Police said Billy Maxwell Jr., 47, shot and killed his family at their home at 314 W. Park Ave. about 8 p.m. The victims included his wife, Kathryn, and their two children - 17-year-old Connor and Cameron.
One of the victim's in-laws discovered the bodies and called 911.
Students gathered this morning at Village Christian Academy and at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church to mourn the loss of their classmates.
Friends of the family described Billy Maxwell as a good family man who was highly involved in Snyder Baptist Church and his community. Billy's on my top-five nice-guy list,'' said Neil Grant, a longtime friend. "I've never seen him angry, ill, or upset."
State Sen. Tony Rand lives on East Park Avenue, across a small park that separates the two roads.
"From everything I knew about him, he was a nice guy," Rand said.
The only thing they left out in the description was "gun owner." As often happens, the press made no mention of the gun, where it came from, whether it was legally owned, etc. This is the same press that the gun rights folks continually say is biased against them. To me it seems just the opposite.
What's your opinion? Isn't it a reasonable response to tragedies like this to suggest gun bans? How else can we deal with gun owners who show no indication of instability prior to the incident?
I don't support total gun bans, myself although I understand why some folks call for them. I think the availability of guns needs to be diminished, both to criminals and to law-abiding citizens. If the number of guns in the country were halved, the number of incidents like this would be diminished as well.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
