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Health See other Health Articles Title: Pentagon shooter was SJSU engineering student, troubled with drug problem Pentagon shooter was SJSU engineering student, troubled with drug problem By Lisa Fernandez lfernandez@mercurynews.com Posted: 03/05/2010 08:16:48 AM PST Updated: 03/05/2010 10:57:57 AM PST Click photo to enlarge This undated handout provided by the FBI shows John Patrick Bedell. Bedell who was killed... (FBI)«1234»The 36-year-old gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers before he was fatally wounded was one of the best circuit design students at San Jose State University, but also a troubled man with a serious drug problem, the Mercury News has learned. John Patrick Bedell's family filed a missing person's report on him with the San Benito County Sheriff's Department, about two months ago. Authorities in Washington, D.C., today identified the blond-haired, blue-eyed, 6-foot-tall Bedell as the man who shot and wounded two Pentagon officers early Thursday evening. Bedell, described by some as meek and gentle, was shot in the exchange of gunfire and later died. Today, San Benito County Supervisor Reb Monaco, who spent the night with Bedell's family, described him as a "brilliant" young man with a "severe pot addiction." Monaco said he wasn't sure if Bedell, who friends called Patrick or "JP," used any other drugs and he did not believe Bedell had any type of mental illness. Monaco said he knew firsthand that Bedell had a problem, and that his family tried numerous times to get him into rehab or into counseling. His parents, John Sr., a financial planner, and Kaye Bedell, the director of allied health at Gavilan College in Gilroy, asked Monaco to help their son during the past 15 years. "I have some expertise in that area being a retired school teacher," said Monaco, whose children went to Southside Elementary School and Advertisement The Bedell family did not return a phone call today seeking comment. On Thursday night, though, John Bedell Sr. said briefly that his son was in the "Washington area." However, the family had filed a missing person's report on him with the San Benito County Sheriff's Office on Jan. 4. "There had been no contact from his family for more than a month," Monaco said. Court records in Santa Clara County show Bedell was charged in 2007 for exhibiting a deadly weapon other than a gun, for which he plead no contest and served 20 days of weekend work service. Orange County court records show that in 2006 he was arrested on charges of cultivating marijuana and resisting arrest. The felony marijuana charge was dismissed in February 2009, and he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor resisting arrest charge. Bedell had no record with police at SJSU, where he first enrolled in 1995 as a chemical engineering undergraduate student. He took postsecondary classes in 2008. He was admitted to the graduate electrical engineering program in 2008 and was last enrolled in fall 2009. He did not enroll for 2010. One of his professors remembered him as one of the best circuit design students in his class. "He was always on time. Always prepared. Always asking that great question that sparked further discussion," professor David Parent said. "I just feel for his family. I want his father to know that I remember him fondly." At a news conference in Washington, D.C., today, authorities said Bedell had been on a road trip from the West Coast to Washington. Police did not disclose a motive, despite Internet ramblings by a JPatrickBedell who wrote that he was "determined to see that justice is served" in the death of Marine Col. James Sabow, who was found dead in the backyard of his California home in 1991. The death was ruled a suicide but the case has long been the source of theories of a cover-up. The user named JPatrickBedell wrote that the Sabow case was "a step toward establishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions." That same posting railed against the government's enforcement of marijuana laws, including his own case in Orange County. Some YouTube videos of Bedell show a clean-cut man in a button-down shirt talking almost nonsensically of justice and freedom. Police have not released a specific motive for the Pentagon shooting, which superficially wounded two officers. The shooting seems to be a case of "a single individual who had issues," said Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police, stopping short of confirming that the online user is the same Bedell. Keevill, however, described Bedell as "very well educated" and well-dressed, saying Bedell was bearded, and wearing a suit, armed with two 9 millimeter semi-automatic weapons and carried "many magazines" of ammunition. There was more ammunition in Bedell's car, which authorities found in a parking garage, Keevill said. Back in San Jose, Parent doesn't recall Bedell as someone with any issues at all. He said Bedell came up with one of the "best projects" for his circuit design classes a few years ago. It had something to do with "static RAM" and it's something only for "really advanced students." "JP started this Google group for people to talk about software tools," Parent said. "And he always liked to have the latest CadWare version. I would install it for him, a favor I usually do for other professors," Parent said. "But I would do it for JP." Parent also recalled that Bedell was a "gentleman and soft-spoken" but "not quiet in a ticktock way." "Believe me, I'm someone to report something if it seems weird," Parent said. Former engineering SJSU classmate Devan Kumar, 25, added that Bedell was "very helpful, a very nice guy. He was a meek kind of person.'' Kumar added that Bedell never acted oddly or appeared to be on drugs in class. They took an engineering class together last year. Bedell died Thursday night from head wounds received in a volley of fire with police. Keevill said the two injured officers and another officer who came to their assistance fired at Bedell at the subway entrance to the Pentagon building. The exchange of fire lasted less than a minute, but numerous shots were fired, Keevill said, adding that he didn't know how many because investigators were "still counting." Bedell was not wearing body armor, he added. The two officers injured have been released from the hospital. One suffered a thigh wound and the other was hit in the shoulder. The subway station is immediately adjacent to the Pentagon building, a five-sided Northern Virginia colossus across the Potomac River from Washington. Since a redesign following the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, riders can no longer disembark directly into the building. Riders take a long escalator ride to the surface from the underground station, then pass through a security check outside the doors of the building, where further security awaits. After the attack, all Pentagon entrances were secured, then all were reopened except one from the subway, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. Transit officials said the station would remain closed at least part of the day today while the FBI continued its investigation. Keevill said the gunman gave no clue to the officers at the checkpoint about what he was going to do. "There was no distress," he said. "When he reached into his pocket, they assumed he was going to get a pass and he came up with a gun. "He wasn't pretending to be anyone. He was wearing a coat and walked up and just started shooting." Keevill added: "We have layers of security and it worked. He never got inside the building to hurt anyone." Ronald Domingues, 74, who lives next door to Bedell's parents in a gated golf course community in Hollister, said he doesn't know the family well. But he said Bedell sometimes lived with his parents and struck him "like a normal young man." "He just seemed like a normal guy to me," Domingues said. "I wouldn't suspect he would be involved in anything like this." Another neighbor, Gary Carlisle, added that he didn't know the Bedell family. "The houses are pretty spread out. You don't necessarily know your neighbors." But Parent said he thought he knew his former student well. "The JP I knew was always trying to help people," he said. "If he was in a lab, he'd help, like an unofficial teaching assistant. I still can't believe this is the JP I knew. It's as though someone stole his identity." Mercury News Staff Writers Sandra Gonzales and Mark Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.
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#1. To: Lysander_Spooner (#0)
LOL! Boy the government propagandists are going all out aren't they? His "Right-wing extremism" serves to prove the dangers of those who do not toe the line of the two party fraud while his "severe pot addiction" proves the danger of marijuana and the righteousness of the drug war. It's like they have a checklist they are following.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976 Nothing in the State, everything outside the State, everything against the State - Jan Lester, Escape From Leviathan "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it." - Frederic Bastiat Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone. - Zhuangzi
marijuana addiction(from the Urban Dictionary): A make-believe condition invented by the pharmaceutical industry and the right wing politicians that they lobby and make contributions to.This "condition" was created in an effort to scare people into doing their drugs, which actually are addictive. If the multipurpose cure-all cannibis were decriminalized, the pharmaceutical industry would tank.
The people no longer buy into the histrionic tales of the FED GUN-vernment regarding 911, the drug war or any of the other asinine wars of the criminals and murderous thieves' they have to create a new "Enemy" created out of thin air like the money they print. "We have met the enemy and it is US" Pogo
This would eliminate him as a tea party member.
Well there you have it, right out of refer madness. What a bunch of morons. Perhaps the young man had principles and convictions he could no longer ignore. Faced with this day to day BS they should hope more people keep up their supply or there may be more to come.
"The all Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won't live one instant longer. Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing". Herger the Joyous
It will make brown boys rape the white wimmins, and drive them loco !!
That raised my eyebrows as well. Pot is much less addictive than alcohol or nicotine, and I understand that any "addiction" to it is not physical. But pot does not make people violent. It does the exact opposite. So while he may have done marijuana, I wouldn't believe it's what he was on when he did this. At least not the only thing, and certainly not the responsible drug. I'm guessing this was another pharmacide.
probably wasnt his own homegrown. time to dig around for info on his supplier.
Another person acts out against the US government - there will be more. The US government is doing wrong - these acts are inevitable.
marijuana addiction(from the Urban Dictionary): This not a drug issue -- it is a bad government issue.
Yes! The dastardly lie. One of many in regard to the sweet leaf.
"The all Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won't live one instant longer. Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing". Herger the Joyous
LOL "Pot" is not addictive. It's OK for Big Pharma's quacks can peddle brain damaging drugs which premeditatedly murder citizens. Heroin dealers have more integrity than those poisen pushing quacks.
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