The perils of family life

Last week the Montreal suburb I live in was rocked by a triple murder/attempted suicide. A 41 year-old man killed his two children and his wife and then tried to kill himself. He failed and is currently on life support.

See the report (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/10/16/qc-triplemurder.html)

This hits closer to home for me because the eldest child, a daughter was a science student at the college where I teach chemistry. Many of my students knew her well and are devastated.

This is the first time that something like this has happened in this area since I became a parent. I am in utter shock. I can't imagine the thought process that leads someone to do this.

I'm not trying to be holier-than-thou or anything, I just feel that someone who feels that his family will suffer less (for whatever reason) because they are dead is clearly in need of help.

What do you think?