Note from CCHR: In addition to his history of being committed to a mental institution, the shooter at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh was reported to have bags of unspecified medication found in his apartment by police according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as well as in his personal belongings at the time of the shooting, as reported by USA Today. Psychiatric drugs prescribed to treat “mental illness” are documented to cause mania, psychosis, violence, suicidal and homicidal ideation according to the FDA. 12 recent school shooters were found to be under the influence of, or in withdrawal from psychiatric drugs.
Huffington Post – March 13, 2012
Neighbors who lived in suspected gunman John Shick's Pittsburgh apartment building said he behaved erratically and sometimes seemed to walk around while strongly medicated.
PITTSBURGH — The gunman in a fatal shooting rampage inside a Pittsburgh psychiatric clinic was previously committed to a mental health facility for treatment following an altercation with police in Oregon in 2009, a prosecutor said.
Details of John Shick’s previous involvement with mental health professionals come as investigators piece together a motive for last week’s shooting that killed one person and wounded six others in the lobby of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh.
Shick was taken for a mental health evaluation following his Dec. 29, 2009, arrest on a road at Portland International Airport that included a scuffle with police that ended with an officer being kicked in the head, according to court documents.
A judge ordered Shick, at the time living under a different name, to undergo up to 180 days of mental health treatment, Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Robert Leineweber told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for Tuesday’s editions. It was not immediately clear how long he was in treatment. Shick had legally changed his name but later changed his name back.
Shick was killed in an exchange of gunfire with University of Pittsburgh police after he entered the clinic and opened fire, killing one person and wounding six, according to authorities.
Hospital officials have refused to say whether Shick was a patient at Western Psychiatric Institute. Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams told The Associated Press there are indications he was a patient there but the matter remains under investigation.
Shick had been enrolled as a graduate biology student at nearby Duquesne University but was banned from campus and withdrew after female students brought harassment complaints against him.
Leineweber told the Post-Gazette Shick was never prosecuted after he didn’t hear back from police after the judge ordered Shick’s commitment. Shick’s 2009 arrest was reported Friday by The Oregonian.
Neighbors who lived in Shick’s Pittsburgh apartment building said he behaved erratically, sometimes seemed to walk around while strongly medicated, and posted angry notes on his apartment door in the days before the shooting.
A 25-year-old clinic worker, Michael Schaab, was killed in the shooting. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday.
All the wounded are expected to recover.
Read article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/alleged-pa-clinic-shooter_n_1341137.html