Earlier today at approximately 15:35 hours, Boston Police Operations received a 911 call from the Veteran’s Suicide Hotline after a man who was in distressed called. In the call to the Hotline, the man stated that he was going to shoot himself and take his own life. As Boston Police Officers responded from District E-13, they were alerted that Veteran’s Affairs Police Officers were already on the scene and had made contact with the man in a white Toyota pickup truck.
The man inside the vehicle has been identified to us by sources as a 31-year-old male veteran from the town of Hingham. For nearly two hours, officers from the VA Police negotiated and talked with the man, attempting to come to a peaceful resolution. That came to a head at approximately 17:20 hours when the man apparently shot himself.
According to a statement from the Boston VA, “an individual tragically died from wounds sustained after shooting himself in the parking lot at the VA Boston Healthcare System’s Jamaica Plain campus tonight.” The statement went on to say, “Our thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones during this terrible time of loss.”
Per the VA Statement, “Police responded to an individual in a vehicle threatening self-harm. VA staff made every effort to provide appropriate counseling and emergency care to the victim.” According to radio traffic at least two officers, most likely from the VA, were transported to the hospital, it is unclear why at this time. The Boston Police Crime Scene Response Unit and Detectives from E-13 also responded to the scene. At this time no further information is available.
Any Veteran in crisis or their loved ones is reminded that they can call the Veterans Crisis Hotline at 988 and press 1. Additionally, they can text 838255. These services are available 24/7 365 days a year. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to call.
11 Comments
Rebecca Landry
11 months agoGod bless this poor man and his family
Another Broken Veteran
11 months agoThis is exactly what our precious military does. Chews us up and spits us out when we break. His friends died and that FUCKING OFFICER THREW IT IN HIS FACE. They dont care. They never did. They never will.
JAded
11 months agoAbsolutely not true. The officers did nothing of the sort and is clearly grieving.
Yanick
11 months agoCan we get an update? He’s an old friend of mine, I miss him dearly.
Svetlana Chentsova
11 months agoInstead of passing the blame on the veteran, reframe this as “a veteran in crisis was pleading for his life with VA for two hours. The lack of funding and understanding into complexity of veteran mental illness delivered a stable and unsurprising outcome. Due to financial constraints and lack of return on investment, veterans in crisis are never prioritized for research and treatment. We attribute our failure to save his life to him.
The fact that this didn’t make it to the news screams volumes.
Jaded
11 months agoThis did not make it to the news because we shouldn’t be giving people ideas on how to harm themselves. The VA makes every effort to help all patients no matter what may or may not be happening to them. Your comment is extremely unfair.
M Gibbs
11 months agoAt VA Boston we never stop trying to help and support our veterans, no matter what kind of illness they have. It is unfortunate that people who don’t know have so much to say.
Svetlana Chentsova
11 months agoEvery system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets
Daniel A Landry
11 months agoMaybe I stead on sending money overseas to help global warming we can spend it on those who sacrificed for those who just sit back and complain about the system …..
Christopher Vozella
10 months agoAs the Father of this Veteran, and on behalf of his family, we want to thank the VA police officers for their efforts in trying to save our son. This was a tragic outcome and everyone involved is suffering.
Kabul Khan
10 months agoI’m a 100% disabled combat wounded veteran with debilitating PTSD & I don’t think that’s the problem here.
From my experience, the pain this veteran was feeling was so great that efforts by the VA staff at JP weren’t enough to save him. I’m certain the best they had were right there working on the situation.
If he had cancer or a heart failure, we wouldn’t immediately assume he wasn’t being given the care he needed by the VA. People die. Nobody gets out of here alive.
Mental health is a disease. The best that modern medicine can do is treat symptoms. In the majority of cases there is no cure. Sad, but true.
I’ve had nothing but outstanding care & followup from my VA caregivers in all departments, so it’s very frustrating to hear the constant drum beat of the anti VA narrative. Almost every veteran I know feels the same way I do about VA caregivers.