recession, depression, and murder

I just learned yesterday of a tragic story about a family murder-suicide in Southern California by a Kaiser hospital lab technician. The man was having economic problems, owes the IRS $15,000, and behind in mortgage and credit card payments, and all of that just caved in on him when he got fired from his job for fraud (he lied about his income so he can get cheaper child care). He went on to kill his 5 children, his wife, and then turns the gun on himself.

This family murder-suicide was not the first and is similar to two other killing sprees last year (which happens to coincide with collapse of the stock markets; the Dow Jones fell from 11,000 to 7,500 or over 30% from October to December 2008):

• October 7, 2008 @ Los Angeles, CA: Karthik Rajaram, 45, a second generation Indian American man with an MBA in finance that has worked for many major accounting firms such as Price Waterhouse, was distraught because he could not find work so he shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife, and three sons, then himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood.
• November 14, 2008 @ Santa Clara, CA: Jing Hua Wu, 47, a Chinese American test engineer and family man with 25-years experience in the industry and no criminal records, shot three managers at SiPort Inc., including the head of human resources, Vice President of Operations, and the CEO/Founder when he was forced to take early retirement.

I can understand how someone with suicidal thoughts can pull the trigger on himself, but it is just hard to comprehend how someone can willingly pull a gun to 5 children and his spouse. Obviously, the man who committed the crime is at fault; however, one cannot logically believe that the economy and society's emphasis on materialistic success had nothing to do with the incident as well.

What's going through his mind, I'd never know. But one thing that I (sadly) know for certain is that this is not the first and will not be the last case of murder associated with recession and depression during such unprecedented economic times.

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