Is there going to be an investigation into the part the people played that called, tainted and threatened this person?  Also, how about the Missoulian’s part in inciting the lynch mob that pushed this person over the edge? There should be many investigations related to this incident, starting with the “bloody” Missoulian.  It is so hard to understand how so many people valued the life of a cat over that of a human?  So sad and so many questions.

@ Oliver,

ANYONE who abuses animals is a far greater THREAT to humans.  That has been a proven FACT for decades.  I don’t care how you SPIN IT, this guy was a mental case, and likely would have committed some form of heinous crime against people in the future.

Am I glad he killed himself.  NO.  But stomping a kitten to near death and then trying to flush it down a toilet doesn’t constitute SANE OR RATIONAL THOUGHT in my opinion.

I’m sick and tired of people trying to blame others for their own mental illnesses.  What ever happened to taking RESPONSIBILITY for your OWN actions..??

By JCW on 02-06-10
ANYONE who abuses animals is a far greater THREAT to humans. 
=========================================

Sounds good to me.  Let’s start by executing the next kid that we see kicking a dog.  Oh by-the-way, just how many people has this 63-year-old person harmed in is 63 years of life?  The potential future threat from that kid is much greater than that of a 63-year-old.

I am Gary’s sister and all of these radical comments from judgmental people have abused Gary’s children (6) of whom have access to the internet.  It has deeply hurt his mother, father, brother and sister.  We know the full story and there will be an investigation.  Gary was a decorated Vietnam Vet with PTDD and was under psychiatric care.  He moved to Missoula and was all alone.  He could not find a new Dr. and his Meds had gotten, somehow messed up.  He was an avid animal rights person and especially loved kitties.  Mercy was his sole friend in Missoula.  Gary was completely devastated about Mercy’s injuries.  He told the “authorities” he was under psychiatric care and was suicidal.
Anyone with any knowledge of mental illness would know not to back Gary into a corner with him in that state of mind.
Mental Illness is a Reality People and may I suggest that those of you that negate that and think someone in this state can conjure up rational thought is either stupid or abusive him/her self.  Think of the abuse YOU have caused by your irrational comments and here you are sane and all!!
Gary was also a retired MD and a Psychiatrist and was the most gentle of souls.  Mercy loved him and I am sure she knew he loved her..she was all he had in that God Forsaken apartment.  A tragedy, he was NOT an animal abuser, you morons.

I am sorry for this mans family, but there is NO excuse for what he did. KARMA plain & simple.

By Cathy on 02-06-10
KARMA plain & simple
=========================

Cathy, you are a very sick individual.  plain and simple

I’m very sorry for your family, sister. I find it odd that the man’s children need to be reading comments about their father’s death on the web site of a newspaper 120 miles away. I hope they have a strong support system that can better occupy them than the thoughts of strangers.

I’m not a sick individual, Just voicing my opinion just like everyone else.  Do I feel bad that someone committed suicide? Yes. Do I feel sorry for his family? Yes.  But I also feel sorry for the cat that had to endure the wrath of this abuser who some say was unstable, some say just an abuser.  Either way - KARMA!

karma for sure.  sometimes it seems to work quicker than other times.  I wonder where this man’s main support system was at the time he needed them?  Of course the family is not to blame, but neither are the bloggers, newspapers or who ever else you try to place the blame on.  Suicide is a coward’s way out, but in this case I’m sure it seemed the only way.  Thankfully none of the officers were injured, or the public.  We don’t give our officers near enough credit when it comes to situations like this.  They put their lives on the line every day to try to keep the rest of us safe.  They very much have my sympathies, as they were there to have to face this.

@ sister,

I’m curious as to where his “family” was during his time of need and during his time of mental hardship..?

You give the readers guff over their comments.  They are just comments.

Maybe he would have been able to get help if his “family” was there for him..?

Cathy, first of all we do not know what really happened. And second you do not comprehend mental illness and I doubt you know KARMA. 
kalispelling bee, as you know the web reaches the far corners of the world, news is passed on via FB, blogs etc.  The kids have a good support system within the family.
Cathy, do you also feel sorry for my brother that was so abused??  Do you care about his suffering,  he cared so about people like you and helped people like you for many years until he fell ill.
Mitch, the whole situation leading up to my brother taking his life was in the hands of the authorities!  The police person that went to the door and knocked knew Gary was suicidal and Gary told him in response to the knock on the door he was afraid…Police office disregarded and with force entered a known disabled and mentally unstable mans home—-this led to my brother’s death, no doubt about it.
His family was not in the town with him, did I not say he was all alone?? 
I too cry for the kitty, an by the way she had a name.  I t is heart wrenching.  I do not in anyway believe he initially hurt his kitty…but what is the use of me saying that, huh??  When the cop came in his kitty was wrapped in a towel..do you do this if your intent is to kill or help??  You have not gotten the whole story yet and I hope if it every becomes clear you are ashamed…..Karma

It is very sad indeed if you choose to blame others for this man’s death.  I think that is most people’s first reaction when they lose a loved one, but blaming someone else only prolongs your agony.  The officers are trained and highly skilled in what they do.  The first thing they have to keep in mind is safety for themselves, their fellow officers and the public.  They’re not careless, they have many rules to follow, and sadly the “special circumstances” in each case cannot always be taken into consideration.  I’m wondering why a mentally handicapped man (your words) had a gun?  How did he get it,  and why?

gary was devastated about Mercy"s injuries????  Oh, you mean the ones that he caused???  Ok, if he was so emotionally unstable why was he living alone?  If he was a vet, he could have gone to the vets hospital for help.  Here is my question…..a mentally ,unstable depressed individual that had a firearm.  Gee, did his family know about that.  Obviously there should be some kind of screening about a persons mental stability when they buy a firearm.  Too bad it ended that way, but he just took a cowards way out.  A decent man would have taken his punishment for the crime commited.

Patti, your comments seem cruel to me. You’re expecting a mentally ill man to think rationally. Fortunately, there’s no mental illness in my family but I am keenly aware of what happens when people who need meds go off them. Sure, we are all outraged about what happened to the kitten (I advocate for animals, too), but I think you’re being needlessly unkind to the man’s sister.

I also fully agree with mitch. Blaming the police isn’t healthy, sister. I hope the best for your family.

sister, i am sorry for your lose, however i am at the same time wondering what caused Gary to hurt Mercy so badly.  Even you said in your previous post:

“He was an avid animal rights person and especially loved kitties.  Mercy was his sole friend in Missoula.  Gary was completely devastated about Mercy’s injuries.”

Even as a sufferer of a mental illness I can’t think of any situation where I would hurt my cats in such a manner.  I guess all I can do at this point is hope that both Mercy and Gary are no longer suffering.

Catgirl and Mitch need to be reminded that they don’t understand mental illness and all the harm that it can cause.

This was an utter tragedy, but it was also entirely preventable.  Here was a man in his 60s who experienced horrors in Viet Nam you can’t even imagine.  He probably came home in his 20s and suffered for 40 years because his untreated post traumatic stress disorder.  Nevertheless, he made a life for himself and had some success, but he alway remained victim to PTSD and alcoholism.  The two go together. 

PTSD was not recognized or cared about in the days when he came home from war.  The VA denied such a thing existed for decades and then only grudgingly began to offer treatment for it a few years ago. 

Here was a man who needed help decades ago but it was not available to him even now.  Instead, the media and some self appointed female animal rights vigilantes leaped upon him and drove him to suicide.  You vigilantes and the media, especially the writers and editors at The Missoulian all helped kill him. 

Yes, he made a bad mistake, but he was a human being.  You helped kill a human being who needed help he could not reach.  I hope all of you who participated in helping to kill him remember it well and carry the memory of the great evil you have done in these past few days to your various and very lonely graves. 

Shame upon you all.

Thank you for some rational thoughts dsrobins.  I am so heart sick and know I should not be reading this blogs let alone responding to radical views…but you try to sit down with judgmental, radicals and reason anyway..especially when it is so close to your heart.  The circumstances that led up to Gary being where he was, far away from his family, is unknown to these people and yet they make presumptions.  He tried to get help in that town and could not find a Dr. that would take him, nor a pharmacy that would fill the correct prescriptions.  You assume he had the means to pick up and go to the VA let alone the mental where with all to figure that out at that point.  Yes, something pushed him over the edge and it is quite a story yet untold…look to his neighbors..  And at the time, in my brother’s mind, he was cornered, there was no reason to force the issue and cause him to kill himself.  Mercy was not inside, it was not an immediate emergency that the barge down the door at that very moment.  When someone on the other side of a door is suicidal you do not force the situation, especially when there was no danger to anyone at the time..Empathy allows you to put yourself into another’s shoes, can you do that??  I do not in any way believe that Gary hurt Mercy nor did he try to flush her down the potty.  This is all someones assumption, not a truism.  When the kitty was hear screaming the sound were coming from outside the apartment!!

oh now we should blame the neighbors also?  Don’t think so.  The officers knew there was an armed man on other side of door, and shot was fired.  That’s where their training would kick in.

Dear Sister, I am sorry for the loss of your brother.  I am also sorry for the death of an innocent animal.  If your brother hurt the cat due to mental illness, well than so be it.  The article doesn’t say that or even allude to that.  Therefore, people have a right to come to whatever conclusion they choose and post their Opinions, again they are personal opinions based on the newspaper article.  You say metal illness, well, your not a Dr. and have no proof.  Therefore just because you’re his sister doesn’t make what you say SO.  I’m sorry you are offended, but everyone has a right to their opinion.

I need to get out of the conversation or what ever it is..  Yes I KNOW that my brother was ill,  he was under psychiatric care for years…please do you homework before replying.  Also, the cops DID NOT know at the beginning Gary had a gun, other wise the Swat Team would have gone with them, not been called after words.  Please open your minds…use the internet, do some reading on mental illness, how society treats it, War Vets PTDS amd consider that you do not know what led up to his being in that apartment.  Also, please do not assume you know all his neighbors and how they were involved in this “strange, reclusive” man’s life.
You have a mob mentality, which, I recognize, is a mentally illness in itself and you cannot help it, huh?  Get Help, Please before you hurt more people and if you are capable of hurting people in the manner, then you are more than capable of hurting animals too…..many people mentally abuse their animals too….Is this you??? You have done so to many people without knowing the facts, but conjuring up your own story for your own sick entertainment….May little Mercy the kitten who knows the story forgive you.

I’m completely happy to see you all self destruct without me having to encourage it. Vietnam has given us drug addicts / crazies back to us as family. Its sad, but that’s just how it goes.

I am sorry that you are happy to see me so miserable and without you even having to encourage it.  It seems war is not the only contributors to “crazies”  I hope every one gives this whole thing some thought and realizes there is more to many things than it seems.  I know I have said similar things about child abusers, even when only accused and not convicted.  As I live, I find the less I know and the more willing I am to learn. Goodbye..my kitty lays dying in my arms from cancer after the chemo treatment failed.  Don’t worry,  i have been assured he is not suffering.  He is only 13 yrs old and he is my purring heart.

Hang in there, sister.  I have a 13 year old Golden Retriever whose name is Sadiqi, which means “my friend” in Arabic.  I got him as such a tiny puppy that I could hold him in my hands.  He’s sick too.  Last night, he collapsed twice on the steps trying to get upstairs with us because he doesn’t like to sleep alone downstairs.  I’m sleeping downstairs near him tonight.  It is possible to love both animals and people, but some folks like animals so much they forget about people.  They live very lonely lives.

Sister. I am sorry for your loss.  I am very opininated about animal abuse of any kind, however, besides that, the pain of losing someone to suicide is such a unbearable shock.  I just went thru it in Sept. Depresion and alcoholism.  So I do understand the pain of it.  Very hard to come to terms with, and leaves quite a few unanswered questions and what-if’s. just know that he is in a much better place and free of the pain that has kept him imprisoned all these years.  Hopefully Mercy is in a better place now too.  We can only hope that we will meet with our loved ones again and rejoice to see them whole again.  God be with you and your family in this difficult time.

I have the same suspicions Missedyourmark.  I’m watching for an obit to see if he even had a sister.  Blamed everyone but the one who started this, and now she brings her poor ill kitty into the picture?  Making up the story as she/he goes along, maybe?

The vicious cruelty expressed by Missedyourmark and mitch in the preceeding three postings shames our community.  One feels sorry for people who have so little regard for the pain and suffering of others.  Sadly, it’s becoming more and more commonplace these days.

WOW!!  Some of you are unbelievable.  I am Gary’s sister, you have computers…look it up you idiots.  I just spent the day with my other brother and have been talking to his wife and some of his kids.  No one in the family, but me, will read any of this crap.  I realize that they are probably right.  But, I just can’t help defending my brother’s honor.

When his wife and 3 of his sons come to MT to pick up my brother and his things, I hope your community pulls in its claws.  I still can’t believe there are people like you in the world, my heart just aches.  I have tried to communicate to you some of the extenuating circumstances and you have responded like a rabid mob.  You have hurt some very good people with all of judgmental rantings. 
Every thing I have said is true, including the fact that most of you in the chat are evil minded.
I am so glad the whole family had not yet moved up there!!

Sister,

Don’t let them upset you.  They are not worth it.  People who show such utter meanness of spirit are truly cursed, and they will pay a heavy price for it in the future.  You will help your family take care of your brother, and then you will move on.  They never will.

Have any of you out there ever had a very small, loving kitty who rubbed your leg as you were starting to take a step and you almost fell over it? If you were 63 years old and possibly physically and mentally un-stable and you accidently stepped on the kitty and the first thing you thought of to help the kitty was to wash off the hurt and the only place in your mental state was the toilet….? During this attempt to help the kitty she was naturally screaming because she didn’t know why she felt so much pain. What if, in your mental state you loved and missed your kitty so much and felt so guilty and every one said you were a monster…...? FORGIVE HIM!!!

Thank you dsrobins and Mom’s Place for your kind works and understanding that people do not have the whole story but have conjured up their own.  I know I need to quit this chat for my sake.  But, eventually the media may hear from some of the other family, especially his children.  Gary was a Dr. and I know what ever happened to kitty, he was crushed and no doubt tried to save her.  He was the same man that gave mouth-to-mouth to his daughter’s ferret and cpr to a hamster.  His wife just told me how he would walk down the hall and see his kitty (at home, George) and lay down and pull out his comb and comb him.. just one small thing…I can’t stand to think of how hopeless he must have felt and how he felt he was being cornered..and his kitty gone and he was blamed for her being hurt…
I need to return to my office and yet I cannot stop fighting for Gary, because of some of you hateful people…I know it shouldn’t matter to me, but it does.

Mental health care is just not available even when clearly needed. It doesn’t bode well for the coming years when what’s left of our soldiers come home after being pushed farther then ever before in the history of our nation.

I say we leave the animal abuser alone (he did pay the ultimate price after all) and ask Sister: “WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOUR BROTHER NEEDED YOU MOST?”

I can’t believe I live in the same community as these people who type up some awful stuff!! Such hatred…..because of a kitten?
  Years ago, I was sitting in a rocking chair and my fluffy little kitten had crawled under the rocker. She didn’t make it. I felt horrible, and still think about it once in awhile. I ran over a kitten once, too. Didn’t mean too….the kitten ran out in the road. I cried over both of those deaths, but life went on. No, I didn’t intentionally kill these kittens….but I still did it.
  Are you all going to attack me now, because of those two kittens??? Get over it, people, and stop making our community look like a bunch of rude, puffed up jerks!!!

This is awful..thanks so much, though, for some of you who realize that there may be more to this than the media has reported.  Some of you obviously believe everything printed by the media. even when they use the term alleged.  Why do you think there is an ongoing investigation.  I am not going to feed you any more, because you are to stupid to comprehend anything beyond your own radicalism. 
Gary do not hurt his kitten, but was attempting to save it, he was not trying to flush a 4 month old cat down the toilet,  how absurd a fantasy is that for whoever came up with that scenario.  And you all just eat it up, and froth at the mouth with delight of tearing someone apart in the name of being against violence.

then by all means sister, give us the facts. I understand you need to see your brother as something other than what has been reported. But if you want to participate in this discussion and have any credibility, you are going to need to tell us what the media got wrong. An accident is indeed an accident and this discussion wouldn’t even be happening if that is what it was. So if this is some Mice and Men “Lenny” story, please set us straight. If not, leave the forum and seek whatever help you need to reconcile what your brother did and what you perhaps might have done for him to prevent this from happening.

Sister, people are so incredibly mean.  I would like to appologize to you and your family for the horrible, thoughtless things that have been said here.  What these people think truly does not matter.  Instead of mean, hurtful, judgemental comments, people should be thanking the grace of god that they do not have to walk in your shoes.  Anyone who would judge without the full story isn’t worth your time.  I have had family members with mental illness.  It is a very sad thing to deal with for the family because there is nothing you can do.  I don’t know what your brother’s situation was, but he obviously was not rational.He must have been in an incredible amount of emotional pain.  I believe that if you’ve never been there you can’t truly comprehend and shouldn’t judge.  I am sorry for your loss.  Montana is a good place with many many kind generous thoughtful people.  Don’t judge us all by the thoughtlessness of a few.

Flushing a cat down a toilet?? doesn’t sound like it would work, the medication probably did him in, heard too many stories like this is the past, although i’m not a doctor i think of these prescribed drugs from big pharma as a cocktail, the combination of wine, beer, and liquor can make one violent, i can image what synthetic drug combo’s can do, at least he was good enough not to take anyone with him. 

My condolences to the family.

BLUSKY…well said. Thank you, and I’m happy to see there are some decent people still in the valley.

We should wait until all evidence is weighed before anyone condemns this man, everyone is entitled to a fair trial. . . . even the dead. Let free thinkers contemplate the true motive.

Condolences to the family of a patriotic soldier in defense of God and Nation.

Yes, thank you for dying in the name of some non existent deity. Honestly, I can’t believe you people argue back and forth over something so ridiculous. I guess when you have nothing better to do right?

Seeing some of these comments from Montana nuts just reminds me why it feels so good to be out of Montana.  There are some people with common sense in Missoula but mostly it’s a town of left-wing nuts.