Alan Cleaver via Foter.com / CC BY
By Lucy Caulkett
A family shooting has left three people dead in Spalding Lincolnshire. The shooting took place near the Castle swimming pool, in which a man and two women were found dead. The killer was among the dead.
The leader of South Holland District Council, Gary Porter told BBC Radio in Lincolnshire that it was “a very tragic Family incident “.
Family disputes that end up in brutal killings like these are most shameful for the families concerned and must be deeply distressing for those close to the families.
Most families at one point or another would encounter internal disputes capable of engaging other members of the family. Many family members will eventually resolve the dispute or get over it. Others will happily subscribe to the idea of harbouring a grudge against the offending family member.
Picking up a gun to kill a family member is an extreme step to take, no matter the offence caused by the family member in question.
Only the perpetrators of such hideous crimes can possibly explain what drives them to this kind of illogical and crazy decision.
Especially given the knowledge they will be caught and prosecuted by the courts for murder. The latter Point perhaps explains the decision for some to choose suicide immediately after the murder.
However, the foolishness in this reasoning lies with the fact that if the killer inflicts on himself the precise fate inflicted on the murder victim, it defeats the object of the murder even by the criminal standards of the killer.
Only last week, Steven Muncaster shot and killed his wife, Alison Muncaster before turning the gun on himself in Magdalene, Norfolk. Whatever the grievance he had with his wife, what good is it if he kills himself too?
Those who are suicidal anyway may consider murdering a worthwhile action of vengeance if they won’t be alive themselves to be held to account for their action.
Yet, the truth remains that dialogue and compromise are always best used to quench or at least minimise the hurt that may result from any type of dispute.
