WHEN DESPERATION LEADS TO TRAGEDY

The Kim Walker trial has gained the attention of not only the local
area people that know Mr. Walker but is also gaining national attention.

He is charged with First Degree Murder in the shooting death of his
daughter's boyfriend and as the jury goes into their third day (last
Friday) of deliberations, one really has to feel for the members of
the jury as they try to come to a decision. Was it 1st or 2nd degree
murder or was it manslaughter? No matter what it was, the event is a
terrible tragedy that has hurt two families.

How did it ever get to the state where the girl's father (Kim Walker)
actually takes a gun and shoots this young man in front of his
daughter? Apparently the family had been trying to gain control of
their daughter and had consulted with the police in the past weeks
prior to the shooting as to what could be done to save her. Did the
system let him down? A court order under the Mental Health Act removed
his daughter from the house where she was using the drugs but
unfortunately the drugs and their source were still available upon her
release after a three day stay for assessment in the hospital.

Not knowing all the details of the situation as it progressed towards
the day when the shooting occurred, it appears as if Mr. Walker just
wanted to get his daughter away from her boyfriend due to the
accusations that he was injecting her with morphine. Mr. Walker does
not remember most of the happenings of that day and he does not deny
that he shot the man, but it is pretty obvious that he was a very
desperate father.

Was there no support system for this family as they tried to free
their daughter from death by a life of drugs? Is there anything in the
mental health system that can be redefined or established to give more
immediate support to desperate people?

People with drug addictions are usually treated through a drug and
alcohol program and are not treated through a mental health
institution. The two need to be one. There needs to be psychiatric
help for the users and there needs to be support for the families by
the mental health system to help them deal with the serious
consequences of drug abuse in their lives.

Obviously the users are dealing with mental health problems or they
would not be users and obviously Kim Walker became mentally stressed
to the point of no control when he took his gun and shot a man.

How did it get to such a point that an ordinary family man goes to
such extremes to save his daughter? Let's hope that the system can
work on helping people that are in these desperate situations so that
they don't feel pressured to the point where they have to take the law
into their own hands.

What a price these two families are now paying.

Kim Walker shot a man -- that is obvious.

What price should he pay for his mental stress and the consequences of
such actions?

I'm glad that I am not sitting on that jury.