When they heard about the Columbine shootings in 1999, Elaine and Tom Sonnen had a very different reaction from most parents. Instead of shock, or grief, what they felt was recognition. The anger and alienation of the shooters reminded the Sonnens of their own son, Richard, who had been prone to aggressive and unpredictable outbursts since shortly after they adopted him from Bulgaria when he was four years old. The Sonnens resolved to keep a very close eye on Richard, who - although he was only ten years old - had already screamed at his parents many times that he wanted to kill them.
It turns out, the Sonnens were right to be wary. Richard continued to struggle with social and behavior problems. In eighth grade, he was diagnosed with both bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders, for which he was prescribed anti-psychotic medication. Then, two-and-a-half years ago, when he was a junior in high school, Richard confessed to his mom that he had drawn up a hit list of eight classmates he wanted to kill, and had constructed an elaborate plan on how to do it by planting bombs at strategic locations throughout his school. Subsequently, he added a teacher, his mother and his sister to the list. Richard's mother immediately had him committed to a mental institution.
When I started reading this article on CNN, I assumed there was a happy ending, since both Richard and his parents had taken their story to the press, hoping to both encourage troubled kids to seek help, and to educate their parents about what warning signs to look for. But although Richard was released from the hospital after about eighteen months of treatment, and even started college at Lewis-Clark State College with the help of a cocktail of three anti-psychotics, the Sonnens are still very concerned about their son. Shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, Elaine Sonnen was contacted by police because of threats Richard allegedly made against his own school. Richard claims his words were misunderstood, and that he was talking about the threats that caused him to be institutionalized when he was sixteen, but his parents aren't so sure. Mental illness is something that never really goes away. The Sonnens are still so afraid of what their son is capable of that they keep an alarm on his bedroom door when he comes to visit them.
