What are the odds of this being another William Freund?

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051030/ap_on_re_us/neighborhood_rampage
This was on TV earlier today.

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 15 minutes ago

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. - A 19-year-old in a black cape and a paintball mask went on a shooting rampage Saturday in his upscale Southern California neighborhood, killing a man and his daughter before committing suicide, authorities said.

William Freund also fired shots into another house and confronted a neighbor outside, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

A neighbor said Freund had attended high school with one of the victims, but police don't believe the two knew each other.

"It may have been random," Amormino said.

Freund left his home about 9 a.m. and drove less than 100 yards to a house where he killed Vernon Smith, 45, and daughter Christina Smith, 22, with a shotgun, Amormino said. A 20-year-old son escaped after hearing shots.

Freund then walked across the street and fired into another house, Amormino said. A person inside suffered cuts from broken glass.

Another neighbor heard the commotion, came outside and was confronted by the teen, who tried to fire his weapon. When it misfired, Freund went back to his own house and committed suicide, Amormino said.

Neighbor Katherine Anderson, 15, said Freund and Christina Smith had attended Aliso Miguel High School together.

Anderson, whose older brother had given Freund a ride to school, described Freund as "a real quiet guy."

Other neighbors said Freund would sit in front of his house and play guitar for hours at a time.

Police tape blocked off much of the large subdivision in the hills above Aliso Viejo, a wealthy section of south Orange County.

Built in 1995, the neighborhood of mostly beige two-story homes was described by residents as a family community where people often socialized.

The Smith house was known for its holiday decorations, including multiple Christmas trees put up each season and a snow village in the bay window.

sean, i think you're right. i've just looked through some of his posts and the personal information he gave matches the description in the report.

who is william freund?

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#105420
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#105065

It's got to be him. Same name, same town. And he was talking about how much damange he could do with guns.

I'm stunned.

I live in a similar area, but in Florida. Places like that are terrible places to live, and I can understand why someone would go on a rampge of any kind. I'm not trying to justify anything, just saying that communities like that always have a false reputation. Too many snobs, and their spoiled children complaining about things most people don't even have.

It'a a shame he killed himself, and should we inform the world that he has an account here? No doubt he had emotional problems caused by the kind of people he had to deal with on an everyday basis. I wound up going the oppsite direction and getting really sad rather than really angry.

Did anyone here realize how bad he really was? I didn't pay much attention to his posts. I think a re-read is in order. There were some signs, him talking about guns and how much damage he could do.

He didn't exactly reach out for help, but I think their were probably signs.

I'm not. He told everybody bluntly what he was going to do, and he was ridiculed as a troll for it.

It sounds like him... He murdered people!

I pretty much ignored most of his posts and didn't take them seriously. I think if there is ever another member here who says things about wanting to harm people, we should do something about it. I don't know what we can do, though.

People on the internet are often over-dramatic, exaggerative, and overall attention-whores. Someone actually backing up such threats is rare, I'm sure.

I plan to find out. I thought of notifying somebody since I lived close enought to do so, but I didn't know what city he lived in. It turned out I missed that post that said he was in Aliso Viejo.

unfortunately, that's about the size of it, bec - there is very little we can do.

we can't be absolutely sure that it was him, but the evidence does seem to point that way.

if it was him, there is no-one on this site who can be held in any way accountable for such appalling actions. no-one here has the capability - in any practical sense - to offer the level and sort of help needed, not even the trained therapists/psychologists/counsellors amongst us, not on a discussion board.

i felt shocked, then guilty (for the "not helping him" reasons people have described) when i first read this - what if i'd said x, or done y? this is perfectly natural, and i realise this, as i have to do similar things in my work. it took me a few minutes to "have a chat with myself", and be pragmatic and realistic - there is unlikely to be anything i could have done to have made a difference. possibly, there was - "if only i'd known...". but i didn't know, and neither did anyone else, and hindsight is a precise science.

it's a dreadful thing to have happened, truly dreadful. but please people - don't beat yourself up about what you did or didn't do. dealing with the feelings of horror is difficult enough, without having misplaced guilt as well. talking about it on here can be useful. if that's too difficult, please PM me (and i know there are others here used to working in this situation who may offer the same).

Vivi

*cries*

Wow, that's kinda messed up. I guess it's not possible that its somehow an old article that he modeled his avatar on? Or it could be a practical joke in poor taste?

Im shocked but not surprised. I disagree with anyone who talks about hindsight, the guy talked about killing himself, causing carnage and guns on just about every post he made and dominated his talk in the IRC chatroom. Whether anyone here could have stopped it or not is a different manner but id like to see people baiting a suicide thread took as seriously as the much lesser offences get.