Killing Homeless Stereotypes in Orange County

At first glance, he appears to be the stereotypical image of a killer of homeless Americans. Young. Male. Angry. Short hair, almost to the point of being a skinhead.

Since 1999, the National Coalition for the Homeless has documented nearly 1,200 violent crimes against homeless Americans with one in five ending up dead. Nearly 90 percent of the perpetrators were male, and 80 percent were under the age of 25 years old.

The young man, nick-named "Izzy", was recently charged with killing four homeless men in Orange County, Calif., and perfectly fit the stereotype as if written by some Hollywood script writer. Male, 23 years old, with a military crew.

After hearing of the arrest, most homeless advocates probably first whispered under their relieved breaths, "I knew it."

But the stereotype ended at the first glimpse.

With the media scouring Izzy's background, as if he was a recently captured "Jack the Ripper", the story of a disturbed young veteran of the Iraq War was revealed.

Yes, he was male and young. But family and friends tell the world that he was a compassionate young person who donated to Toys for Tots, and would even help homeless persons.

Izzy was an American hero, at one time, fighting for our country with the Marines, as part of the few and the proud.

Like many Americans hit hard by a stubborn economy Izzy lost his job. His family lost their home through foreclosure, and his father started living in a vehicle.

The root cause for the transition from a typical middle-class American to a serial killer of impoverished people is probably found on the battlefield of a Middle Eastern country. The ghosts of battle haunt even the most compassionate individual. Walk into any homeless shelter in America and one in five temporary residents will share their nightmares on the battlefield.

No wonder why the Veterans Affairs Department is pumping billions of dollars into a program to end veteran homelessness in five years. Too many of our American heroes are returning home to a state of homelessness.

It is so ironic and tragic that a veteran with a homeless father is the young man charged with brutally stabbing to death four homeless Americans.

Talk about dispelling stereotypes.

 

 

 

Follow Joel John Roberts on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joeljohnroberts

Comments

[lizp33558]

05:51 AM on 02/23/2012

this is a terrible story for everbody

[DJ Jaffe]

10:51 AM on 01/24/2012

There have been several recent killings of and by people with untreated severe mental illness in Orange County and throughout California. In some of these cases the issue was that they were so psychotic they did not recognize their need for treatment and therefore were refused treatment by mental health officials and transferred to jails, prisons, shelters and morgues. California's Laura's Law allows judges to involuntarily commit the mental health system to providing care for these individuals rather than simply turning away. MHSA allows funding of this. I would hope that political correctness would not prevent homeless advocates from recognizing that there is a small group of homeless who could benefit from Laura's Law. They should work to implement http://lauras-law.org

[Julia Bailey]

10:51 AM on 01/18/2012

“What I see there is the president and secretary willing to do something that rarely happens in government, which is to set a clear, measurable and time-phased goal -- zero homelessness by 2015 for our veterans -- and then apply the resources, the planning and the leadership to make that happen,” Gould said.

For the people who watch FOX news and don't get all the info on what the President is doing. That is from the DOD article.