Famecrawler
James Lee’s Brother-in-Law Speaks: He Was Disturbed, Erratic (VIDEO)
The Discovery Channel hostage crisis has ended with all hostages safe and the gunman, James Lee, shot and killed by police. Jame’s brother-in-law Thomas Leonard described today’s events as “surprising” and “heartbreaking.”
Thomas describes James as “erratic,” “unstable,” “disagreeable,” and “talented, bright but incredibly misguided.” This “hurtful” behavior had alienated James, though he did contact Thomas recently, lying about an illness and asking for money.
“He reached out to my wife a few years back and claimed to have had a life threatening illness…it turned out to be a scam. He was fishing for money. In fact, I believe he wound up using some of that money to finance whatever this protest was that occurred several years ago where he was arrested and what not.”
James is painted as a lost soul with severe mental problems. Listen to the interview below:
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2 Comments
Ed Beinabor commented on Sep 01 10 at 9:05 pmI wish someone had been able to get help for this man, before this happened.
moo commented on Sep 01 10 at 10:11 pmAlthough the family has every right to feel betrayed and let down by Lee, the repeated mentions of “scam”, “abuse”, “had every chance to live a decent, respectful life” seem to miss the whole point of MENTAL ILLNESS – especially one that’s spiraling out of control. A family needs professional help dealing with a member with mental illness, not harp on the victimization of their “normal, professional and productive lives.” Mental illness victimizes everyone it comes in contact with, including the person who has no control over it.
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