Larry McElroy, the Little Rock AFB gunman, dies from injuries
According to KATV, the fellow who approached Little Rock Air force Base security personnel with a firearm and was appropriately ventilated has passed on to his Great Reward.
McElroy was previously listed in critical condition at a local hospital after being shot by Air Force Base security defense following his attempt to gain access to the base on Monday while armed with a weapon.
The base was locked down for several hours following the incident.
The FBI says McElroy had no apparent motive or any ties to terrorism.
Apparently, Mr. McElroy was known to local law enforcement, though. In January, he reported to the Sheriff Department that a device he had ordered from Ebay detected electronic “bugs” that had been planted by General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Colonel Sanders (I’m sure you recognize those names), who Mr. McElroy claimed were stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base and conducting surveillance on him;
So, I’m wondering how he got a hold of a firearm. He certainly wasn’t balanced and the police were aware of his behavior. I wonder if anyone had bothered to try to get him some help or some other steps to prevent him from owning a firearm. From Fox16;
On March 31 of last year, the sheriff’s office responded twice in the same day to McElroy’s home. In the first incident that day, McElroy thought his wife was trying to commit suicide, which she said never happened. Three hours later, McElroy reported he was afraid for his safety. He reportedly believed people were watching him and said he wanted to go to the hospital.
Prior to that, in January, he and his wife were both hallucinating that 25 armed men in uniforms had held them hostage in their home for 10 hours.
The report says McElroy’s father admitted his son had been using drugs, and had hallucinations in the past. In February of 2013, McElroy called regarding a domestic dispute with his wife that she claimed they never had.
McElroy didn’t have a record of violence except for one domestic battery call where his wife accused him of choking her and hitting her with a hammer but she never pursued charges
Yeah, but was he in the NICS system?
UPDATE: Yay! Crazy vet connection! He spent eight months in a now-defunct Arkansas National Guard Unit.
Category: Crime
Boys and Girls, please stay away from the bath salts…
YAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
/Thanks for saving tax dollars.
Gee whiz, you’d thing stuff like that should have kept him from legally acquiring any firearm. Did the system fail and let everyone down? /sarc He was a known drug abuser that needed help, I wonder how soon we’ll see something like this happen again, it happened at Sandy Hook, now at LRAFB, at least he didn’t kill anyone. I wonder how soon we’ll hear more screeching from snotnosed pus-brained liberals calling for more law-abiding people to be disarmed and at the mercy of armed kooks and criminals?
It’s easy to blame the police for not acting on the mental unbalance I’m sure they saw. But before we flog that horse again, watch the intervention with a drug addict I’m posting here. It’s not exactly the same, but this gives you a taste of what an intensive intervention looks like. There are only two ways of getting someone in treatment: voluntarily, and involuntarily. Neither one is easy, and involuntary commitments can go south in a hurry, with people getting seriously hurt in the process.
I found out from ER doctors, about the second time I transported someone for an evaluation for an involutary commitment, never mention alcohol, never, ever, mention drugs. If you do, their problem becomes one of “intoxication” and not “mental defect.
Besides, the doctors were so concerned about being sued for malpractice, one practically had to have video, and a signed statement from the person being committed, before the doctors would do anything.
I’ve been out of the game for awhile, but as far as I know, the only drug that the cops can test for on the street is alcohol. To get the person tested for anything else (involuntarily) requires a court order, or an arrest.
With mental illness, things get murky in a hurry. If a cop arrests someone for criminal behavior, and then sees irrational behavior, it’s fairly easy to get the testing done. But what does a cop do with irrational behavior without criminal behavior? As far as I know, there isn’t anything he can do, except perhaps recommend to a family member to get the person to a doctor for evaluation.
I’ve always thought it would be good to have a psychiatrist associated with police departments, that can respond to police calls that involve persons exhibiting irrational behavior, with the doctor somehow meshed into the law enforcement system, able to make a judgement call in the field so that a person could be taken into custody for mental health evaluation without an arrest being necessary. I don’t know if police departments are doing anything like that, though.
The doctors rarely would commit if there was alcohol or drugs involved. They only had to smell booze or have the patient mention drugs, and they were out the door, “discharge him/her, it’s an intoxication problem”, was their favorite dodge.
We’d transport if the family wanted to try for a committal, or they’d go by ambulance.
The only option if they were on their own, if in public, was to wait til they committed an arrestable crime. A sorry solution to their problem. But, the problem was then a judge’s problem. Sometimes they could get someone committed when no one else could.
It gets worse than that. My son is an addict, when he gets too high or fucks up enough, they hold him for three days and pump him full of pysch drugs. Last time he was in they had him on 7 different ones, he stuttered drooled and could not be coherent. I HATE this system.
In my state, LE has the option to commit someone under a particular section of code if they present an imminent danger to themselves or to others. Generally we want to hear the person explicitly say they want to hurt themselves before we can use this. It allows the psych ward to hold them for up to 72 hrs. Unfortunately there’s no real follow up so unless the person seeks help, there’s nothing we can do except commit them again when they have an episode. We have a similar section for someone who is too drunk or high to take care of themselves. Again it’s short term; it gets them off the street for a couple of days. It’s still on the subject to get follow up treatment. The problem is it’s hard to help someone who doesn’t want it.
It’s all true. Colonel Sanders wanted his drumstick.
Think CNN will call him brave and courageous?
I gotta confess that I have been skeptical of how some of the base security folks would react to something like this beyond just pushing the bollard plunger. I was wrong. There have been several recently that show these folks are on the ball and don’t hesitate to respond quickly with accurate fire. Bravo.
Roger on the Bravo.
AF Expert Marksmanship Ribbons to all involved.
Ummm, Two Security Guards with Baretta M9 Pistols, over 20 rds expended and they hit him three times, then he lived for a day and a half? Maybe, just maybe, we should hold off on the Marksmanship Ribbons for a little while. At least they didn’t hit any bystanders.
Way back when, I was in an Elite Gate Guard (yes that is actually a thing) section in the AF. Once you got to about hour 7 of your 12 hour shift on the gate, you were so bored that you were praying or the smallest infraction so that you could actually do something other than ‘Good Evening, have a nice day sir/ma’am’. Which meant you were going out of your way to FIND something that was wrong.
Now with most posts having civilians on the gates, I wouldn’t put their reactions down to anything other than duck and cover.
Ive seen the video, they had no reflective belts on. Epic fail
Smitty – I was privileged to witness one of those “hour 7” events at the front gate of Holloman AFB in 1985. I parked at the visitor center when I heard a commotion at the gate. Some scuzzy townie in his own POV was trying to follow his Airman buddy onto base. Well, the Airman at the gate denied him entry.
The townie then said something that he will regret to his dying days: “Well if you aren’t going to let me on base, I am going to blow it up!” Those are words that you never, ever, say to bored teenagers with loaded, fully automatics weapons and authority to use lethal force. Before he could say anything else, he was kissing pavement. Of course, every other SP came running to see what was happening.
They turned the townie over to the local police, who wanting to make sure he did not have any concealed explosives, conducted a full body cavity search. Back at the base, EOD checked the vehicle for explosives by completely dismantling it. 😉
Was the idiot allowed to assume the “kiss the pavement” position himself, or did he have “assistance” in getting there? (smile)
At that point, the townie had absolutely no say in the matter. 😉
Good. The tool should count himself lucky as hell that he didn’t get a random unsanitary body piercing or two done via high-speed jacked lead under field conditions.
Supposedly a true story, TINS.
A Marine PFC was on duty as a gate guard at a large Navy base. A Navy sedan approached the guard shack and the Marine stepped out. The vehicle stopped, the sailor driving it rolled his window down, and the Marine asked for the IDs of the driver and the uniformed man in the back.
The driver presented his ID. The man in the back said, “I don’t have time for this, let us through.”
The Marine stood his ground and again requested ID. The man in the back again voiced his refusal to show ID. The Marine asked again.
The man in the back leaned forward and said to the driver, “Drive on! I don’t have time for this.”
The Marine stepped back and drew his .45. In a loud voice, he said, “Admiral, I’m kinda new at this. Do I shoot you first, or the driver?”
I say the Marine did his job. My understanding of going past the guards station is”everyone shows their I’D” Right or wrong?
Reb: that’s normally the case. Depends on the special orders for that particular post.
It sounds to me like he completely fucked himself.
Smitty, I call “Bullshit!” I spent many moons working the main gate and never sought out an excuse to find something that was wrong. Neither did any of the guys I worked with. Yes, we were on the alert for drunk drivers but I cannot recall a single time we went out of our way to mess with someone. We were not called anything but Air Policemen in those days, maybe things have changed, I hope not.
On the other hand, he does (oops, did) look like a “Waterhead” that Jeff Foxworthy talked about in one of his routines some years ago. I still wonder if he was ever held for a mental evaluation?
And in other news….
Here is a wee bit of cheerful music to go with this announcement (one of my favs) … I dare you all to listen to it:
OK, I watched and listened to it for the entire 3:47.
Where’s my ARCOM?
LMAO!!! I’ll settle for a NAM. 😉
I even went further than that.
On the follow on videos, I watched/listened to the one with Shania Twain riding a horse on the beach.
So I do feel I do deserve that ARCOM.
Oh, God. I can’t take her voice. Too breathy. Do I get to keep my NAM if I mute the volume and just watch?
Yep, you can keep it.
She’s no Patsy Cline that’s for sure.
The only chance at redemption would have been if she was sans swim suit top.
Hell yeah! I’d like to see Miss Shania all decked out in one of those suits featured in last year’s SI 50th Anniversary Swim Suit Issue. I might even listen to her sing. Of course, I’d need some liquid courage first. Bourbon on the rocks. 😉
Sorry, I cannot find the video where Shania Twain’s swimsuit top falls off while riding a horse. Please help. 😉
I gave myself another EM for going somewhere I had not been in over 30 years!
Bronze Star for second award.
And speaking of kooks, weirdos and other assorted miscreants, check out this piece of work. Don’t worry, it’s clean. Checked and double checked. 😉
I wonder how much we’ve spent to support this waste of air and space? There wasn’t some bright kid with a future we could have spent that money on somewhere?
…and please don’t answer that first question. It was rhetorical. I’m sure we’ve spent far more money than I care to know about on him.
UPDATE: Yay! Crazy vet connection! He spent eight months in a now-defunct Arkansas National Guard Unit.
Oh crap, here we go again. *sigh*
You had me at Arkansawsan.
Yeah, an “Eight Month Wonder-Soldier”. I see that the local newskooks failed to mention that he named Gen. N. B. Forrest and Colonel Sanders as who he accused of putting the alleged bugs in his abode but alas, that could get in the way of the liberal media’s pushing the “Vets are Crazy” stereotype.
I hate to say this, but he really resembles those aliens in ‘To Serve Man’ from the original ‘Twilight Zone’ series.
I am, however, glad that the base security was alert and acted properly.
Colonel Sanders? Isn’t he dead?
Yeah, he passed away at least a decade ago. Harlan Sanders was named as an Honorary Colonel by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, this his being known as “Colonel Sanders”.
Nealy 3 1/2 decades ago, API – he died in Dec 1980.
I don’t know if I’m first to notice it but this clown has a HUGE MELON. Not a hard sight picture to find.
Yeah, I was wondering which lens filter the po-po used on their mug shot camera to cut down on the chrome-dome glare.
“Officials confirm alleged LRAFB gunman served in Army for short period” screams the THV11 headline. What a scoop! THV11 got it! Eat that, network!
No matter that the guy was off his rocker and that he was in the NG for a brief stint 15 years ago. No matter that he was 43 years old (thanks to another source, not THV11, which seems to have disregarded that info) and that the other 42+ years of his life shall remain unexamined. What’s important is that THV11 tied this to the military. Way to go THV11!
2/17, it was 25 years ago that he spent his tough eight months of service in the NG.
I’m betting he told everybody he caught the PTSD from Desert Storm and was denied VA bennies.
That’s why he sought revenge on the LRAFB gate guards.
I think that every reporter found biasing their coverage like that should be slapped shitless at least twelve times a day. *LEGAL DISCLAIMER* The previous statement was made in jest and IS NOT meant to be taken seriously by anyone in any way, shape, or form. NO liberal news reporters were harmed in the making of this statement.
“NO liberal news reporters were harmed in the making of this statement.”
Mores the pity.
Man, I suck at math. He was in for about 8 months 1990-91. That’s 25 years ago, not 15! Holy shit. It’s worse than I thought.
Use your fingers AND toes.
That is what I do!
When you run out use fingers and toes of those close to you.
Make sure they know you, could be ackward!
DO STUPID THINGS, GET A FREE FAILURE DRILL… 🙂
—————-
BHWHAHAHAHAHA! ! ! ! !
🙂
I have this crazy idea that it should be possible for a court to order that someone should be on the NICS “cannot buy a firearm” list. But I don’t want any random cop or doctor or bureaucrat to put someone on it. I am a fan of due process and I want that process to be public with records and appeal. We are talking about public safety but we are also talking about the Constitution and my civil rights under the 2nd amendment. YMMV.
Agreed completely, Richard.
However, it does raise the question of why the local authorities – or his family – never asked a judge to consider ordering this guy’s “headspace and timing” be checked by professionals. IMO, it seems there was more than enough available evidence to support a judge doing exactly that.
Had he ever been involuntarily committed, I believe that’s grounds for flagging him in NICS.
There’s another individual that we all know and love who falls into this category too.
I can think of several, actually. However, naming them would only give them the attention they crave. Let’s not.
I live in the area, this wackado called the local talkshow a few months back saying the military was putting spy equiqment in his house, soldiers were all over his yard , he said the Jville police wouldn’t tell them to leave. Someone had posted a police report that larry had filed , it sounded alot like the story he was telling on the radio. The host just let him blather on, I was getting a good chuckle out of it.