Five people found dead in Dalhousie

[The Ditch]

I heard on the radio (lol x92.9 terrible news) that they thought the guy did it but there was evidence to support in the crime scene that maybe he didn't. Seems to me though that he did do it.

[McMack]

Listening to people being interviewed who knew him, it is interesting to observe our preconceived notions about people with mental illness... e.g. comments about how they are surprised he could have done this because of how "outgoing" he was.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by T@T

The sooner the courts ban Lawyers from divorce the better society will be, every divorce should go threw mediation.

Unfortuantely, there are still divorce lawyers that practice the way you describe, but I think most family lawyers prefer a collaborative approach. Some cases require litigation, but I think family disputes should be resolved by mediation/collaboration as much as possible. Lawyers are required to some extent, to make sure clients understand their legal rights.

http://www.collaborativelaw.ca/

The Collaborative Family Law Process is about cooperation, not confrontation. It is problem solving with collaborative lawyers where you and your spouse try to understand each other. You and your spouse are responsible for information gathering and solutions.


If lawyers have behaved unethically, The Law Society of Alberta would like to hear about it. They take it VERY seriously:

http://www.lawsocietyalberta.com/

[Dion]

Update from AM770 regarding the autopsies.

"Calgary police say Joshua Lall killed tenant Amber Bowerman, then his 2 daughters, then his wife Alison at their home in Dalhousie. The killings happened Tuesday night, and all the victims died of stab wounds."

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Actually, its more of a friend-of-a-friend type thing, but still very distressing.

What an awful way to die.

The terror your friend must have felt before he/she was killed would be horiffic. I cry a little inside when these type of incidents appear on the news. Just so sad.

[Slava]

I always wonder/think about the same things as you here fotze. I like to think/hope that I would be able to fight back...but having never been in anything even remotely close to this how would you ever know?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by fotze

Soooo disturbing. I want to hate the guy for being just a complete psycho but he was obviously insane, he had to be.

The guy had to be psychophrenic. Hearing voices is part of this mental illness. I'm also guessing the family was trying to get him to a psychiatrist to get a proper diagnosis. Sadly to late now.

I always wonder how people can't fight back more but when its your husband or friend out of the blue how the hell do you fight back the same as if its a stranger. If its a mugger you go all out defending yourself, but when its the love of your life, what the hell do you do. She probably couldn't bring herself to swing at him even after watching him kill her kids. It must be one thing to have your kids killed but it is another magnitude of hell to have someone you love do it. That has got to be the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to a mother.

Maybe the full autopsy will give us some clues as to wether the mother or the tenant tried to fight back. Then there's the terror those kids must have felt. Wondering why their father was coming at them with a knife and wether this was some kind of joke or something.

[Eddie Bronze]

The killings happened Tuesday night, yet no one was the wiser until sometime between 9:30-10am on Wednesday morning. Neighbors didn't hear anything? It's hard to imagine how there wouldn't have been screams coming from that place. I remember Tuesday night my window being open. I wish I lived next door instead of four clicks away, I feel like I could have tried to help.

[metallicat]

Maybe I missed it, but is there a cause of death released yet? Initially I heard it was stabbings, but maybe it has been changed since then.

Edit- Just read it was stabbings...disregard.

[Top Shelf]

For some reason, my wife and I drove by the house tonight. Aside from the flowers and toys on the lawn, it just looked like a regular house. No police tape or anything like that, not sure what we really expected to see. It has both my wife and I very upset. It is hard to realize that a human being has that capability inside them. So many questions...I agree that guy must have just snapped, but what causes someone to do that? What finally pushes him over the line? I just don't understand, and can't fathom how a husband and father could do that. And what about the one year old? Why was she spared? Very sad, I want to be angry at him or someone, but it is just too tragic for any other emotion.

[Ozy_Flame]

Eerily reminds me of the Chris Benoit situation; mental problems drove him to insanity.

[KevanGuy]

Calgary police have released new details about the deaths of five people in Dalhousie this week, saying mother Alison Lall died trying to protecting her children.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...0/5727186.html

[Dion]

Police say Amber Bowerman, the 30-year-old basement suite tenant, was killed first. The attack was such a surprise that she had no chance to fight back.

A psychiatrist CTV News spoke to says when considering the way the event has been reported, it looks like this crime could have been triggered by depression. “It appears this man may have been suffering from a depression for some weeks prior to becoming so depressed that he lost touch with reality and during that break from reality it seems he acted in this very dangerous way,” says Dr. Mark Berber a psychiatrist from the Markham Stouffville Hospital in Toronto.

Police are still waiting for toxicology tests to come back from Joshua Lall’s body.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/RTGAMA...calgary.ctv.ca

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

The killings happened Tuesday night, yet no one was the wiser until sometime between 9:30-10am on Wednesday morning. Neighbors didn't hear anything? It's hard to imagine how there wouldn't have been screams coming from that place. I remember Tuesday night my window being open. I wish I lived next door instead of four clicks away, I feel like I could have tried to help.

It is my hope then, that he killed the tenant quickly and perhaps as painlessly as possible with an edged weapon. If neighbors were not alarmed, perhaps it was quick.
Then, I also hope the other deaths were quick also, that they didn't suffer as much (both physically and otherwise) as my imagination tells me they likely did.
This is so horrific. I echo your sentiments Eddie Bronze, I wish there was someway to go back and stop him.

By saying I hope the deaths were quick, it goes without saying that I wish they did not die at all. I hope that was obvious.

[Kjesse]

I've heard of murders with a knife, but a suicide with a knife? That would take a lot of mental effort. Pulling a trigger is one thing, doing yourself in with a knife takes extreme mental motivation. Though I suppose if you'd use a knife to kill your wife and kids...you really have something going on inside.

Sometimes you hear of gruesome stories and think the person who did it was evil. In this case, you have to think the guy was really f'd up.

This really makes me wonder. If the toxicology report comes back that he had some kind of hallucinogenic in his system at least there will be something to suggest that a person couldn't really do this.

I can't fathom what it would take to get to that point, and to want to take your loved ones' lives first... just bizarre.

[Dion]

nm

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by fotze

I apologize if I am offending anyone, but this is stuff I have been thinking about the past few days and it is good to get it off my chest....now I am sounding like I am the victim here, which I am clearly not so I don't want to sound liek that either.

Everyone is going to try and take something from it personally. Your own take is the only one you have. You don't sound like a victim to me, you sound like a guy who is thinking about it a lot just like I have. It's hard to put your mind around how it could happen. Murders happen in this city often but the magnitude and nature of this one is disturbing beyond belief.

And no, I wouldn't take anything you said as offensive. Everyone has different thoughts about things, something such as this being so unimaginable, can probably make us all think some pretty crazy thoughts, too. I feel that same way, you want to hate the jerk, but it's just so messed up you really can't. If he really was that bad in his mind, he needed help and unfortunately never got it. More or less just feel so bad for the innocent victims, none of this had to happen. Wished they could have detached themselves from him before the tragic ending.

Originally Posted by Aeneas

I echo your sentiments Eddie Bronze, I wish there was someway to go back and stop him.

It's one of the very few moments in a lifetime you wish you could roll back time for, even without knowing a single person involved, it's just that terrible.

I know that big question keeps coming up, "Why?" Everyone asks it, no one knows. I don't think it's something we as a civilization can come to understand. You don't know until you're in that mindstate and then it's too late. I think if we could figure out why, we'd have an answer and could prevent it from happening again. But unfortunately it seems as though it's one of those things that's out of our control. I just hope people involved more closely than us aren't beating themselves up over it.

[Berger_4_]

Originally Posted by Delgar

I've heard of murders with a knife, but a suicide with a knife? That would take a lot of mental effort. Pulling a trigger is one thing, doing yourself in with a knife takes extreme mental motivation. Though I suppose if you'd use a knife to kill your wife and kids...you really have something going on inside.

Sometimes you hear of gruesome stories and think the person who did it was evil. In this case, you have to think the guy was really f'd up.

This really makes me wonder. If the toxicology report comes back that he had some kind of hallucinogenic in his system at least there will be something to suggest that a person couldn't really do this.

I can't fathom what it would take to get to that point, and to want to take your loved ones' lives first... just bizarre.

I didn't read the articles (frankly I have no desire to. All that'll do is make me upset)...but do they say he stabbed himself? Could he not have just cut his wrists...or his throat?

Regardless, I can't imagine the suffering that family will have to deal with now. It's tough to imagine a person being able to commit an act as horrifying as this...

[McMack]

There have been reports that the guy recently had been complaining of hearing voices in his head and believed he was possessed by the devil. That would suggest a pretty serious mental illness, e.g. schizophrenia or a phsychotic break resulting from severe mental stress. You really can't try to understand or explain the actions of someone in such a state.

It will be interesting to see if he received any medical attention in the days prior to the incident.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

I was at Cohos for about 4 hours today, and it was a very very somber atmosphere. Most of his co-workers described him as a wonderful and cheerful person. A lot of the office was restricted during the day.

They did confirm that his doctor advised him to take a week off work due to a mental illness.

What a horrible story.

A week off for mental illness!?! I've been dealing with a stress/anxiety disorder for the past year or so and my doctor recommended at least 6 weeks taken off from life in general.