October 26

NY Banker–"Perfect Gentleman" shot son and fatally shot himself – prescribed antidepressant found

NY Banker–“Perfect Gentleman” shot son and fatally shot himself – prescribed antidepressant found

Thu, 6 Oct 2005

Yet another example of a person prescribed an SSRI antidepressant–in this case Lexapro–who explodes in an uncharacteristic murderous rampage.

The NY Daily News reports:

A “perfect gentleman” banker who had threatened his family – vowing to “kill everybody in bed” – wounded his teenage son and fatally shot himself yesterday during a rampage in their million-dollar Queens home. “Police seized four unlicensed guns and several prescription drug bottles – including the anti-depressant Lexapro – in the dad’s name from the neat, two-story home on Browvale Lane.”

What evidence exists in FDA’s database–including clinical trials and MedWatch reports–that shows a relationship between SSRI antidepressants and violent –even murderously violent–outbursts in adults and adolescents?

Why has this safety hazard–affecting, as it does, individuals, their families, their co-workers, and communities–been kept secret?

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
212-595-8974

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/353025p-300936c.html

DAILY NEWS
He shoots teen son, kills self
‘Depressed’ banker in Queens rampage
BY OREN YANIV, TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and TONY SCLAFANI

A “perfect gentleman” banker who had threatened his family – vowing to “kill everybody in bed” – wounded his teenage son and fatally shot himself yesterday during a rampage in their million-dollar Queens home, cops said.

The toll might have been worse if Angeline Low, 55, hadn’t ripped away two guns from her husband, Mark, after he shot their 17-year-old son in the shoulder and tried again to kill them both, sources said.

Mark Low, 61, a Manhattan banker who battled depression, finally fled down the stairs and fired a shotgun into his mouth at their Little Neck Hills house, police said.

Low had told his family the night before that he wanted “to kill everybody in bed,” a police source said.

“He was probably going to kill everybody. He was depressed – just snapped,” another police source said. “He was going after the kid and she saved him.”

The teen, Wesley Low, was taken to North Shore University Hospital in stable condition. His mother was not hurt. Two older sons who don’t live in the home weren’t there at the time.

“I heard some screaming, but I thought they were having a bad day with Wesley,” said longtime next-door neighbor Karen Bartolotta, 59. “I wouldn’t be surprised that she put herself in harm’s way to save her son.”

Police seized four unlicensed guns and several prescription drug bottles – including the anti-depressant Lexapro – in the dad’s name from the neat, two-story home on Browvale Lane.

Shocked neighbors described the seemingly mild-mannered Mark Low as a caring father and black-belt karate instructor who practiced martial arts in the backyard. He enjoyed duck hunting and recently taught his son how to drive the family car.

“He never raised his voice,” Bartolotta said. “He never had a temper. He was a perfect gentleman.”

The heroic mom told cops she was in the kitchen making breakfast about 9:25 a.m. when she heard gunfire from her son’s room. When she ran upstairs, she found her husband standing over his son’s bed, clutching the shotgun, police sources said.

Although she managed to wrest the gun away from her husband, he found a second gun in the house and squeezed off a round, missing his wife and son, the sources said.

She disarmed him again, but he darted downstairs, where he committed suicide, sources said.

“They are just wonderful people,” Bartolotta said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

With Alison Gendar and Rich Schapiro

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