Police: Gunman in assisted living home shooting had felt bullied
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SEATTLE (AP) - Eighty-seven-year-old Frank Arthur Hames told police he felt bullied by an employee at the Josephine assisted living home in Stanwood so he took his handgun, walked into the man's office and said, "I've got something for you."
Hames allegedly fired his small-caliber pistol twice from the hip Monday, hitting the victim once in the abdomen. The 57-year-old employee was able to jump up and wrestle the pistol away, police said in a probable cause statement.
The victim, identified as Roger Holbrook of Mount Vernon, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The hospital said he was treated and released.
Holbrook, a grandfather of three, also happens to be a retired Army medic, and members of his family say that experience helped diffuse the situation.
"He was able to disarm the man and get the gun out of the way so that there was no more damaged done to himself or anybody else there," said Angela Welch, Holbrook's daughter.
Hames was arrested for investigation of assault with a firearm and held in the Snohomish County Jail in Everett. He appeared in court Tuesday, where bail was set at $200,000.
Hames told detectives he kept the gun in his possession, Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
Josephine bans firearms on its premises. "So he was in violation of our policy," Robertson said.
Josephine is a nonprofit social ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that includes a 160-bed nursing home, 57-bed assisted living home and a day care for 250 children, Robertson said. Josephine has been operating in Stanwood for more than 100 years and has 300 employees.
Josephine has not had any complaints in the past year about abuse, said Linda Moss, district administrator for the Department of Social and Health Services in Arlington.
The department is investigating whether there were any failures in connection with the shooting, such as how Hames kept a gun in his room, Moss said.
Hames talked willingly with detectives and deputies after the shooting and said he intended to kill the employee for perceived wrongs and commit suicide, police said. He was upset for failing.
Hames allegedly fired his small-caliber pistol twice from the hip Monday, hitting the victim once in the abdomen. The 57-year-old employee was able to jump up and wrestle the pistol away, police said in a probable cause statement.
The victim, identified as Roger Holbrook of Mount Vernon, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The hospital said he was treated and released.
Holbrook, a grandfather of three, also happens to be a retired Army medic, and members of his family say that experience helped diffuse the situation.
"He was able to disarm the man and get the gun out of the way so that there was no more damaged done to himself or anybody else there," said Angela Welch, Holbrook's daughter.
Hames was arrested for investigation of assault with a firearm and held in the Snohomish County Jail in Everett. He appeared in court Tuesday, where bail was set at $200,000.
Hames told detectives he kept the gun in his possession, Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
Josephine bans firearms on its premises. "So he was in violation of our policy," Robertson said.
Josephine is a nonprofit social ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that includes a 160-bed nursing home, 57-bed assisted living home and a day care for 250 children, Robertson said. Josephine has been operating in Stanwood for more than 100 years and has 300 employees.
Josephine has not had any complaints in the past year about abuse, said Linda Moss, district administrator for the Department of Social and Health Services in Arlington.
The department is investigating whether there were any failures in connection with the shooting, such as how Hames kept a gun in his room, Moss said.
Hames talked willingly with detectives and deputies after the shooting and said he intended to kill the employee for perceived wrongs and commit suicide, police said. He was upset for failing.
And yes his allegations need to be investigated, as any other allegation of abuse should be in our State. Â Does not resolve him of his crime, but something went on to make one man mad enough at another man to want to take a life after not taking one for 86 years excluding any wars he might have fought in of course. Â I still dare to ask after being in health care for the past 15 years if we are not missing a deeper underlying social issue that is making all these patients upset., and enraged enough to kill. Â I would like to know what the alleged bullying was about in more detail? Â
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Did he get the gun from someone in the facility? Â and if so, are there any more Guns there at this time?
Could our HMO system be creating friction between health care providers and their patients? Â See the following publicatio shows the root of the problem that is creating the adversary rolls that exist between Health Care Providers and Patients. Â Let's get to the root of the problem.
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http://www.drrichardhall.com/ethical.htm
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Ethical and Legal Implications of Managed Care
Richard C. W. Hall, M.D. CourtesyClinical Professor of Psychiatry University of Florida, Gainesville
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Abstract
     This article addresses several ethical, regulatory and legal issues in managed care with attention to recent court cases that focus on physicians' responsibility, fiduciary duty and the impact that these legal decisions have on physicians practicing in a managed care environment. Discussion of the impact of changes in the control of decision making processes for physicians, the use of managed care protocols, restriction of resources and gatekeeping systems are addressed as are the specific duties and obligations of physicians to their patients.Â
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In working with one of my clients I have heard only excellent reports about the care that Josephine's provides. This client went so far as to comment multiple times how thankful she was that her husband was able to spend his last days in a place that treated him with such kindness and dignity.
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Thor McIlrath, CFP
McIlrath & Eck
This situation is tragic in the full sense that what occurred between 2 men could unravel such an outstanding establishment as a whole. I can say that because we witnessed their excellence firsthand as they provided incredible care for not only my Grandfather, but my family as a whole. While I realize they may not be perfect, I would argue that the overall  excellence of Josephineâs outweighs the perfect storm of unfortunate events that occurred this week or other situations others have mentioned.  A lot of hardworking and amazing people work at this facility and pour a lot of love and care around our dear elderly. It would be a shame as a community to tear down one of our finer establishments because of an isolated incident. We quite frankly  could use more places like Josephineâs.
As a local to the north sound area and having had family members reside at Josephine I am familiar with its reputation in and around Stanwood and I also have acquaintences living there. There is a huge amount of respect for each and every resident and child that is cared for there. The staff "adopts" members of the community from the beginning of their stay to the end. Bullying and negative attitudes by staff are not tolerated.   Josephine is NOT the kind of home that verbally abused and ridicules the family members. If this guy was bullied then the administration would be on top of it. FYI, since the resident lived in the "suites" he had not been diagnosed with dementia as he would have resided in a more secure area of the facility.
Sucks they can't be taken care of properly. We do a lousy job of that in this country. Still no excuse for his actions.
Not guilty by reason of being 86 years old. Move him to another facility and forget it, he's not going to be around much longer. All they need to do is take the frigging gun that he shouldn't have had away from him. I wonder how much money can be tossed away on this case?
@uscit16791949
Wait. What?Â
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He could realistically live another 10 years.
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And if this was your father, brother, son or yourself he shot, you'd want it "forgotten" about?
"A probable cause statement released Tuesday says Hames talked willingly about the shooting and was upset about failing to kill the man and himself. He claimed he had been bullied by the employee for months and decided to murder him by shooting him, police wrote." Well, maybe if Hames had been a better shot he'd have accomplished what he set out to do. It seems bullies had better take notice; there are some victims out there willing to kill their bully along with themselves.
Ok, I'm sure I am going to get pummeled for this but I have to say it anyway. Is getting "bullied" going to be the new excuse for killing or injuring someone? I was bullied in high school so I am definitely not minimizing the problem of bullying but I'm wondering if people are going to start taking advantage as they have the "insanity" plea. Or are more people going to just come out and think it's ok to start killing their bullies now??
I wonder if the State was involved or notified as they should have been if he was truly bullied, before this got out of hand. Those that knew about the alleged bullying should have intervened. Perhaps they did. Again, one of the details none of us knows yet. I have worked in geriatrics since '91 and have seen awful treatment of elderly as well as paranoid elderly. It could be either, or both at this point; again we do not know. But the bottom line is shooting him was not warranted.
Would like to know where this guy got the gun, and what the policy is for having guns in this facility. Guns in an assisted living facility seems like a really bad idea due to deteriorating mental capacity and such.Â
Those facilities are known for mistreating the elderly. The guy may have a legit complaint. To go so far as shooting the guy I do not agree with.
Oh, so we're supposed to buy his sob story and follow up on that? Fat chance!
Wow.....I wonder if the staff had tried to reach out to the family members about dementia type behavior?  Was the 86 year old mobile and able to leave the facility - to obtain the gun - or was it brought in for him?  Just awful for the family, the staff and other residents.Â
It's pretty well documented that seniors are treated poorly quite often in assisted living homes. I wouldn't start feeling that sorry for the worker just yet.Â
@jowsuf I agree. My elderly father was in a home after a hospital stay and those people were very mean to him. He told me they were not very nice and I thought he was just being cantankerous. I left a voice activated recorder in his drawer and heard for my self. When I came in the next day I listened to it and put him in a wheelchair and left without saying a word.
"Prosecutors say an 86-year-old resident of a Stanwood assisted living facility, suspected of shooting a supervisor, did so because he felt bullied."
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Mental health checks are such a bad thing regarding firearms? Yeah, ok...
 @what? Mental health checks are probably needed the most. Banning "assault weapons" will do nothing.
 @Stock Woodie  @what? Yes it will. Banning assault weapons may not rid of us them anytime soon, but it will certainly diminish the number of them out there, and it will force those who have them to hide them away. That's not a bad start.
 @uscit16791949 And you have been lulled into the false logic that "assault weapons" are even an issue in anything.
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Shaming the mentally ill will push them into seclusion and therefore we wouldn't have to worry about them because no one would know about them...but it would offer no solution to the problem of mental illness.
 @Stock Woodie  @what? The vast majority of gun homicides have nothing to do with mental health issues.Â
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Mental health checks are as much a red herring as banning assault rifles.Â
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Having said that, it doesn't mean we shouldn't do both.Â
 @komotriedtosilenceme It's not my favorite fish to be honest. :)
 @lakeview Apparently you like herring?
 @lakeview  @Stock Woodie  @what? the confusion comes from mass shootings which in vast majority are carried out by crazies, but overall these types of shootings are miniscule in numbers, # of dead 80 vs 9000 (excluding suicides)
I wonder if there is more background on this. Had there been any reports filed regarding the bullying? Were there any other complaints against the shooting victim? What was the state of mind of the shooter -- did he have a mental illness, anger issues, dementia? Although I do think shooting someone is wrong unless your life is in danger, I don't want to make any other kind of judgement calls without more info.
@The WA Mama Especially when it comes to the elderly. People think, "oh the old so and so" never stopping to think there may be some truth in their story.
Well, if his wish was to have his surroundings or his address changed - wish granted.
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 @DT You say that dementia begins with anger and paranoia...then you call him a hateful man? Really?
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 @komotriedtosilenceme In my defense she was rather spiteful and rude in her second comment she had posted to me. I found it rather insulting that she just dumped her comments which left my comments looking aggressive.
 @aintno1special Come on aint, take the fact that she erased her comments as an apology. Don't be an a**.
 @DT Guess you must have read your comment?
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 @DT I was calling you out on your judgmental comment. "What a hateful man" Your comments. To call someone out on something they have no control over mentally )again your own words) is ridiculous.
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So take some of your own advice and read what you wrote.
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BTW I am quite aware of stages of life.
Ban guns from Seniors!Â
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 @Seattle Guess you've never worked with seniors before.  Then you'd know that many times people who are getting dementia become angry and paranoid, and blame others for all kinds of things.  I doubt he was bullied. In my experience with seniors and facilities, more likely the shooter was an angry individual, who refused to follow the rules, and was called out for it.Â
@DT @Seattle My grandfather had Alzheimers, and dementia.. needless to say, he was pretty fun when we were 6 year olds... we would make a bunch of noise, and get him chase us... LOL Of course he would forget what he was doing but, we would have fun with it..
6 years later, I was feeding babyfood with a syringe... he was bed ridden, and, it was pretty sad..
My father now has Alzheimers.. we (my brother and sister), at the request of my step-mother took all of his guns. He used to get upset with her/us, about it, but, I have also been doing some restoration work on them as they were neglected over the last few years he had them in his possession.
In this case, he probably did feel bullied, as a result of the slight dimentia, or Alzheimers.
The family should have made sure that he didn't have access to weapons..
If you are 86, you can't claim the bully defense, even if it's true.Â
 @lakeview I don't think outside of imminent threat to one's life is there any defense for shooting someone.
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That said assisted living facilities are places where abuse and "bullying" occurs far too frequently.
I'd say it sounds more like attempted murder than just "assault with a firearm". Charges can change after a person is arrested though, maybe they will file that charge once they are sure they can make it stick....I don't care if you are "bullied" you don't have a right to shoot someone for it. A gun is the last resort, not the first.
 @dg54321 My guess defense will pitch an insanity plea regardless of the charges. Sounds to me like his mental state is questionable anyway. Sad that he had access to a gun if he was in fact losing it mentally.
the victim might not be entirely innocent - hope they will share more details. Too bad that Hames did not seek help.
 @Komo Dragon Have you ever worked with seniors??  Then you would know that it's pretty typical if someone is perhaps developing dementia, that they become paranoid, angry, and aggressive.  I've been through that with some in-laws elderly relatives, watching them accuse other family members, facility staff, long time friends, of bullying them, stealing from them, or harming them.  It was always false.  People here who blame the victim obviously have never been exposed to that. Â
@DT @Komo Dragon Actually, the staff should be trained to deal with situations like that without making someone feel bullied..Â
But it also depends upon the individual too. This is also where family comes in... Family should have been notified of the situation and to take appropriate steps..
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 @DT I actually have. My aunt was like that. It starts with loss of hearing and they believe everybody is talking about them all the time, and progresses from there. Which is why I worded my comment carefully. On the other hand, there is quite a bit of elder abuse going on, and seniors don't always get treated respectfully and with dignity - so yes more information would help.
@Komo Dragon @DT I lived the elder abuse first hand(comment above). Not all old people are crazy old geezers. They are fragile and have feelings too.