Friday, April 6, 2018

Twenty22Many "success story" suicide?

According to Facebook page the veteran served in Afghanistan, not Iraq, as reported by the Olympian.

Seems there are a lot of things wrong with this report. The thing that jumped out when I first read this, was the comment that Patrick Seifert, founder of Twenty22Many made, “He was one of our success stories.” 

I doubt those who are now grieving for him view this as a success story. The group identified him to the reporter before his family had been contacted. The press released his name. 

The veteran, must have needed a lot more help if his life ended because of something as simple as this, "According to witnesses, several people were arguing on the sidewalk when the disagreement turned physical. Police say a man who intervened was confronted by the shooter, who fired “several times” before turning the gun on himself."

Someone else tried to break up the fight but the veteran is the one who shot at others and then, the final bullet, directed at himself. Did anyone in the group know he needed a lot more help than he was getting?

Friends surprised Iraq War veteran was involved in downtown Olympia shooting
The Olympian
Abby Spegman
April 6, 2018

The man who shot another man and then killed himself in downtown Olympia on Tuesday is being remembered as an easygoing and quiet Iraq War veteran by those who knew him.

Patrick Seifert fondly recalls fellow veteran Jon Harding as he wears camouflaged covering Harding used to keep warm while sleeping. Steve Bloom

They also say he carried a gun and wasn’t hesitant to let people know he was armed.

“He was one of our success stories,” Patrick Seifert, founder of Twenty22Many, a local veterans suicide prevention group, said of Jon Harding, 31. “He will be missed, I'm telling you. He was awesome, and he was a huge part of our mission of helping veterans.”

Police say the shooting Tuesday night outside Burial Grounds coffee shop on Fifth Avenue Southeast appears to have been random.

According to witnesses, several people were arguing on the sidewalk when the disagreement turned physical. Police say a man who intervened was confronted by the shooter, who fired “several times” before turning the gun on himself.

He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Thurston County Coroner’s Office, which had not released the man’s name as of Thursday because officials hadn’t yet located his next of kin. However, friends identified the man as Harding.
read more here

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