Except for the part I bolded...

I wonder how many stories like this we'll see because of the economy.

Quote :

" LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said. Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse. The two-story rented home is in a gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The shootings were discovered after 8:20 a.m. Monday, after a neighbor called police to report that the wife had failed to pick her up to take her to her job at a pharmacy, Deputy Chief of Police Michel Moore said. Ed Winter, assistant chief from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, identified the suspect as Karthik Rajaram, 45. Winter said the victims included Rajaram's mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, and his 19-year-old son Krishna Rajaram, a Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA. Video Watch police say the gunman was "embroiled in a financial crisis" » Also dead were Rajaram's wife, 39, Subasari Rajaram, and their two other sons, 12 and 7. Some of the victims had been shot more than once, and their identities were not immediately confirmed, he said. "Due to the nature of their injuries, it's been a little difficult," Winter said, adding that there were no signs of a struggle. Police first found the mother-in-law shot in her bed in a downstairs bedroom, Moore said. Upstairs, the couple's eldest old son was shot in the master bedroom; the wife in another bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head; the two younger sons in the bedroom they shared, both shot in the head. The 12-year-old was on the floor and the 7-year-old in bed, Moore said. The suspect was also in that bedroom, a gun still in his hand. The killings are thought to have occurred after 6 p.m. Saturday, when the man was last reported seen, Moore said. Inside the house, police also found three letters, one to law enforcement acknowledging responsibility for the killings, a second to friends and relatives and a third that appears to be the suspect's will, Moore said. "He attests to some financial difficulties, and he takes responsibility for the taking of the lives of his family members and himself as a result of those financial difficulties," Moore said. Neighbors, family and friends told police that the suspect, who had not worked for several months, had said in recent days he was having had extreme financial difficulties, Moore said. One of the letters, intended for friends and marked "personal and confidential," detailed his financial transactions that resulted in "an unfortunate, downward spiral," Moore said. "His narrative is one of talking about this tragedy befalling him and his contemplation of an available exit or solution," Moore said. "One is taking his own life and the other is taking the lives of his family and himself. ... He talked himself into the second strategy, believing that was in effect the honorable thing to do." Moore said the several-page narrative appeared to have been written over a period of time. "This was something that was not a spur-of-the-moment type of event," he said. Moore said it was clear to police that the family members were close and "had an affection for each other." He said the parents had given up their master bedroom to their eldest -- who was spending the weekend home from college -- "out of respect." "This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit." No neighbors reported having heard gunshots, and there was no sign of forced entry at the house, Moore said. Rajaram was involved in a financial holding company as part owner "at least," Moore said. There is no evidence he had had any history of mental difficulties, nor was there an indication he had sought counseling, Moore said. advertisement Neighbor Trish Harrison, who lives three houses from the crime scene, said the family had lived in the community for about a year, but kept to themselves and had little interaction with neighbors. The parents were from India, she said. The Los Angeles Unified School District was making arrangements for crisis counselors to visit the schools attended by the two younger "

[Edited on October 7, 2008 at 9:06 AM. Reason : .]

10/7/2008 9:04:38 AM

the Freakonomics blog touched on that recently: http://tinyurl.com/52ycj2

10/7/2008 9:10:01 AM

10/7/2008 9:29:47 AM

he took the worse option

seriously... killing your family? we're not in the middle ages... they can find ways of being OK without you...

[Edited on October 7, 2008 at 9:51 AM. Reason : .]

10/7/2008 9:51:31 AM

yea, the bolded part was the saddest part for me...there is no honor in killing your family in this situation. NONE. I would rather be without a father and be left in extreme debt and go work on my own to support myself rather than have my father take the route he did...

10/7/2008 9:56:19 AM

i thought someone posted this thread yesterday but the only thing i can find is this crap message_topic.aspx?topic=543557

10/7/2008 10:01:36 AM

Quote :

" As their economic prospects deteriorate, many breadwinners find themselves under unendurable pressure to maintain the socially expected level of consumption. Under these conditions, people — whose psychological problems would be borderline in the gentler economic climate of the 1950’s — today “go postal.” So the harsher the economic conditions, the greater the numbers of those whose latent psychological problems develop into full-blown psychosis."

yep.

Quote :

"seriously... killing your family? ... they can find ways of being OK without you..."

my mom said that this morning.

10/7/2008 12:14:52 PM

Quote :

"many breadwinners find themselves under unendurable pressure to maintain the socially expected level of consumption"

I have no sympathy for anyone if they choose to cave to this pressure.

'socially expected'

10/7/2008 12:20:06 PM

financial troubles are bad for anybody to go through, but there were far, far deeper issues at play here for somebody to do something so heinous.

10/7/2008 3:41:57 PM

I wonder how did he kill them all without one getting away... interesting.

10/7/2008 3:50:49 PM

living below your means............

10/7/2008 5:33:16 PM

Porter Ranch, where the guy lived, isn't exactly a run down neighborhood either.

10/7/2008 5:38:36 PM

He will be cleaning bathrooms in HELL, forever.

And this was an Indian family, and Indian families -- in general -- are very tight-knit and have close relations with each other. So that just makes it that much more difficult to kill you own wife and children. What kind of a demon would do that, when everything in life is good? Financial problems? I am sure the family would have been fine in a few months' time. He had an MBA in finance for God's sake. Worst come to worse, he (and his wife) could have gotten any menial job anywhere. Everybody was in good health, no one had been convicted of a crime, none of the sons brought home a black or a Muslim girl (or black Muslim), so I don't see why he resorted to such a demonic act.

I feel bad for all of them (except him, of course), but I esp feel bad for the kids, as they would have probably gone on to do great things, as is evident from the oldest son being an outstanding student at UCLA.

EDIT: They could have even moved to a smaller apartment in a cheaper neighbourhood. A good chunk of South Asian families have a SERIOUS case of the "Keeping up with the Joneses". So I wouldn't be surprised if over the years they spent money on things which could have been gotten for much cheaper (large plasma TV, multiple laptops, expensive car, etc). Still, if that's true, they could have sold some of their possessions, including the wife's [I am sure] large gold jewelery collection.

Problem is, the bastard didn't consult his family at all on possible solutions, which are so easy to come up with. Fine, then he should have just offed himself. Why take everybody with him???


[Edited on October 7, 2008 at 7:49 PM. Reason : ]

10/7/2008 7:44:18 PM

this is what bankruptcy is for

10/8/2008 10:50:34 AM

Quote :

"A good chunk of South Asian families have a SERIOUS case of the "Keeping up with the Joneses""

seriously.

new money syndrome.

10/8/2008 10:56:53 AM

you guys have it all wrong. He should have killed his family and then stayed alive, that's what keyser soze would have done

10/8/2008 12:15:51 PM

Quote :

"I feel bad for all of them (except him, of course), but I esp feel bad for the kids, as they would have probably gone on to do great things, as is evident from the oldest son being an outstanding student at UCLA."

I went to UCLA and have a friend in his coed frat. She posted on Facebook that he was on full academic scholarship, including housing. Said he started at UCLA when he was 16. I read the family had $241,000 in outstanding debt, none in mortgages cause they rented.

Guessing bankruptcy would have shamed the family. What a fucker.

10/8/2008 1:02:29 PM

Quote :

"$241,000 in outstanding debt, none in mortgages "

Then from WHAT?

That's just messed up

I guess him and his wife were big spenders?

^ And yeah, a big sense of shame and honour among South Asians. Drives them to do crazy shit, like kill family members.


[Edited on October 8, 2008 at 1:15 PM. Reason : ]

10/8/2008 1:10:22 PM

glad i choose SHAME over HELL

10/8/2008 1:24:37 PM

I think the more honorable thing would have been to take out a large insurance policy on yourself, then "accidentally" drive off a cliff.

10/8/2008 1:30:27 PM

^^^ Only thing I can find is contrary to debt.... He pocketed $1.2 from a liquidation of a company he was a partner with in 2001. He sold his house in 2006 for $750,000 - he paid $274,000 in 1997. Guessing he tied up all that cash in a business that utterly failed. That's the only logical explanation, unless he invested all that money in Wachovia.

His son was a Business Economics major btw.

[Edited on October 8, 2008 at 1:33 PM. Reason : s]

10/8/2008 1:31:26 PM

I don't believe that there's any way this man will be conscious with no brain. It's unfortunate because it would be gratifying to know that he were burning in hell.

The fact that he made his problem into everyone's problem is sickening. Killing your kids? Dammit I just wish someone could have gotten hold of him and made him suffer by going to jail and being raped daily. That would have been a form of hell on earth at least.

[Edited on October 8, 2008 at 1:32 PM. Reason : ]

10/8/2008 1:32:24 PM

What is going to happen to their possessions now?

Did the guy specificy in his will?

10/8/2008 4:25:24 PM

Sold at auction?

10/8/2008 4:36:54 PM

Quote :

"seriously... killing your family? ... they can find ways of being OK without you..."

true, that one son especially

10/10/2008 8:59:31 AM