Thursday, January 14, 2010

Murder and Failed Suicide in Massachusetts

boston.com reports on the Westford man who killed his wife and attempted to kill himself.

A Westford man has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge after prosecutors said he fatally shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself during an argument.

Middlesex District Attorney's spokeswoman Jessica Venezia said Tuesday that Frederick Leduc was also arraigned at a Massachusetts General Hospital room on weapon charges.

The 45-year-old was taken to the hospital after turning the gun on himself after firing the weapon on 43-year-old Karen Leduc at their home on Saturday night.

The woman died at a Worcester hospital where she had been in critical condition since the incident.

Leduc was originally charged with armed assault with intent to murder, but that charge was upgraded after his wife died. His attorney did not immediately return a call for comment left after business hours.


I'm not sure what "turned the gun on himself" really means. Did he aim the gun at himself and not fire, did he fire and miss, did he give himself a superficial wound?

One thing is clear, this is a perfect illustration of why I say guns are bad news for women.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

5 comments:

  1. Gunloons always attempt to argue our suicide rates aren't particularly high when compared to Japan. But what they omit is that many US gun suicides also accompany a gun murder.

    --JadeGold

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  2. "But what they omit is that many US gun suicides also accompany a gun murder."

    What percentage is many? 1%? .1%? .01%? .001%? If we are to debate public policy, it would help if you could quantify these numbers and not just use terms like "many".

    ReplyDelete
  3. "What percentage is many? "

    Studies show there are some 1500 deaths each year due to murder-suicide. About 75% of the murder victims are women.

    --JadeGold

    ReplyDelete
  4. That wasn't my question. My question is what percentage of the whole is that?

    Please accompany any statistics with proper citation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Japanese murder-suicide rate is higher than either the US or EU.

    ReplyDelete