Preacher Slay Suspect Was Mentally Ill

[endarkenment]

Source: CBS/AP

(CBS/AP) The man suspected of fatally shooting an Illinois pastor during Sunday services suffered from mental illness stemming from a tick bite, the suspect's family told a newspaper in an interview last August.

The suspect, whom a source told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is 27-year-old Terry Joe Sedlacek, allegedly walked into the First Baptist Church, walked toward Rev. Fred Winters and killed him with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, police said.

Sedlacek was the subject of a story in the Post-Dispatch about how Lyme disease had attacked his brain.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/09/national/main4853412.shtml

---

File under 'no shit'. But I didn't know lyme disease could eat your brain.

[tekisui]

1. b*sh was treated for lyme's disease.

But, I think he was mentally ill before the tick.

[santamargarita]

8. Bush gave the tick lyme's disease

:popcorn:

[YOY]

2. Does some nasty things to the kidneys...wouldn't be surprised about the rest of the body.

n.t.

[hlthe2b]

3. Mentally ill-- very likely;

Previous hospitalization for encephalitis, ok--maybe related. Cause definitively Lyme Disease? Count me highly skeptical.

[Warpy]

4. Untreated Lyme disease can attack everything

including your brain and your heart.

I was "lucky," mine not only produced the characteristic bulls-eye rash, it also produced a 103F fever so I got rapid and appropriate treatment and haven't noticed any aftereffects.

It would have been the disease of the century if HIV hadn't happened along just 10 years later.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. Disease of the Century?

Is it that bad? Was your case much worse than a bad flu? I had no idea it was so awful or could really go for your brain like that. wow.

[endarkenment]

7. I knew one person who died from it and one who nearly died.

And about a dozen or so who got it with no major consequences. I just never heard of people going crazy from it.

[kickysnana]

10. Heart tranplants, institutionalizations, total debilitation, deaths n/t

[pansypoo53219]

13. my aunt thought she had fibromyagia for years.

but hidden lyme's. not treated immediately. it is fucking bad and i guess lot of politics involved with treatment. some MS could be lyme's. i had an ebay bidder that had lyme's. she had confusion.
lymes is bad.

[Nay]

18. I also was lucky--got the bull's-eye rash, got treated immediately.

Outcome could have been bad!

[onehandle]

5. A known mental case with "no state firearms-owner identification."

Maybe if all guns and owners were registered this could have been averted.

[Pavulon]

11. So I should register and get a lyme titer?

every so often? Then we need a system that compares my potential illness (as a titer is not 100%) to the feds so they do what?

Pretty silly. Just disable texting on phones moving over 10mph if you really care about saving lives.

[benEzra]

20. Illinois DOES license and register gun owners, and is one of the few states that does.

This guy didn't bother to get a license. I'll bet most cocaine users don't get prescriptions, either.

[AndyTiedye]

9. How Do We Deal With Genuinely Crazy People With Guns?

They have the Right to Keep and Bear Arms right up until the point at which it is legally established that they are a danger to themselves or others.

[Deep13]

17. No shit!

I can only guess his mental problems never got into the legal system. Someone should have instituted proceedings if for no other purpose than to keep him from guns and automobiles.

[liberalmuse]

12. Travis the chimp had Lyme disease.

How terrible. I didn't realize it attacked the brain. It's sad that the pastor had to die like that. :(

[Lance_Boyle]

14. so was the guy he killed

delusions of talking to/speaking for nonexistent superentities.

[Raskolnik]

15. What an ugly thing to say.

Does it make you feel better to act like a self-righteous prick when an innocent person is killed, or do you do it for everyone else's benefit?

[milo7]

16. Lyme disease causes many neuropsychiatric manifestations

See article:  Pastor killing: Another act of violence
attributed to Lyme disease

at:

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/emerging-diseases/200903/pastor-killing-another-act-violence-attributed-lyme-disease
 
Be sure to read part III of the Neurological Lyme Disease
section in the article (html link above).

Lyme is known to cause violent rage reactions in some people. 
THere are also numerous suicides due to neurological
(under/untreated Lyme disease).

This is a tick-borne illness that is prevalent throughout the
US and the world.  It remains a clinical diagnosis and
treatment methods and lengths vary according to the individual
patient.  

For more information on Lyme disease, check out google Lymenet
or ILADS or LDA.  

And when you go out hiking anywhere, please do daily
tick-checks!

[Lars39]

19. Welcome to DU,milo7!

:toast:

[milo7]

21. Lyme is a Brain Disease

Thanks for the welcome :-)

For more information on the neurologic/neuropsychiatric manifestations of Lyme Disease, see the lead essay, titled
"Lyme is a Brain Disease" at:

http://www.TheHumanSideOfLyme.net

By a friend of mine,
Virginia T. Sherr, MD, DLFAPA

Best to all,
milo7

[FloridaJudy]

23. I know that.

I watch "House" religiously. It was one of the differential diagnoses for a patient who suddenly started having hallucinations.

Welcome to DU, BTW.

[ShortnFiery]

22. OK, how did this person who suffers from a mental disorder gain ACCESS to a handgun?

:shrug:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. It's not been established that he had been adjudicated mentally ill.

That would be the common standard for denial. Of course even if he had been adjudicated mentally ill he still could have gotten a firearm through a wide variety of illegal means.

David

[TaffyMoon]

25. Only the courts can decide if he was not criminally responsible.

[tiddlywinks]

26. Brains!!!!! nt