Thompson Shot Himself While on Phone with Wife
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James Joyner | Friday, February 25, 2005 |
Thompson Shot Himself While on Phone (AJC)
The widow of journalist Hunter S. Thompson said her husband killed himself while the two were talking on the phone. “I was on the phone with him, he set the receiver down and he did it. I heard the clicking of the gun,” Anita Thompson told the Aspen Daily News in Friday’s editions.
She said her husband had asked her to come home from a health club so they could work on his weekly ESPN column â but instead of saying goodbye, he set the telephone down and shot himself. Thompson said she heard a loud, muffled noise, but didn’t know what had happened. “I was waiting for him to get back on the phone,” she said. [...] His son, daughter-in-law and 6-year-old grandson were in the house when the shooting occurred.Anita Thompson, 32, said her husband had discussed killing himself in recent months and had been issuing verbal and written directives about what he wanted done with his body, his unpublished works and his assets. His suicidal talk put a strain on their relationship, she said. “He wanted to leave on top of his game. I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision,” she said. “It was a problem for us.”
What a selfish, despicable act. What sort of bastard shoots himself while on the phone with his wife and with his family right in the house?
Ann Althouse finds the story creepy as well, also noting the age difference (which I did mentally upon the first reading, too). Greyhawk doesn’t have any commentary beyond repeating the last line that I quoted above.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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- None Found
- ZuDfunck linked with HST: Details We Could Do With Out
- Secure Liberty linked with Hunter S. Thompson - Suicide
- BitsBlog linked with Hunter Thompson Dead at 67
- The American Mind linked with Cruelty
- Who Can Really Say? linked with Headless Indeed
Very sad in so many ways...
Still, not too surprising, as what little I do know about Hunter S. Thompson suggests a profoundly selfish person.
Sad indeed. Especially, I'm sorry to be the one to say, the part about wanting "to leave on top of his game."
My thoughts and prayers are with the family. This will be a tough one for them to get over.
The widow tells the first-person account of the whole ordeal in the Rocky Mountain News online. It is a bizarre story. It almost seems like he was running a cult.
Weird guy.
What sort of bastard shoots himself while on the phone with his wife and with his family right in the house?
The answer, apparently, is Hunter S. Thompson.
Even more strange is how we learn that he has been talking about killing himself for a while now, yet all the wife can say is that it put a strain on their relationship. Didn't she try to get him help?
It appears that Thompson's wife, Anita, was a good match for him. For anyone who has loved, can you imagine saying about your loved one's desire to commit suicide: "I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision."?
CNN put Eason Jordan's resignation on the Entertainment page, too. Oh well.
What sort of bastard shoots himself while on the phone with his wife and with his family right in the house?
My answer: the sort of bastard who would use drugs and alcohol like candy for four decades or so.
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