TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross

Protected by Smith & Wesson

BY Dave Ross  on January 23, 2013 @ 5:56 am (Updated: 6:02 am - 1/23/13 )

AP: 531033b0-eb5f-463c-974b-8a05cc66f16b
Nehemiah was home schooled, and video games were forbidden. But he told the cops that he played Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto on a regular basis, and yes, he had fantasies about killing real people too. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Eric Griego)
While Gun Appreciation Day was wrapping up last Saturday, Nehemiah Griego, age 15, who had never been in trouble with the law, was leading police to his Albuquerque home claiming he'd returned from a friend's house to find his parents, brother and two sisters shot to death - and that fearing for his own safety, he'd driven the family van to the church where his father was a pastor. But when police saw two rifles in the van, they said, OK, now tell us the truth.

That's when he admitted being "frustrated" with his mother - so frustrated that he went to his parents closet, where they kept two rifles and two pistol grip shotguns, chose one of the rifles, and shot her as she slept. That woke the three kids so he shot them too. His father worked a graveyard shift at a rescue mission and wasn't home - so he chose the family's more powerful AR-15, hid in a downstairs bathroom, and at 5:00, when his father walked in, he shot him dead.

Nehemiah was home schooled, and video games were forbidden. But he told the cops that he played Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto on a regular basis, and yes, he had fantasies about killing real people too.

The reason the guns were in the van, he said, was that he planned to drive to a Walmart and keep shooting until someone shot him. Can the County Sheriff can't make any sense of it? No.

As with Adam Lanza's mother in Newtown, we'll never know whether the parents had any inkling what was going on in Nehemiah's mind. But what we do know is that they never dreamed the weapons they kept in that closet would be turned on them. In fact the Griego house still displayed a sign reading: "Protected by Smith & Wesson Security Services."

If only.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
More Dave Ross

MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (61)


  • Add A Comment

  • roomtemp wrote...
    So...
    January 23, 2013 8:17 am
    Execute the kid and he won't do it again... Problem solved.

    In the absence of a gun, he could have poured rat poison in their cornflakes or set the house on fire. He's a murderer plain and simple, method is irrelevant. It's not an argument for gun control.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lonestar wrote...
    Gov Brewer was right
    January 23, 2013 8:30 am
    This family's name ends in a vowel so they must be illegals. They should have been deported long ago.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • AtheisticallyYours wrote...
    Another SCREAMING EXAMPLE!
    January 23, 2013 8:42 am
    Let's hear it for another SCREAMING EXAMPLE of parents (two in this case!) AND AN ENTIRE FAMILY, being killed with their own weapons! And from a "home schooled" kid no less! How ironic!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    The young man "loved" to play violent video games (first action shooter)!
    January 23, 2013 9:20 am
    The teen had no history of mental illness or run-ins with the law, and drugs or alcohol did not appear to be a factor, Houston said. The sheriff noted the teen liked violent video games such as "Modern Warfare" and "Grand Theft Auto," but he did not say whether he believed the games were a factor.(Can you see the monkey see monkey do factor now?You can't?Why not?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Call it what you are programmed to say Parrots.
    January 23, 2013 9:43 am
    Like Liberal Presidents before him, your Dear Leader is finishing the work they started and hoped to accomplish. The Dear Leader, exploiting the mass murder of children and the exploitation of the live ones, is using this massacre to further chip away at the US Constitution and the Second amendment. Obama has always groused about how the Constitution limits what the federal government, IE This regime, is able to do to Americans!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    So the point is....
    January 23, 2013 10:56 am
    ban shotguns and all rifles. Lizzy borden used an axe to kill her parents. Better ban those too. Terrorists brought down airplanes and killed thousands with box cutters. Better ban knives and razor blades too.....we can all grow beards like Dave. But we'll still have mentally ill violent people. We'll let them roam downtown Seattle.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Forrest wrote...
    Gun control, securing guns, or mental health evaluations wouldn't have worked in this case.
    January 23, 2013 11:03 am
    The family weapons sooner or later would have been available to the obviously troubled youth who killed his family. Public mental heath also wouldn't have helped since this was a very religious family who home schooled and likely would have sought Jesus's help through prayer rather than seeking psychiatric help from a professional. Sometimes bad things happen to families and there is nothing you can do to stop it. It's a tragedy and I feel bad for all concerned but you just can't prevent all bad happenings from occurring by passing new laws.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Roark wrote...
    So what are you saying Dave?
    January 23, 2013 1:12 pm
    That all homes with guns and kids who play violent video games are at risk of being murdered? This is one incident out of over 400 Million people in this country. Not even close to being even a rare event. But you libs like to take any incident that supports your moronic agenda and make them the rule. It's a tragic incident, just like Sandy Hook, but not common in the least. If we changed the law for hundreds of millions of people because of every car accident, we'd all be walking. The left needs to grow up and realize the world isn't perfect and bad things happen. There's nothing we can do to stop them.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Home "schooling"
    January 23, 2013 2:13 pm
    Anti social nut cases that can't get along with peers.

    We should institute a background check for that.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleD wrote...
    You know what they say about home-schooled children,
    January 23, 2013 6:00 pm
    if they're not having sex with their teachers they are killing them. Luckily the vast majority of them opt for the sex.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }