Â I don't see anything in the article to indicate that there is any sympathy being asked for this woman by KOMO.Â
I guess it's not a huge leap from believing in God to hallucinations.
Must of missed the part where she was turning her life around on the excuse train..
@WindowseatLook up the definitions of the words Reason and Excuse. Then, compare the definitions. Do so over and over until your brain is retrained and able to distinguish one from the other.
Liberal Ideology criminal system.
Isn't it amazing that people who are supposedly excused for killing and hurting others because of their issues, have the ability to shop for groceries, not speed, return library books, and cover their tracks after they commit a crime. Â I'm sending my good thoughts with the victim.Â
@DT She had taken to sleeping in her car out of fear that her home was not safe. How - pray - do you know that she was continuing to do all these other things "normally". For all you know, she could have 100 unreturned library books and and empty larder. And one thing she assuredly did NOT do was "cover her tracks": she went straight home the the address where she was known to live. But send your "good thoughts" wherever you wish.
@DTÂ Isn't it amazing that people who have absolutely no clue about mental illness still have the ability to post their ignorance on a public forum?
Im sure Bill Keller is a very nice guy too,  but guess what , he was living his life, minding his own business when this PSYCHO POS tried to kill him for no reason at all !  Burn her and send her to the Penetentary for at least 30 !  No Excuses.
Schizophrenia.
@komosux A lot of the people posting on these stories know nothing about mental illness and how some life event can suddenly trigger a previously undiagnosed mental illness and bring it to the surface.Â
@here_I_go_again @komosux But a lot of them will find out - just as Gabby Giffords found out about the destructiveness of firearms rather painfully (see above).
The smile says hello, but the eyes say crazy.
"...Friends of accused shooter say violence was 'so out of character'..."
It usually is, but that never excuses it, "friends".
@Throbbinhood Influenza doesn't "excuse" someone puking on you... but it could still happen.
@Throbbinhood Who, exactly, is saying this excuses anything?
For once I'd like a friend of one of these people to come out and say, "That sounds right. The chick was crazy, always talking about blowing things up. Hell, she collected her eyelashes in a jar for crying out loud. It was just a matter of time before she snapped."
@Illuminati Yeah, well, when you have had a beloved sister horribly murdered - and dealt with that pain and loss for nearly 30 years - and then had your home broken into by some pervert who savagely killed your beloved pet dog just for the "sport" of it, leaving you with no sense of security in your own bed... then you come back here and tell us all about it, huh? Somehow I think even you might go postal at some point in all that...
.....Turn her loose in Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill, or Skyway. Â She'd fit right in....
man, whats with all the hand wringing over this woman - she is an attempted murderer, not some wayward schoolgirl.
@SwampThing It's a clear double standard, as far as I'm concerned.
@SwampThing What about the poor innocent man she almost MURDERED
Anyone who claims to have known her but is surprised that this happened is too stupid to pay any attention to. Way too stupid. And probably too stupid to have made it to adulthood.
Hint - the correct response is, "I can't believe it took so long for her to finally do something like this."
@wysoumible So... you knew her and you knew this was going to happen? Why didn't you do something to stop it then?
So this attempted murderess was a CHURCHGOER? What kind of values do they teach at this so-called "church" - how to break the sixth commandment?
@Whobeke Not knowing the specific church, I could not tell you. But they might teach forgiveness (see Matthew 18:22) which seems to be a topic you are in no wise familiar with...
@Whobeke YOu know... the usual stuff.  Do whatever you want because you are "flawed" then just ask for forgiveness later.  It's very convenient.Â
@DT @Whobeke That's actually not what the Christian church teaches at all. That's just how some of them -- the ones who stand out to you -- treat it. The Christian church teaches people nothing but guilt. False guilt. Too much false guilt and a slight bit of psychological disorder can definitely make a sane person crazy.
@Whobeke Nobody is perfect Whobeke. Step off the high horse.Â
@keepthepeace28 @Whobeke Â
There is a vast gap between "perfection" and "attempted murder."Â Â I would say that MOST imperfect people never commit attempted murder.