Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell little known by neighbors
HOLLISTER, Calif. — John Patrick Bedell was a brilliant and seemingly gentle computer whiz, yet so withdrawn that people in this rural community where his parents and grandparents are civic leaders knew little about him — until he opened fire at the Pentagon this week.
Family and friends now paint a portrait of a troubled man who sank deep into mental illness and anti-government rants, even as his mother — a nursing instructor — tried to seek help.
"The family tried over and over to get him into some kind of treatment, but because he was an adult, they were restricted," said Reb Monaco, a family friend for three decades. "Patrick himself was in some sort of denial."
It is still unclear why Bedell opened fire at the Pentagon entrance Thursday — wounding two police officers before he was fatally shot — though he had railed on the Internet about his distrust of the government and his distaste for marijuana laws.
"We may never know why he made this terrible decision," his devastated family said in a statement Friday. "One thing is clear though — his actions were caused by an illness and not a defective character."
Bedell, 36, a graduate student in electrical engineering at San Jose State University, was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years.
After a 2006 marijuana and resisting arrest case in Orange County, Calif., his psychiatrist said Bedell tried to self-medicate with pot, inadvertently making his bi-polar disorder symptoms more pronounced.
In a letter to the court in 2008, Bedell explained: "I was experiencing an episode of mental illness... which subsequently led to psychiatric hospitalization. I do not have any record of threatened or actual violence prior to this incident, and I am deeply sorry..."
Bedell lived here with his parents in a gated golf course community. His mother Kaye is director of the nursing program at Gavilan College. His father, Oscar John Bedell Jr., is a private financial adviser.
"In my opinion, they are the typical American Family," said Pat Loe, a county supervisor who has known the family for 30 years.
But John Bedell disappeared at least twice recently from his parents' home.
On Jan. 3, a Texas Department of Public Safety officer stopped him for speeding near Amarillo, smelling of marijuana and saying he was heading to the East Coast. Bedell acted strangely, sitting on his knees by the roadside and turning off his cell phone whenever it rang.
