UPDATE: Virginia State Sen. Creigh Deeds Was ‘Stabbed Numerous Times’ by His Son, Who Died of Self-Inflicted Gunshot UPDATE: Son Had ‘Emergency’ Psychiatric Evaluation Monday

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UPDATE 1:50 p.m. ET: Austin “Gus” Deeds underwent a psychiatric evaluation less than 24 hours before stabbing his father, Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, and then committing suicide Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:

Gus Deeds had been released Monday following a mental health evaluation performed under an emergency custody order. . .
A source told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the emergency custody order, or ECO, allowed Gus Deeds to be held as long as four hours to determine whether he should be held longer, up to 72 hours, under a temporary detention order.
The son was evaluated Monday by the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board in Lexington. An emergency custody order can be issued by any magistrate.
A source said no psychiatric bed was available, which is why Gus Deeds was released.

A horrible tragedy, made all the worse by knowledge that it could have been prevented if officials had recognized the danger.

* * * PREVIOUSLY (11:42 a.m. ET) * * *

Breaking news this morning from Charlottesville, Virginia, and the situation is still developing. However, it appears that state Sen. Creigh Deeds, who was the unsuccessful 2009 Democrat candidate for governor, was seriously stabbed by his own son, who then committed suicide. Authorities say the son, who had previously been reported as having substance abuse problems, apparently shot himself to death, while Sen. Deeds is hospitalized in critical condition.

UPDATE: NBC News confirms:

Virginia State Sen. Creigh Deeds was stabbed by his son, Austin “Gus” Deeds, before the son fatally shot himself, Democratic sources tell News4.
Gus Deeds died at the scene, and Creigh Deeds is in critical condition in the intensive care unit of the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, the sources said.
The incident happened in Creigh Deeds’ Bath County home (property seen in the picture below) Tuesday morning, topolice were called at 7:25 a.m. Deeds was transported by helicopter to the medical center.

UPDATE II: Statement by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell:

“In this tough and sad time, our thoughts and prayers are with the Deeds family. The news from this morning is utterly heartbreaking. Creigh Deeds is an exceptional and committed public servant who has always done what he believes is best for Virginia and who gives his all to public service. He cares deeply about Virginia, and the people of Virginia care deeply for him. I urge all Virginians today to join me in praying for a full and complete recovery for Creigh and for many more years of his public service to the Commonwealth. At this moment, our state unites in prayer for Creigh Deeds and his family.”

UPDATE III: Latest from the Roanoke Times:

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, is being treated for stab wounds to the head and upper torso at the University of Virginia Medical Center, Virginia State Police said at an afternoon media conference.
Deeds’ son, Gus, 24, died of a gunshot wound at the family’s home in the 0 block of Vineyard Drive in Millboro, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
The motive is still being investigated, Geller said.
Another media conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. today. . . .
Deeds and [his son], now deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, were the only people at the residence at the time of the stabbing, state police Sgt. Mike King confirmed at the scene.
Deeds was stabbed numerous times before walking down a private drive and out on to Virginia 42, where he was picked up by a cousin who lives nearby, King said. Deeds was airlifted from the cousin’s farm, King added.
It was unclear how Deeds contacted the cousin.

The senator’s son, Austin “Gus” Deeds, was a 20-year-old student at the College of William & Mary in 2009 when he was charged with illegal underage possession of alcohol, although those charges were later dropped. If the son had other substance abuse problems or mental health issues, they had not previously made news.

UPDATE IV: The Roanoke Times has now done a write-through of its article, adding further information:

Deeds was stabbed “numerous times about the head and upper torso,” state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said during a news conference at Virginia State Police headquarters in Albemarle County today. . . .
Gus Deeds, 24, was found inside the residence with life-threatening injuries from a gunshot wound, Geller said, but despite the response of emergency personnel, the senator’s son died at the scene. . . .
Deeds was born in Richmond in 1958, the son of a former Richmond police officer and state worker. His parents divorced when he was 7, and he moved with his mother and younger brother, Greg, to the Millboro farm of his maternal grandparents in Bath County, where his grandfather, Austin Creigh Tyree, was chairman of the Democratic committee.
Deeds and his first wife, Pamela Kay Miller, had four children: Amanda,, Rebecca, Gus, and Susannah. . . .
Deeds and his first wife divorced in 2010. The Washington Post reported at the time that the marriage was “a casualty of a nearly 20-year pursuit of a lifelong ambition that kept him away from home.”
Deeds married Siobhan Gilbride Lomax of Lexington in June 2012.

 


57 comments

  3. This is also a tragedy for the national media. A high profile case of violence and death, and already there’s far too much information to blame the Tea Party or Sarah Palin.

    Yes, I’m cynical. Prove that I’m unrealistic.

  4. This is also a tragedy for the national media. A high profile case of violence and death, and already there’s far too much information to blame the Tea Party or Sarah Palin.

    Yes, I’m cynical. Prove that I’m unrealistic.

  6. Not to mention it fails to give them another opportunity to jump on their favoritest hobby-horse. Unless they’re going to start a major media push for Sensible Knife Control.

  7. A horrible tragedy, made all the worse by knowledge that it could have been prevented if officials had recognized the danger.

    But it sounds like they did recognize the danger, based on, “A source said no psychiatric bed was available, which is why Gus Deeds was released.” If we can believe Mr A. Source, of course.

  9. What I’m saying is that “no psychiatric bed was available” is not — can never be — and excuse for turning loose a dangerous nut. If nothing else, they could have locked him up in the county jail until they could find a facility to treat him.

  10. I agree that it should not be a reason. But that combined with the laziness, lack of initiative or creativity or whatever or the person making the call, it could be the actual reason. If that’s true, it could be a very big thing.

    But especially as an anonymous bit of info, I remain skeptical.

  14. Without a commitment order I have the feeling they could not have put him in a cell. If that is the case (and I don’t know about VA law on this matter), then it’s something that screams for the attention of the General Assembly in between declaring state dishes and honoring cheerleaders. Sometime in their copious free time.
    OTOH, it may simply be a matter of talking to the right people and someone was just too myopic to do so.

  15. County jail is a really, really bad idea. It places the jail personnel in a situation for which they have minimal to zero training, and no real tools to deal with an acutely psychotic individual. A person, by definition, who is incapable of responding to normal behavioral incentives.

    The environment also places the individual under additional stresses, which will only exacerbate the underlying problems.

    Add in the other inmates – both the problems they pose, and the risk to them and county lockup becomes a terrible option. Even for someone who is an apparent ‘dangerous nut.’

  16. Sadly we now live in a society that seems incapable of recognizing the mentally disturbed 50 years ago he would have been committed to a state hospital

  18. Presumably they have a cell they use for solitary confinements. Again, the alternative to jail turns out to be an attempted murder cum suicide. Which is a really, really bad idea.

  19. If this family is well off and were looking for “suitable accommodations” for this type of case, they may very well have encountered “a-no-psychiatric [suite]-available” situation — the nicer places are generally reluctant to take in violent cases without notice…

    I can’t imagine there were absolutely no beds available at all in western Virginia!

  20. I don’t see any good options here. I would say, however, if he exhibited bad symptoms in the lock up the Sheriff would have more influence on getting him in somewhere faster. The lock up maybe a bad answer, but where he was sent was an even worse answer.

  21. With “mainstreaming” most state hospitals where such people would have been committed have been closed. Ohio, where I used to live, is down to about a quarter of what they had, and from what I reacll, several of those were to be closed, unless another decision was taken since I left nearly 9 years ago.

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