U.S. Suicide Rates Increased More Than 25% Since 1999

A TRULY TRAGIC AND STAGGERING INCREASE IN SUICIDES, WHY?

Suicide rates have increased 25% in the United States since 1999, and an even more alarming twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%. Suicide has now become one of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. According to the report, more than half of those who died by suicide had not been diagnosed with a mental health condition. But is that because they just had not been diagnosed or other reasons? Is it the increase in drug use (both illegal and prescription), online social media where keyboard cowards think they can threaten other bully other with impunity, lack of generational coping skills, or an absence of God? There is most likely no one answer, it is most likely a combination of many. The reality is that I would hope no one thinks their life is the worthless and suicide is a better answer. However, just this week I was presented with a friend who’s friend did just that and ended it all. Truly sad. Something must be done to investigate what the real causes are for such a terrible increases in a cause of death.

CDC.gov

Suicide rates increased by 25% across the United States over nearly two decades ending in 2016, according to research published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%, the government report finds.

More than half of those who died by suicide had not been diagnosed with a mental health condition, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC.

“These findings are disturbing. Suicide is one of the top 10 causes of death in the US right now, and it’s one of three causes that is actually increasing recently, so we do consider it a public health problem — and something that is all around us,” Schuchat said. The other two top 10 causes of death that are on the rise are Alzheimer’s disease and drug overdoses, she noted.

In 2016 alone, about 45,000 lives were lost to suicide.

“Our data show that the problem is getting worse,” Schuchat said.

Increases in 49 states.

To anyone thinking or even contemplating suicide, please get some help and talk to someone, anyone. Please don’t waste your life. It is a life worth saving. And for everyone else, please be more vigilant of those around you. Most likely they are crying out for help and we all are ignoring it and being too busy in our own lives to help. Suicide should never be the answer and we much reverse this trend for everyone’s sake.

The Austin Bombing Suspect is Dead, 24 Year Old Man Blows Self Up in Vehicle as Law Enforcement Closed In (VIDEO)

AUSTIN BOMBING SUSPECT IS DEAD … GREAT JOB BY LAW ENFORCEMENT!!!

BREAKING … The Austin bombing suspect is dead. The suspect,who has  terrorized Austin, Texas over the past three weeks was identified as a 24 year old, white male. His  name has not yet been released. The suspect blew himself up in his vehicle as law enforcement closed in. Interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley stated that the investigation continues; however, the suspect was responsible for for all of the incidents in Austin. In a press conference Wednesday morning, the police chief said that the suspect detonated a bomb inside the vehicle he was riding in as police approached. One officer was injured when the bomb was detonated but he suffered minor injuries. According to KVUE’s Tony Plohetski, authorities said they used surveillance video from the FedEx store on Brodie Lane in South Austin to lead them to the suspect. Chief Manley said they “don’t know where the suspect has been the past 24 hours,” and that there may be other devices out there. The public must remain vigilant and call 911 if they see anything suspicious.

The suspect in a string of bombings in Austin is dead, interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley confirmed early Wednesday.The name of the

suspect, described only as a 24-year-old white man, has not been released, pending notification of his family, Manley said.

Although police are still investigating the possibility of accomplices, he said, “we believe this individual is responsible for all of the incidents in Austin.”

Manley urged the community to remain vigilant for possible other explosives, adding that “we do not know where (the suspect) has been in the past 24 hours.”

Police have not identified a motive for the string of bombings, Manley said.

Investigators identified several leads but the case really broke in the past 24 to 36 hours, the chief said.

He described how authorities tracked down the suspect’s vehicle to a Round Rock-area hotel. Police began following the suspect’s vehicle, and as SWAT approached, the suspect detonated a bomb in the car, Manley said.

Clues leading up to tracking down the Austin bomber. Exclusive photos of Austin bombing ‘Person of Interest’ dropping off 2 packages at Austin @FedEx store. Believed to be wearing wig.

LIVE Coverage can be see HERE.

UPDATE I:  CNN Latest developments:

• In the past 36 hours, law enforcement received information directing them to a person of interest, who ultimately became a suspect.
• Surveillance teams tracked the suspect’s vehicle to a hotel in Round Rock, north of Austin. As police waited on tactical units, the vehicle left the hotel.
• SWAT approached the vehicle and the suspect detonated a bomb, killing himself and knocking back and injuring a SWAT member.
• A SWAT officer fired his weapon at the suspect. It’s unclear whether the officer shot the suspect.
• The suspect is a 24-year-old white man, and authorities don’t know whether he acted alone or what his motive was.
• He is responsible for all the incidents in Austin, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said.
• “This is the culmination of three very long weeks in our community,” Manley said.
• He urged residents to be vigilant, saying they don’t know where the bomber has been for the past 24 hours and if he sent additional packages.
• “Austin bombing suspect is dead. Great job by law enforcement and all concerned!,” President Donald Trump tweeted.

UNGODLY … 26 Dead and 20 Injures at Church Shooting in Sutherland Springs, TX (Update: Gunman Dead)(Update: Gunman ID’d as Devin Patrick Kelley)

HORROR IN SMALL TOWN AMERICA …

Authorities are stating that 26 people have been killed and 20 more injured following at church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. A man dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault-style rifle opened fire inside the First Baptist Church around 11:20 AM on Sunday killing 26 people ranging from the ages from 5 to 72 years old.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas – A shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Sunday morning left 26 people — ranging in age from 5 to 72 years old – dead and 20 wounded, authorities say.

Devin Patrick Kelley, of New Braunfels, has been identified as the gunman.

Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church and began shooting around 11:20 a.m., before fleeing in a vehicle, Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said. Witnesses said Kelley was dressed in all black tactical gear and a ballistic vest and a Department of Public Safety official said he was carrying a Ruger ARb assault-type rifle.

Tackitt said Kelley was later found dead in the vehicle in Guadalupe County. The exact circumstances of his death are not known.

Johnnie Langendorff told KSAT’s Garret Brngr that he witnessed the end of the shooting and said another man and Kelley exchanged gunfire after Kelley left the church. Langendorff said he and the man chased Kelley for several minutes in their vehicle.

UPDATE I: Church Shooter crashes vehicle while being chased by local heroes.  Neighbor got his gun and most likely prevented further carnage.The shooter is dead. Unknown whether he took his own life or was killed by other fire.

UPDATE II: The gunman has been identified as 26 year old Devin Patrick Kelley.

Devin Patrick Kelley has been identified as the gunman who killed at least 26 people at a church Sunday morning in Texas, a U.S. official told The Daily Beast. A week before he committed the worst massacre at a place of worship in American history, Kelley posted a photo of a semiautomatic rifle to Facebook with the caption: “She’s a bad bitch.”

UPDATE III:  Man identified as Texas shooter was court-martialed for assault on his spouse and child.

The man authorities have identified as the shooter in the massacre at a Texas church was given a bad conduct discharge from the Air Force three years ago after being court-martialed for assault, a military spokesperson confirmed Sunday.

Federal law prohibits a person who has been dishonorably discharged from buying a firearm. Whether Kelley’s discharge would trigger the law was not immediately clear.

Devin P. Kelley, who served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico starting in 2010, was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts alleging assault on his spouse and assault on their child, Ann Stefanek, the chief of Media Operations for the Air Force, said in a statement.

Kelley was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in custody and given a bad conduct discharge,  Stefanek said. He was discharged in 2014.

The 1968 Gun Control Act made it unlawful for a licensed firearms dealer to sell a weapon to a person with a dishonorable discharge or for such a person “to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.”

UPDATE IV: Devin Kelley: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.

1. The Shooter, Who Showed Off a Rifle on Facebook, Creeped Out Friends By Preaching About Atheism & Lived on a Wooded Property Where Gunfire Rang Out at Night

2. The Gunman Once Wrote That He Lived By the Air Force’s ‘Core Values’ Before Being Accused of Bad Conduct & He Found Work at a Waterpark.

3. The Gunman Was Dressed All in Black & Wrote That He Did Not Fear Death.

4. Multiple Children Were Among the Victims, Including the Pastor’s Teenage Daughter, Who Was Remembered as a ‘Beautiful, Special Child’

5. Devin Kelley Was Married in 2014 to a Woman Who Reportedly Once Taught at the Church

Largest Mass Shooting in American History … Las Vegas Shooting: More Than 20 Killed & 200 Injured Hurt Near Mandalay Bay During Route 91 Harvest Festival (VIDEO) (Update: 50 Dead & Over 400 Wounded) (Update: Shooter Dead, ID’d as Stephen Paddock)

DEAR GOD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE …

Horror strikes the the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, NV last night as a sniper opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel down upon unsuspecting, innocent concert goers. There is a reported 20 dead and more than 200 injured.  According to authorities the shooting began st the Route 91 Harvest festival, near the Mandalay Bay Casino, at about 10:10 p.m. local time. As per eye witness reports, “We heard what sounded like firecrackers going off. Then all of a sudden we heard what sounded like a machine gun. People started screaming that they were hit… When we started running out there were probably a couple hundred [people] on the ground.”

Say a prayer for those involved in this terrible mass shooting.

As Jason Aldean was closing the concert in Las Vegas shots began to be fired from and automatic weapon onto to crown

A gunman opened fire during a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday night — killing more than 20 people and wounding over 100 with a high-powered assault rifle before being shot by police, according to officials.

Cops confirmed early Monday that the shooter was dead and said they believed he acted alone.

Officials described him as a local Las Vegas resident but offered no other details.

Las Vegas police responded to the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino around 10 p.m. after receiving calls about an active shooter targeting concertgoers at the Route 91 country music fest.

University Medical Center spokeswoman Danita Cohen said the local hospital had taken in “several” people with gunshot wounds. She didn’t offer any more details.

One Las Vegas hospital reported treating at least 20 victims for gunshot wounds, according to KABC.

UPDATE II: More than 50 Now Dead & 400 wonded in Las Vegas Shooting:

More than 50 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in modern American history when a lone gunman opened fire into an outdoor country music festival from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel on Sunday night, police said.

More than 200 people were injured as performer Jason Aldean was onstage, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference.

The gunman was identified by law enforcement officials as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada.

More than 50 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in modern American history when a lone gunman opened fire into an outdoor country music festival from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel on Sunday night, police said.

More than 200 people were injured as performer Jason Aldean was onstage, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference.

The gunman was identified by law enforcement officials as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada.

The shooting is not believed to be connected to international terrorism.

The Latest:

More than 50 people were killed, 200 injured in deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Gunman identified as Stephen Paddock, 64-year-old man from Mesquite, Nevada.
Several weapons were found inside Paddock’s room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
President Donald Trump is monitoring the developments, the White House said.

Police responded to reports of the shooting just after 10 p.m. (1 a.m. ET), and the suspect was fatally shot in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, officials said.

UPDATE II: The shooting suspect has Been ID’d as 64 year old Stephen Paddock, a resident of Mesquite, Nev., a city 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Shooter is dead.

CBS News: SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect was inside, authorities said. The gunman was found dead at the scene and was identified by Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo as Stephen Paddock, 64. A motive was not immediately known. It is believed Paddock committed suicide prior to law enforcement entering his room.

A gunman perched high on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas Strip casino unleashed a shower of bullets down on an outdoor country music festival below, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 200 as tens of thousands of frantic concert-goers screamed and ran for their lives, officials said Monday. It was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Country music star Jason Aldean was performing Sunday night at the end of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Festival when the gunman opened fire across the street from inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect was inside, authorities said. The gunman died at the scene and was identified by Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo as Stephen Paddock. A motive as not immediately known.

Former NFL Star & Convicted Murderer Aaron Hernandez Hangs Himself in Prison (VIDEO)

THE COMPLETE AND TOTAL FALL FROM GRACE IS NOW COMPLETE, AARON HERNANDEZ DEAD BY SUICIDE …

CNN is reporting that former NFL star and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez is dead after being found hanged in his Massachusetts prison cell. According to reports, the convicted felon and one time New England Patriot TE hanged himself with a bed sheet attached to a window in his cell at the Souza Baranowski prison. Hernandez was acquitted just five days ago of a double murder; however, he was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder and his conviction in the 2013 shooting of Odin Lloyd.

As stated at ESPN, this truly was a real American tragedy from start to finish. An individual so gifted, so talented, yet so very, very flawed and troubled.

Convicted murderer and former NFL star Aaron Hernandez was found hanged in his Massachusetts prison cell Wednesday morning, officials said, just days after he was acquitted in a separate murder case.

The 27-year-old former New England Patriots tight end hanged himself with a bed sheet attached to a window in his cell at the Souza Baranowski prison in Shirley, the Massachusetts Department of Correction said. His body was discovered at 3:05 a.m.

“Lifesaving techniques were attempted on Mr. Hernandez, and he was transported to UMass Leominster, where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m.,” the correction department’s statement reads.

Hernandez, who was alone in his cell in a general population wing, hanged himself and had “attempted to block his door from the inside by jamming the door with various items,” the statement reads.

Aaron Hernandez, from beginning to end a story that was so hard to believe and tragic