Families of mentally ill forced to deal with 'ticking time bombs'

BY Brandi Kruse  on May 31, 2012 @ 11:02 pm (Updated: 12:39 pm - 6/1/12 )

Ian Stawicki
Suspected gunman Ian Stawicki, accused of killing five people before turning the gun on himself Wednesday, had become increasingly violent and prone to fits of rage. | Zoom
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For Ian Stawicki, years of mental illness ended when he took his own life on a quiet sidewalk in West Seattle. He had just carried out a shooting rampage that left five dead and one in critical condition.

Over the years he had become increasingly violent and prone to fits of rage, according to family members who saw the warning signs but felt there was nothing they could do. A police report from 2008 seems to signal the start of his deteriorating mental state.

According to the documents, Stawicki had given his girlfriend a bloody nose and destroyed most of her personal possessions.

"The victim thought that sometime in December the suspect suddenly changed his personality," the police report states. "Although the suspect always 'had a temper,' he began breaking the victim's belonging when he flew into his rages. This behavior frightened the victim and she resolved to call 911 if it continued."

But while those closest to Stawicki knew he was in desperate need of help, he refused to accept it.

"I know it can feel for people as if there is no help out there, and they have tried things and they haven't worked," said Karin Rogers with Sound Mental Health in Seattle. "And that is very frustrating and very scary."

Rogers said families often struggle for years to get through to loved ones, often to no avail.

Julia, who wished to have her last name withheld, has a sister who has struggled with mental illness since the two were children. She understands all too well what the family of Ian Stawicki must have gone through.

"I wonder how many of us thought, 'Yeah. Yeah, that would be my loved one,'" she said of Wednesday's massacre at the hands of Stawicki. "I can't even imagine how difficult it must be for them [...] They're not the only family."

Julia's sister has lived with bipolar disorder for years, she said. While the family was hesitant to accept that she had a mental illness, it became clear when she threatened to kill strangers.

"As much as I knew she had problems, I didn't realize they were that extreme," Julia said of her sister.

While the family convinced her to agree to a 72-hour psychiatric hold, the stay did nothing to improve her mental state. Julia's sister refused further help and refused to take medication.

"We can't make her do anything," she said. "Our resources are exhausted. We don't know what else to do."

It is all Julia can do now to protect herself and her family. She does not allow her sister to keep guns in her home, out of fear that she is capable of murder.

"If she was armed, we would all be gone," Julia said. She called her sister a "ticking time bomb."

It is the same way the family of Ian Stawicki must have felt. His younger brother, Andrew Stawicki, told The Seattle Times he could see the bloodshed coming.

"It's no surprise to me this happened," he told the newspaper. "We could see this coming. Nothing good is going to come with that much anger inside of you."

His father, Walter Stawicki, told The Times on Thursday he regrets the family didn't do more to intervene, even if it meant lying to get him committed.

Brandi Kruse, KIRO Radio Reporter
Brandi Kruse is a reporter for KIRO Radio who is as spontaneous and adventurous in her free time as she is on the job. Brandi arrived at KIRO Radio in March 2011 and has already collected three regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting.
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Comments (40)


  • Add A Comment

  • CH wrote...
    Don't look to the Republicans . . . .
    June 1, 2012 5:06 am
    for help with mental health. 'He11' they don't want you to have health care.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle is a cesspool wrote...
    CH....
    June 1, 2012 6:19 am
    I am hoping your statement was supposed to be sarcasm...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    it's more like the Republicans and people with common sense
    June 2, 2012 6:33 am
    know their is no money to pay for all of America's unhealthy Americans health care.... which mountain of debt should we put this expense on?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Sicko
    June 2, 2012 4:50 pm
    Why not cut the military budget a few hundred million and use it to give some health care to people?We lost about 3000 in the 9/11 attack and we have spent BILLIONS (Trillions?) to insure that does not happen again so why not spend a few hundred millions to save 10s of 1000s of lives?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle is a cesspool wrote...
    It was very sad to hear you shlubs on the radio this morning...
    June 1, 2012 6:20 am
    I hope you all lose your jobs. You are not media broadcasters. You are the disdain of this country. For shame.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    SIC
    June 2, 2012 4:53 pm
    So you want someone to lose their jobs because they said something you disagree with? Why don't you grow up?You Must either be a young peron or someone who doesn't get out much because 1/2 of the population don't agree with the other 1/2. Live with it
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kanajune wrote...
    Public mental health system a shambles....
    June 1, 2012 6:59 am
    ......and no help to those who cannot pay. There are so many walking time bombs out there, some who even WANT help but fall thru the huge cracks.....and we end up reading the terrible headlines about them. This guy was so far gone that he refused help.....it doesn't say whether the family was willing to pay for it or not. I read somewhere else that he had a serious injury during his military stint and perhaps that triggered something. How does someone so thoroughly fall thru all the cracks?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Fuego wrote...
    The mug shot
    June 1, 2012 7:07 am
    looks like Lee Harvey Oswald or Brad Davis in Midnight Express.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sportsguru wrote...
    Look no further than Ronald Reagan
    June 1, 2012 7:20 am
    It was his policy to kick all the mentally ill out of the hospital and put them on the streets with us and pay ssi paymenets to them to save money for the federal government. It's the conservative way, this was started in the 80's and now the chicken has come home to roost. Now we all have to live with that decision.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    uhm.. what?
    June 1, 2012 7:48 am
    which policy what that, exactly?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sportsguru wrote...
    Oh boy Kata
    June 1, 2012 8:09 am

    I hate doing research for people that are uniformed, just google Ronald Reagans cuts to mental health as the governor of California and as POTUS and pick any link, any link and you can find the answer for yourself instead of asking me.

    I take it you are going to be voting this year and that's kind of scary.

    I voted for Ronald Reagan's reelection and felt sick to my stomach when he made the decision to the mental health community when he did.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    because I won't over simplify a horribly complicated problem...
    June 1, 2012 8:45 am
    Ok, sure.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sportsguru wrote...
    People always want to complicate a solution
    June 1, 2012 1:18 pm

    when a simple solution is right in front of them, that what us as adults do, we always want to complicate things so much that nothing ever get's done, just like our political leaders.

    Life is really pretty simple except we all try to make it so complicated when it is not.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle is a cesspool wrote...
    Sportsguru knows...
    June 1, 2012 9:08 am
    all about mental health issues.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Sports got it wrong
    June 1, 2012 6:26 pm
    It was the policy of virtually all liberals and other democrats in the late 1970's to push for the release of the mentally ill who were even basically ably to live semi-functionally.

    Reagan's policy DID NOT '..kick all the mentally ill out...' . What he did do - in cooperation with Tip O'Neil - was agree. Money was saved, but that was supposed to be bi-partisan compassion to give the 'functional' mentally ill their freedom.

    Yes. the chickens have come home to roost. But it's BOTH hen houses. I really do doubt we want to again be locking people up for whatever reason, but as of now, involuntary commitment is perhaps TOO difficult.

    Cooperation is usually good, but not that time.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    thanks ron
    June 2, 2012 11:02 am
    I didn't have the patience to try and explain that bipartisan politics existed pre-2000. Simple answers... oh, if only it weren't so sad, it would be funny.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • artimus wrote...
    I feel for all the families
    June 1, 2012 7:29 am
    ...impacted by this tragedy.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Burn_Notice wrote...
    A Broken System
    June 1, 2012 7:51 am
    Even this won't work..."His father, Walter Stawicki, told The Times on Thursday he regrets the family didn't do more to intervene, even if it meant lying to get him committed."

    Once a mentally ill person is committed involuntarily for an initial 72-hour hold the facility has to evaluate the patient and if they determine more care is needed they must petition the court for a 14 day hold or 90 days of a less restrictive alternative treatment (see RCW 71.05.x). If the facility does not file the petition for a probable cause hearing or fails to meet the burden of proof the patient is released. At each step the patient can either fight the commitment, refuse treatment, or both. The court has to seek less restrictive alternatives to commitment and in just about all of the cases, unless the mentally ill person commits some heinous crime, like murder, they are released into the public with no way to force them to either get treatment or take their medication.

    In America you have a right to refuse treatment and a right to be crazy. So even if the father lied about his son there is nothing the family could have done to prevent this tragedy given the state of mental health laws across our country. All of you must understand that most mentally ill people do not refuse to get help as a rational choice, they choose not to because their brain is telling them they are fine. The process is cyclical: get treatment, feel better, brain thinks they are fine, stop taking medication, back to a state of mental dysfunction.

    If you want to know more about the subject please contact NAMI.org (National Alliance on Mental Illness), read the RCW chapter 71.05 and all sub chapters, contact your local Washington Department of Health office or even ask your healthcare provider for sources for more information.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    O'Connor V. Donaldson (1975)
    June 1, 2012 8:16 am
    A State cannot constitutionally confine, without more, a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends[...].

    That is, you can't confine someone for something they might do. It violates due process. It was put in place to safeguard people's rights. I don't think there is going to be any right answer.

    Watching the Seattle media just throw article after article on this tragedy against the wall to see what "sticks" is disgusting.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JAyres54 wrote...
    Finally
    June 1, 2012 1:03 pm
    A post with actual facts behind it. Thank-you
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Newton wrote...
    Join, the NRA and Be Safe.
    June 1, 2012 10:06 am
    Second Amendment of your Constitutional Rights. Owning a gun for your protection is the American way.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mudslngr1 wrote...
    Join the NRA,
    June 1, 2012 11:14 am
    Words to live by.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Burn_Notice wrote...
    You're off topic gentlemen...
    June 1, 2012 12:04 pm
    How our society handles or doesn't, as the case exists, the mentally ill is not a second amendment issue. The mentally ill account for a mere blip on the radar of the murders or serious assaults committed. I am for gun rights and as cc permit holder I have no problem with the NRA or its agenda, but please do not go rattling your sabers over gun rights and relate it to mental illness. There is a very little nexus between the two.

    The better argument for gun rights would be against the gang bangers roaming the streets of Seattle that are so misunderstood by "whitey" and hence get a near free pass on gun law violations.

    We don't need more gun laws we need to ENFORCE the ones we already have.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • KCin wrote...
    The usual
    June 1, 2012 12:26 pm
    Liberals: "Boo, Republicans hate helping people. Let me get back to watching MSNBC." Republicans: "Guns, guns, guns! Let me get back to listening to Rush Limbaugh" I love listening to people parroting the crap that they hear from their favorite media source. Go! Stop! Black! White! Wrong! Right! No wonder this country is flailing.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    amen
    June 2, 2012 6:34 am
    how will we ever come together and fix America? The country is so divided....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mihalyim wrote...
    Saber Rattling
    June 1, 2012 12:26 pm
    While I agree this article has little to do with Gun rights but the story in whole was dragged into the gun rights arena by uninformed Police Chief spouting comments off in previous articles about the incident from last weekend.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ironray wrote...
    "mentally ill" or "drug crazed"?
    June 1, 2012 12:46 pm
    That guy wasn't "mentally ill". He was altered by drug use. A toxicology test will confirm that. Seattle is so lax on drugs that these types of events will continue. The media, including this one, doesn't want to address the real issue. Also, why are these people allowed to have a gun. That's what's really crazy!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sportsguru wrote...
    So I haven't seen an argument
    June 1, 2012 1:06 pm

    that disputes what I indicated?

    Don't complain when the next nut job goes on a rampage and arming yourself is all well and good, however, a crazy man don't care what happens to them as a matter of fact, but the sane in our community does care what happens to them.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JAyres54 wrote...
    Why
    June 1, 2012 1:08 pm
    Why do so many equate mental illness with violence? This article only promotes that misconception farther. Interesting how it is 2012 and these old stigmas continue to thrive in a so called enlightened and rational society. There is no higher incidence of VIOLENT crime from those who are mentally ill compared to the general population. If you want to make a case for people who are violent and or commit crimes who are mentally ill, actually state which disorder you are attempting to associate with the statement (think narcissistic personality disorder or anti-social personality disorder) instead of lumping that entire population into it. These arguments are illogical and emotionally based, therefore completely invalid.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    I agree
    June 1, 2012 2:01 pm
    My mother has been living with bi-polar (what used to be called manic-depressive) disorder for the last 3 decades with no violent incidents. With deep family support and patient watch over her meds... people outside our family probably wouldn't even know that she is under care now.

    I haven't seen that Mr. Stawiki was ever diagnosed with anything specific. As I said in my previous post - I think that the media is just throwing things on the wall to see what sticks. Of course people are leaping to piggyback any agenda they can.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    meh
    June 1, 2012 2:08 pm
    at some point I will learn to @poster my replies. the above (3:01pm) post was obviously to JAyres54.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • circuitfr wrote...
    mentally ill
    June 1, 2012 2:12 pm
    Jayers is right, police respond to thousands of calls a day in America from beatings, assaults, dv's, theft, forgery's, child abuse...etc..etc from " " normal people. I would venture to say anybody that commits a violent crime of any kind are the mentally ill ones. I'd rather be around a asylum than a gang slum.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Trust Me wrote...
    I'll tell you why.
    June 1, 2012 2:47 pm
    You said:" Why do so many equate mental illness with violence?" The answer: Well, maybe because you have to be friggin crazy to randomly kill people. Hope that is settled. No more calls please.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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