(Dear Friends, if a loved one exhibits any violent nature towards you, contact professionals/authorities immediately. In cases such as this, perhaps nuero-counseling or a change in medications may help. Alex.)
Investigators are trying to determine what led a Texas teenager to fatally stab his brother and his television-personality mother before mortally wounding himself, police said Monday. * Police in the Dallas suburb of Plano said 19-year old McCann Utu Jr. attacked his 45-year-old mother, Stacy Fawcett, and his 17-year-old brother early Friday before stabbing himself multiple times at the family’s home. Authorities said he called 911 at some point and admitted to the killings. * Tilley said investigators are conducting interviews with family and friends who say Utu’s disposition dramatically changed after he suffered a concussion during a high school basketball game in the fall of 2013, and then another concussion a few months later during an altercation with another student. * Utu’s uncle, Scott Fawcett, said his nephew’s mood took a dramatic turn about a year ago, and that he was receiving psychiatric care and concussion therapy. * “He had just completely mentally dwindled away,” Fawcett told Dallas TV station WFAA, where Stacy Fawcett provided weekly segments on her favorite dishes and other food-related coverage. * Sarah Stoddard, an assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, said an eight-year study she was involved in indicated that young people who suffered a brain injury were more likely to engage in violent behavior. Stoddard, who isn’t involved in the Utu investigation, said personality changes can result from damage to the brain’s frontal lobe. * Fawcett’s brother Justin Fawcett told WFAA that McCann Utu went on a rampage — taking knives from the kitchen and stabbing his mom and brother, a senior at Plano West High School. * Waseem Limbada, a friend of McCann Utu, told WFAA on Friday that his friend changed after suffering a concussion in the fall of 2013 while playing for the Plano West basketball team. He said Utu never played again because he couldn’t pass the concussion protocol test. * “When he kept failing it, he had a lot of free time on his hands, he wasn’t showing up to practice,” Limbada said. “It just put him with the wrong crowd, started doing drugs, started being with the wrong people.” (UK DailyMail.com & DallasStarTelegram.com)