my little one is going to dress as a dead cheerleader, and im going to be Igor....shes gonna drag me around with a chain, and i get to be goofy....." SRC="images/smiles/icon_lol.gif">

Doc B...

I hate to bring this thread to a somber mood, but I have the follow-up story on the Halloween teenage killer from yesterday's posting.

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Excerpt from The Los Angeles Times:

By Kimi Yoshino, Mai Tran and Christian Berthelsen
Times Staff Writers

November 1, 2005

In the weeks before 19-year-old William Freund donned a cape and mask and went on a shooting rampage in his Aliso Viejo neighborhood, he reached out for help on the Internet.

He wrote more than two dozen online messages in October, asking for a "real life" friend and saying he was contemplating suicide. He also threatened to start "a Terror Campaign to hurt those that have hurt me."

The messages paint a portrait of a troubled young man struggling with Asperger's syndrome, a neurological disorder described as a variant of autism that hampers people's ability to interact socially. He revealed his anguish and frustration on a website, wrongplanet.net, used by people with Asperger's.

In a prophetic message written Oct. 16, about the "Terror Campaign," he also said, "My future ended some time ago." Other postings included "Everybody hates me" and "I feel like I need to kill myself." He also disclosed that he had bought a 12-gauge shotgun and had gone online to buy ammunition.

Members of the online community for Asperger's tried to reassure Freund and offer suggestions, and volunteer moderators tried to find his parents.

Their efforts failed.

On Saturday morning, Freund put on a dark cape and paintball mask and entered a neighboring house, killing Christina Smith, 22, and her father, Vernon, 45. He then shot at a house across the street and tried to fire at a neighbor, but the shotgun jammed. Then he walked home and killed himself with the shotgun.

Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said investigators did not know what sparked the shooting or why Freund targeted the Smiths. "We're looking into his mental health at the time of the shooting," he said.

An autopsy completed Sunday showed that Freund died of a single gunshot to the upper torso. Toxicology tests are being conducted, but Amormino said, "We don't expect drugs and alcohol set off his bizarre behavior."

What may be the best clues to what set him off could be the messages Freund left behind in postings on wrongplanet.net. The website was created by people with Asperger's syndrome and intended as a place they could post comments, share experiences and talk to one another in online chat rooms. It also offers articles about the disease but is not intended to be a authoritative medical source.

Those with the disorder are often described as loners who have trouble communicating and may not fit in socially.

They couldn't be found, even by the newspaper journalists.

But doesn't this kid remind you of half-dude? We shouldn't be too harsh on him. Otherwise we might read about him in the newspaper one day.

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Headline: Gamer in Orange Suit Terrorizes Town with Crowbar

A joke, yet still in poor taste IMO.