Asia Powell, who identified herself as Harris' cousin, said Harris was taking medication for a mental illness.
"I know that she would never hurt her kids," she told KPIX-TV. "I know that."
Well, Asia was wrong. She did hurt her kids and it seems that she had made these specific threats, before.
"She told my mama she was going to feed them to the sharks," said Britney Fitzpatrick, Harris' 16-year-old half-sister. "No one thought it was that serious."
But as is often the case with family members (of a mentally ill person), they were in such a state of denial that they were not able to discern that these threats were serious. Because these people were too blind or too wrapped up in themselves to recognize a valid threat from a known schizophrenic (that had been off of her medications before), we now have three innocent children dead. And today, everyone just shakes their heads in disbelief.
Even the social services manager at the homeless shelter (who is supposed to be an educated professional in this area) she was staying at, was blind.
"I just talked to her yesterday," Mary Ann Ramirez, the shelter's social services manager, told the newspaper Wednesday. "We had our usual, 'How are you doing, how's the kids.' I would never have guessed in a million years that today she would do that."
Thanks again LBJ, for creating this "Great Society".
1 comment:
I am sure she said this when she was still in that intitial state of shock. But the in the larger scheme of things I was hoping to point out that this woman had a known history of mental illness. And when somewhen with a known history makes the statements she did, someone should have taken her more seriously. This is especially true when she (like most others with this condition) had a history of stopping her medications. Once those meds are stopped, it's only a matter of time until the thought processes begin to deteriorate.
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