J****

Real early this morning my son called to see if we had any information regarding his best friend. The initial word he heard was his friend shot himself with drugs and was found dead. These two guys have been pals since kindergarten. He did not want to call J****'s mom at 0130 hrs but Ryan said she was on his answer machine and she sounded real grim.

This morning, my wife called his mom and learned J**** had been shot to death in his apartment but she had no further information as yet.

By 0900 my wife had found out that J**** and two other people ( his off again on again girlfriend and another guy) had been doing drugs and alcohol overnight. Early in the morning the guy and gal started to trash the apartment and J**** told them to stop doing that. The end result was J**** went to his room, got his pistol and shot the two who were trashing the apartment. The male is in critical condition and the female was dead. Then J**** went into his room and shot himself. He died at the hospital.

This was one really nice kid, who would have never done anything like that without the substance abuse. At this time, I have no idea how often he used drugs and alcohol or what substances he used.

I do remember him as a cub scout and boy scout. He was a very good kid all through school. He graduated with my son, Ryan. Him and Ryan also worked often around our house as my wife's lifters and movers and assisting her in many varied projects. The kid and his many talents will be missed.

And he will be remembered by many for the wrong reasons.