In 2012, Stockton, California, an agricultural city of 290,000 ninety minutes east of San Francisco, had fallen on hard times. The real estate collapse and fiscal mismanagement had bankrupted the city. The mayor, in order to pay for government pensions and the interest on the municipal debt, laid-off police officers, fire fighters, and other city workers.
Besides high unemployment, Stockton, with 59 criminal homicides in 2012, had one of the highest per capita murder rates in the country. On October 22, 2012, a 45-year-old resident of the city named Colin McGrattan made a significant contribution to Stockton's outrageous murder statistics.
McGrattan grew up in Ledyard, Connecticut, a town of 15,000 in the southeast corner of the state. The University of Connecticut graduate's mother, Mary McGrattan, had served two terms as the town's mayor and five terms as a representative in the State House. She sat on Ledyard's town council.
In Stockton, before Colin McGrattan and his 57-year-old wife Jackie Arata were divorced, she inherited an orchard and a house in Linden, California worth between $500,000 and $1 million. When it came time to divide the marital assets, Colin, a marriage counselor who specialized in "anger management and family issues," argued that half of his wife's inherited real estate should go to him. The divorce judge didn't agree, finding that Jackie Arata did not have to give up half of this inheritance. Colin McGrattan failed to take this ruling in stride, and didn't follow his own advice on how to control one's anger.
On Monday afternoon, October 22, 2012, McGrattan shot Jackie Arata to death with a .38-caliber revolver. He wrapped her corpse in a tarp, placed it into the back of his minivan, and drove himself and his murdered ex-wife to her sister's house in Stockton. McGrattan entered the house and shot 64-year-old Kathleen Arata to death. McGrattan got back into his silver minivan and drove to an upscale retirement home in Stockton called O'Connor Woods Senior Living. It was there he murdered his ex-wife's aunt, 88-year-old Chizuko Kenishi.
Colin McGratton ended his killing spree at the retirement home by putting the revolver to his head and pulling the trigger.
Besides high unemployment, Stockton, with 59 criminal homicides in 2012, had one of the highest per capita murder rates in the country. On October 22, 2012, a 45-year-old resident of the city named Colin McGrattan made a significant contribution to Stockton's outrageous murder statistics.
McGrattan grew up in Ledyard, Connecticut, a town of 15,000 in the southeast corner of the state. The University of Connecticut graduate's mother, Mary McGrattan, had served two terms as the town's mayor and five terms as a representative in the State House. She sat on Ledyard's town council.
In Stockton, before Colin McGrattan and his 57-year-old wife Jackie Arata were divorced, she inherited an orchard and a house in Linden, California worth between $500,000 and $1 million. When it came time to divide the marital assets, Colin, a marriage counselor who specialized in "anger management and family issues," argued that half of his wife's inherited real estate should go to him. The divorce judge didn't agree, finding that Jackie Arata did not have to give up half of this inheritance. Colin McGrattan failed to take this ruling in stride, and didn't follow his own advice on how to control one's anger.
On Monday afternoon, October 22, 2012, McGrattan shot Jackie Arata to death with a .38-caliber revolver. He wrapped her corpse in a tarp, placed it into the back of his minivan, and drove himself and his murdered ex-wife to her sister's house in Stockton. McGrattan entered the house and shot 64-year-old Kathleen Arata to death. McGrattan got back into his silver minivan and drove to an upscale retirement home in Stockton called O'Connor Woods Senior Living. It was there he murdered his ex-wife's aunt, 88-year-old Chizuko Kenishi.
Colin McGratton ended his killing spree at the retirement home by putting the revolver to his head and pulling the trigger.
The truth is that most anger management programs offer shallow solutions like, “count to 10” and “take a deep breath.” That is just not enough for someone struggling with anger. Most anger management counselors do not understand the science of anger, how anger works in your brain, and what really happens to make your angry. Since they don’t understand this, they give obsolete and incomplete guidance.
ReplyDeleteAnger Management Counseling Denver
In this case- maybe you should dispense with sweeping generalizations and jumping to conclusions that he wasn't a talented and skilled therapist since you obviously didn't know him.
DeleteA few days before I take a vacation to my former home state of California I was corresponding with a good friend with whom I am planning to meet up with when I get there. It turns out this friend and I were both (particularly him) friends with Colin McGrattan. As a result of the impending reunion, I decided to peruse a few articles and revisit the events of which I have put some distance between in the past few years ago.
DeleteI found your article flippant and distasteful. With off handed disregard for those who might accidentally and with little fortune stumble onto your blog you ignored any respect for a subject that you likely have little information about other than what you gleaned from a wiki site.
"So much for anger management"
This line alone should leave you feeling ashamed. Regardless of the fact that a blog is the equivalent of a poorly printed pamphlet stuck under a desk of an endless library of otherwise more colorful and higher quality materials- know that real people who really know the individuals behind the names touched by this subject are able to stumble upon this.
This is real life- develop some tact and humility.
Gabriel, you sound...angry!
Deleteperhaps what is in need of development is a thicker skin on you.
ReplyDelete