The man who ambushed several police officers in Arizona, one of whom has died, had a long history of “minor’ drug violations and mental illness. Reporter Brady McCombs dug up some of his history on the man, which includes Marijuana violations and possession of drug paraphernalia. At this time it is believed he never spent time in prison but was well known to law enforcement.
The shooting spree apparently was the culmination of several weeks of bizarre behavior by the drug addled Delich:
Investigators believe the suspect confronted a neighbor several weeks ago, which in turn may have led to his allegedly firing several dozen rounds Sunday into the neighbor’s home and another next door.
The shots and calls to 911 triggered a cross-town chase by sheriff’s deputies and Tucson police and resulted in Hite’s shooting, which was sandwiched between less serious shooting injuries to two sheriff’s deputies.
Rick Kastigar, Pima County Sheriff’s criminal investigations chief, said Delich and the neighbor share a common open space between their back yards. He said Delich allegedly engaged the neighbor in “an unprovoked verbal confrontation” about six weeks ago.
The neighbor brushed off the incident, but three weeks later Delich allegedly climbed onto the homeowner’s back wall and made additional “inquisitive and nonsensical” but nonthreatening comments, Kastigar said.
On Sunday morning, about 40 rounds were fired into the neighbor’s home with an assault-style rifle, and a similar number of shots hit the home next door, Kastigar said.
“It’s our belief that that may be what precipitated the gunman firing on the one home,” he said. “We don’t know if there was any confrontation or there were words exchanged” with residents in the second home.
Attorney Brick Storts, who has represented both Delich and his father before, and who appeared on the suspect’s behalf at Monday’s initial appearance, agreed with Kastigar’s assessment. “I do know there was a confrontation with some neighbors, and that may well be what started this whole series of events,” Storts said.
His behavior was clearly escalating. As I’ve blogged before, Marijuana use has been linked to mental illness by reputable medical sources:
A study published in the British Medical Journal found those using cannabis before the age of 15 are four times as likely to develop psychotic illness by 26. A Lancet study in 2007 estimated that 14 per cent of 15- to 34-year-olds affected by schizophrenia are ill because of heavy cannabis use. And recent analysis of 35 major studies concluded that cannabis use increased the risk of psychotic illness later in life by approximately 40 per cent and by up to 200 per cent among heavy users.
Many experts in mental health say they now have more than enough evidence to understand that cannabis is not the safe drug of popular myth.
‘We have been campaigning for many years about the links between cannabis and psychiatric illness, and highlighting evidence that the drug may not only precipitate psychotic breakdown but cause long-term mental damage,’ says Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane.
Not settled science by any means, but in cases like this where a person goes on a seemingly motiveless rampage, drug use can provide clues as to why the irrational seemed reasonable to the perpetrator.
what is going on with this case?
There are also reputable medical sources who state that marijuana does not lead to violent behavior. For instance, look at the government report
Psychoactive Substances and Violence
by Jeffrey A. Roth
Series: Research in Brief, US Dept. of Justice
I’ve been smoking weed since I was 8 years old and my criminal record, if it wasn’t for the fact that I always get off with deferred judification, would look very similar to this man’s. If I feel unjustly treated by the police, I go home and play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but I know the difference between stress relieving video games and real life. The man was psychotic and had nothing to look forward to. No job, no college, no girlfriend. That’s why he killed the cops. Saying that pot caused this man to kill cops is like saying Adidas Sweatsuits cause people in New York to rob people.
Anybody who regularly smokes pot, including many Doctors, Physicists, Psychologists, Professors, Politicians, Hindus, Musicians, Mechanics, and many more regular people who keep the economies of the world moving.
The oldest stash of weed was recently found in a tomb in china and was over 2,700 years old, 700 years before even Christ.
Humans are born with receptors in their brains that are incapable of doing anything besides receiving THC.
“God gave man all the seed-bearing plants and herbs to use and saw that it was good” Genesis 1:12
The United States’ motto is in God we trust and God invented marijuana and it says right in the bible that it is for man to use and it is good, so why do we continue to try to blame a perfectly good time for the worlds problems?
I guarantee you that he didn’t answer to a higher power. Psychosis caused by a religion or a lack of religion causes people to kill other people. Not a mild happiness and hunger. If he had believed in God and been grateful for Marijuana instead of being a typical asshole who makes honest Marijuana-smokers look bad, nobody would’ve died.
So Kevin where do you work? Live on your own? Happy?
Don’t answer if you don’t want to. But people who use drugs, any drugs, are hiding from the world, not following God’s word. I’m not a Christian or a Hindu, but I’m pretty sure the bible or the vedas don’t tell people to get high and crash on their buddies couches.
But I’m sure you’re awesome, pot smoking and all. That’s why your life’s going so swimmingly and you’ve accomplished so much.
Someone took reefer madness to heart. I noticed a lack of citations for the marijuana being linked to mental illness and very little objective sources. Those statistics are not based on any actual research that can be replicated consistently. I’m not saying marijuana is healthy, but neither is lying and, or attributing Davids actions to pot use. Charles Babbage the architect and builder of the analytical and difference engines was a marijuana smoker. You can see his invention, on which computing technology today is based, at Harvard to this day. I also noticed no comparisons to those with mental illness who have never used any drugs. Also marijuana has no link what so ever to causing schizophrenia in a normal brain. Also marijuana is not linked, nor is there any evidence to support the conclusion, that links pot as a sole contributor, to violent offenses. FACT: the author of this article used the tragic events as a case against marijuana. LAMER If your going to protest the use of marijuana then fine, but using the death of another man to support your erroneous conclusions is just shameful. If marijuana really contributes to those illnesses then why aren’t the streets flooded with psycho paths. Every college dorm from here to the edge of the flat earth you live on would be filled with maniacs, but they are not. Also the studies on schizophrenia are very general, and there is still no conclusive evidence supporting the claim of illness for the average user, only for those predisposed to illness from physical brain abnormalities. whether cannabis causes psychosis independent of any other risk factors is not supported by the existing literature and most experts do not believe it. yes MOST. Your report is biased and disingenuous and… using someones death to post this garbage is abhorrent. Also, i don’t smoke pot, but i know people who do, and though I do not, I at least do not make them out to be physically retarded monsters using poor research and faulty claims like you do. How could you call yourself a journalist without considering all the facts. You should know i think people like you are more harmful to society than David. You’re a rotten LIAR! You hurt people you don’t even see with your nonsense. How many people now will react more harmfully, out of fear, violence, and ignorance towards others because they listened to you. Pot may not be healthy or my choice lifestyle, but i do not have to distort facts to make a point that its not healthy at least. I can convince others not to use and i do it by telling the truth! You should try it.
also heres a list of others who are successful after havin tried marijuana some with a higher frequency than others whatever do your own research now im done after this…
Barack Obama, president-elect. Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the U.S. John Kerry, U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic nominee for president. John Edwards, multi-millionaire, former U.S. Senator, and 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, 2008 Republican nominee for vice president. British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, and and Chancellor Alistair Darling. Josh Howard, NBA all-star. New York Governor David Paterson. Former Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Oscar winner Al Gore. Former Sen. Bill Bradley, who smoked while playing professional basketball. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and former New York Governor George Pataki. Billionaire and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Charles Babbage? Really? Well then smoking pot must be wonderful.
John Kerry lied about people committing war crimes to help a Communist movement here demonize U.S. soldiers.
John Edwards was cheating on his cancer ridden wife while leaving her home to die alone for his second or third failed Presidential bid.
Bill Clinton helped Kosovos Muslims set up a state where non-Muslims are being exterminated as a distraction from his affair with a woman who was his daughters age.
Newt Gingrich, who I think is a wonderful writer, also cheated on his sick wife. The point is that if I say pot smoking is immature listing a group of people which is 50% comprised of douchebags is not a strong move.
But really, who has said trying pot destroys your life? I have said and maintain that:
1) Marijuana is habit forming, and angry desperate comments like this are anecdotal evidence of how pot smokers are similar to addicts when someone challenges them on their asinine behavior.
2) Studies show Marijuana use damages areas of the bran that regulate inhibition.And it is a myth that pot smokers are “mellow”
3) Heavy or chronic pot use causes users to experience symptoms similar to schizophrenia and makes people paranoid.
4) Getting high is something adults should have outgrown.
What part of that is a lair? Who am I hurting? The pot head above KILLED a man, but you’re attacking me? You must be high…
you’re 50% douche bag to, yet others hear your side.
You mean “too” not “to” and it’s funny that you claim I won’t engage in intellectual debate but when I list the points I am promoting your fall back position is “You’re a douchebag just like these douches” which is ironic since the douches above have all engaged in the deceptive, childish behavior Internet trolls engage in. I’ve never cheated on my cancer stricken old lady, nailed a girl my daughters age or accused innocent people of committing heinous war crimes to further a political career.
But to you a person who promotes sober living is the same as all of them? If I may borrow a line from Mark Styen I say “Douche, douche thyself !”because the height of douchebaggery is to argue the moral equivalency of people against drug use with people who don’t care when their wife is dying of cancer.
you do the same thing lol. my point had to do with the use of marijuana and was not directly about their character as character does not sefine success, obviously. not everyone on the list is as morally leperous as the others.
it seemed to me you were guiding the response of your audience by using terms like “stoner” and criticizing pot as being a major and not mitigating factor as if it was even a factor at all conclusive without question. throwing that in opens the door for a host of other contributing factors that are hypothetical, but as you said it was your opinion.
my only point is marijuana is over rated as culprit behind the actions of people who probably needed to be dealt with sooner anyways. i am not entirely an advocate of sober living, as i think altering perception can be a positive experience. i do not think every drug is as harmful and dangerous as they’re made out to be nor are the people who do them. however reliance on chemicals, not street drugs mind you, is harmful as well.
i do not really think you are a douche, okay. i didn’t consider the efforts i would have to put forth as well to show my point that smoking pot probably had nothing to do with david actions, and upon reflection, this isnt the place for it. had i spent more time examining what you were about instead of just responding point blank, i would have thought better of it. defending david is not my intent, but i also do not want to debate marijuana further here, as it may indicate otherwise.
i have experience with anti depressants (mirtazapine) for instance. theyre legal and can contribute to some off the wall and very bizarre behavior, and they work directly in the brain; no matter how much i said something is wrong, the doctors did nothing and didnt even take me seriously, and after taking 45 milligrams for two weeks, after building up to it for months, they ended by giving me a placebo. now tell me thats not ridiculously harmful and the doctors had no idea it would be. what doctor would do that and how many other have they done it to. if you have never taken an anti depressant please do not comment because you have no idea just how strange and emotionally wracking it can be. should i argue all mental health clinics are harmful and experimenting without regard to the consequences of the people who trust them to be concerned for their health? also if you want to know more maybe you should set up some of these clinics with under covers to see what i am talking about. MHMR in Coppell, Texas. Dr. B. Patel was the doctor.
neuroscience knows so little, comparatively speaking to what is left to discover, about the brain and the function of the chemicals in it. there are a lot of hit and miss ideas as to what does what and why. i know that when effects are discovered, by pesticides and various other things used to treat and or produce food as harmful, a lot of actions are taken to prevent distribution of the chemicals responsible, but not before damage is done. the brain is the seat of our consciousness there are things natural and unnatural which alter perception right down to environment, if you take my meaning. theres more id like to say, but really im not even talking about the subject matter contained within the article. so, adios amigo!
You guys need to get off your high horses and stop knocking weed like it is this bad bad drug and it brings the DEMONS OUT OF YOU !!!!!!! and bla bla bla. Lets face it. Marijuna is the most unharmful drug in this world today. we talk about it like it is the worst. I come from an entire family of alcoholics. Every last one of them were allowed to ruin thier lives over cause our government let them. Coffee is worse for you then weed. We as the people of America should realize that we are not so free, if we are allowed to buy ciggerets, and coffee, over the counter medicine, and one of the worst ALCOHOL. well, this country has some thinking to do. I was a soilder in Iraq when it kicked off. I have severe PTSD. all the medicine the VA has prescribed me is shit and it will eat at your organs. I would of had to take up to 10 pills a day. I refused, because i smoke weed everyday and it works. It works with my hunger problems, restless nights, anger, anxeity, dramatic mood swings. So i am here to tell you that Psycoticness is in the people, not the weed. weed should be legal. it is not bad.our country should make it legal and our country would profit like crazy. Think about it!!!!!!
Psycoticness??