Now He Has Three Names

Now his name is Richard Edgar Henderson, Jr. We'll bet it was once "Richard Henderson" or "Dick Henderson". But as soon as you are charged with murder, you get three names. We're not sure why.

In 2001, Richard Edgar Henderson, Jr. took a gun to school with him at age 16. It was a felony. But he didn't go to jail. Instead they sent him off to mental health counselors. He's in jail now, though. Because on Thanksgiving Day in 2005 he killed his parents, his grandmother and his 11-year-old brother.

But wait! Richard Edgar Henderson, Jr. (or Dick, or whatever his name is) was already a handful when they pulled him in on the gun charge. He hadn't killed anybody, though. Let's follow the thought through.

In 2001: Dick takes a gun to school, gets caught. There is evidence that he is a disturbed young man. The judge sends him off to a mental health program. That should have helped him with his problems, right?

In 2005: He pulled out his gun and shot his family. Whoa! Guess the mental health program didn't do much good!

But the side note that caught our eye was a conversation between Dick and the judge, as reported in Florida's Herald Tribune:

"Have you ever been treated for any mental illness?" the judge asked.

"Yes, your honor, depression."

"Are you seeing a doctor right now for that?"

"Yes."

Henderson said he'd been seeing a doctor for several months.

He was taking a medication called BuSpar.

"It takes away my depression, gives me . . . me energy so I can do stuff."

Henderson also said he was taking sleeping pills.

"I put it under my tongue so I can sleep at night," he said.

So... Dick -- or Richard Edgar Henderson, Jr. (take your pick) was newly on psychiatric drugs -- for several months.

This is the pattern we see again and again. People are a little nuts, go to the psychs, get psych drugs, then they start killing and committing suicide and it all goes into the deep end real fast. This daffy situation is going to looked at with some mirth and amazement by future generations reading history books somewhere down the line.

"They did what?"

"They took disturbed people, and ordered them sent off to supposed experts who couldn't do them any good, then they gave them psychiatric drugs and made killers out of them."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. They did that."