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HELENA - A man who committed suicide at the VA Hospital at Fort Harrison on Monday has been identified as a 62-year old veteran who was living in Townsend.
The man's name is not being publicly released.
The man shot himself in a public restroom at the facility, and the incident is raising questions over how he managed to bring a gun onto the federally-protected campus grounds.
According to Lewis & Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson, the veteran walked through the doors at noon on Monday and headed to the public restroom around the corner.
A single gunshot rang out as the veteran used a custom-made shotgun to end his life.
Nelson noted, "Of course it was very disruptive for all the employees and emergency responders to deal with this as it was a shotgun that was used in taking of his life."
"It's shocking when it happens. It's not something that anyone was expecting or wanted have happen," said VA Montana behavioral health chief Christine Childers.
Nelson said the 62-year-old man was a patient at the hospital, and that last week, the man had been seen at the facility and was struggling with PTSD.
Although the VA can't comment on this particular veteran, they did speak about the impacts of suicidal thoughts.
"People that are most in need of help, don't ask for it. They are often the ones that are hardest to reach out to.They may rebuff you if you offer," said Childers.
The VA policy is that no weapons be brought onto the federally-run campus grounds. If they are, they are usually checked by security for holding at the door.
But this incident brings into question whether the policy should be changed to avoid future potential safety concerns.
"We don't expect that this is going to happen in Montana. So it really takes a shift of thinking and to say, are we safe, are we not safe, what do we need to look at here? Because we need to be safe It needs to be a safe environment," said Childers.
The VA says it will review the policy and determine if changes need to be made to avoid potential safety issues in the future.
In addition to help offered to responders by the VA internally, the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff's office will offer a critical incident stress debriefing as a result of the incident.
The VA offers a 24-hour veteran crisis hotline at 800-273-8255.
The article and the VA talks about "how he got the shotgun in the hospital" but doesn't look at WHY he did it. From one of my friend's FB page:
" Grunts11Bravo, U.S. Infantry Soldiers
Vietnam Vet commits suicide at VA.
Bulldog posted this earlier, I have something to add.
I read this article and it seems to me the VA's response is extraordinarily disconnected. Their response is to talk about how he got the shotgun into the building and how they need to review their practices to make sure they have a safe working environment.
My question is.. Why did this veteran choose the VA location to kill him self? To me this seems like a passive aggressive response to how he was being treated by this particular VA. A last message to them or a parting teachable moment maybe.
~ Whiskey"
The man chose to make a statement. We come back from war broken because we fight where and when we're told, we carry the heavy load. We get back, you wait 18 months for a disability rating, the hospitals are dirty (repeatedly hearing cases of HIV and Hep passed to vets due to doctors not cleaning their tools), veteran's hospitals are continuously cut budget wise, those working there for the most part have no real interest in helping, they just want the paycheck, and they move so damned slowly.
They should be thankful the man had honor and chose to prove a point by only killing himself instead of those who more than likely treated him as baggage instead of a warrior.
The man's name is not being publicly released.
The man shot himself in a public restroom at the facility, and the incident is raising questions over how he managed to bring a gun onto the federally-protected campus grounds.
According to Lewis & Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson, the veteran walked through the doors at noon on Monday and headed to the public restroom around the corner.
A single gunshot rang out as the veteran used a custom-made shotgun to end his life.
Nelson noted, "Of course it was very disruptive for all the employees and emergency responders to deal with this as it was a shotgun that was used in taking of his life."
"It's shocking when it happens. It's not something that anyone was expecting or wanted have happen," said VA Montana behavioral health chief Christine Childers.
Nelson said the 62-year-old man was a patient at the hospital, and that last week, the man had been seen at the facility and was struggling with PTSD.
Although the VA can't comment on this particular veteran, they did speak about the impacts of suicidal thoughts.
"People that are most in need of help, don't ask for it. They are often the ones that are hardest to reach out to.They may rebuff you if you offer," said Childers.
The VA policy is that no weapons be brought onto the federally-run campus grounds. If they are, they are usually checked by security for holding at the door.
But this incident brings into question whether the policy should be changed to avoid future potential safety concerns.
"We don't expect that this is going to happen in Montana. So it really takes a shift of thinking and to say, are we safe, are we not safe, what do we need to look at here? Because we need to be safe It needs to be a safe environment," said Childers.
The VA says it will review the policy and determine if changes need to be made to avoid potential safety issues in the future.
In addition to help offered to responders by the VA internally, the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff's office will offer a critical incident stress debriefing as a result of the incident.
The VA offers a 24-hour veteran crisis hotline at 800-273-8255.
The article and the VA talks about "how he got the shotgun in the hospital" but doesn't look at WHY he did it. From one of my friend's FB page:
" Grunts11Bravo, U.S. Infantry Soldiers
Vietnam Vet commits suicide at VA.
Bulldog posted this earlier, I have something to add.
I read this article and it seems to me the VA's response is extraordinarily disconnected. Their response is to talk about how he got the shotgun into the building and how they need to review their practices to make sure they have a safe working environment.
My question is.. Why did this veteran choose the VA location to kill him self? To me this seems like a passive aggressive response to how he was being treated by this particular VA. A last message to them or a parting teachable moment maybe.
~ Whiskey"
The man chose to make a statement. We come back from war broken because we fight where and when we're told, we carry the heavy load. We get back, you wait 18 months for a disability rating, the hospitals are dirty (repeatedly hearing cases of HIV and Hep passed to vets due to doctors not cleaning their tools), veteran's hospitals are continuously cut budget wise, those working there for the most part have no real interest in helping, they just want the paycheck, and they move so damned slowly.
They should be thankful the man had honor and chose to prove a point by only killing himself instead of those who more than likely treated him as baggage instead of a warrior.
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