You’ve all heard this story before: man comes home, shoots and kills wife/girlfriend, shoots and kills her kids and then shoots and kills himself. Happens all the damn time, all over the damn country. Hell, all over the world.
December 28th, 2010, Barnes Nettles returns to his girlfriend’s apartment with a gun to finish the assault he started earlier. In the apartment was his girlfriend, Kimberly Carter, her 11 year old daughter Ciani Jennings and Arlington Texas Police Officer Jillian Smith.
Nettles entered the apartment and brandished his pistol. Officer Smith moved to stand between the gun and Ciani Jennings. Nettles killed Officer Smith, killed his girlfriend and then killed himself. Officer Smith died a hero; she saved the life of Ciani Jennings by shielding the girl with her body.
Why do men do this?
This is not an idle question. It has haunted me for years and years. Back when I lived in Colorado in the 90’s an attorney waited in a parking garage for his ex-wife to leave work. Then he killed her (of course he used a gun, it makes killing easy) and a guy who tried to protect her. He fled and did not kill himself until the police had him cornered.
That left an impression because I had always parked in the same garage on the same floor where the murder happened. At the time it happened I worked in a women’s shelter, helping battered women get restraining orders against the men they had loved (best job I ever had, went home every day knowing I had made a difference).
I did not understand those guys then, I do not understand them now. Why do they hurt women (and in some very rare cases they hurt their male partners. Even more rarely there is violence against men by women and violence of woman against woman in lesbian relationships)? Overwhelmingly it seems that there are men out there who view women as possessions – possessions they have a right to destroy when that possession tries to leave, tries to form a relationship with another.
These men do not appear to be capable of seeing women, and often children, as complete, separate autonomous human beings.
What makes this even more striking is that I am a unipolar depressive. I fight suicidal thoughts frequently. But I never have thought about killing my ex wife or my daughter. Why would I? The idea is insane to me, like sticking my hand into a fire is insane. It is so alien it only occurs to me in the light of a tragedy like I described above.
But sometimes I feel as though I am alone in rejecting this idea that women are fully independent humans. I recently met an old high school friend who is a defense attorney. Completely oblivious to my horror he explained that his most frequently used and best defense is pretty much always "the bitch had it coming."
This guy is a diehard liberal and this is what he uses in court to defend his clients.
I don’t think this is only a cultural thing when you read about "honor killings" in Iraq, India and other parts of the world. Female circumcision is also evidence of the same attitude, I would think.
Is this instinctive? Do men behave this way because of genetic urges that make them feel they must prevent a woman taking her reproductive ability away from him? But then why do they kill what is often their own children?
I don’t understand it.
Ciani Jennings lost her mother and suffered the trauma of witnessing a double homicide – including her mother – and a suicide. The Arlington Police Department and Arlington Police Association are coordinating a fund to benefit Ciani Jennings.
The fund was created to help support Ciani’s continuing education, including college, and to help with any mental health services that she might need considering the traumatic incident that she survived.
Anyone interested in donating to the Ciani Jennings fund is able to do so through the Arlington Federal Credit Union, or by mailing donations to the Arlington Police Association – Ciani Jennings at P.O. Box 27, Arlington, TX 76004.
There is no web link to make donations, nor does the Arlington Federal Credit Union take donations by phone. You can confirm this is legitimate information at the following link: Arlington Police Association Fund For Ciani Jennings
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24 year old Officer Jillian Smith graduated from the police academy in August of 2010. She had completed her field training just 15 days before she was murdered.
G*d bless and keep you, Officer Smith.