Add suicide to the ever-expanding list of the havoc wreaked on Gulf states since the BP platform exploded more than two months ago, killing 11 and spewing millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico, with no end in sight.
Family and friends count Alabama charter boat captain William Allen "Rookie" Kruse as the 12th human fatality in the disaster, saying that his disgust with using his boat to help BP clean up the spill instead of being able to take tourists out on his $5,000 fishing charters drove him to suicide, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Kruse’s death, from a bullet fired from the Glock pistol he kept in his boat’s wheelhouse for protection, also jolted officials with the realization that the potential may be higher because the fishermen and others are proud folks who might not ask for help.
For example, they say, when friends ventured back to Kruse’s home deep in the oak and pine woods along the Bon Secour River, and asked how he was doing, he replied that he was okay.
“They asked again after the man who earned his nickname working fishing boats in the 1960s became frustrated with the hoops BP representatives kept making him jump through to get work on the cleanup,” the Times story explains, adding, “Still fine, Kruse said.”
Until Wednesday morning, when the two deckhands he sent on an errand said he appeared fine. He climbed into the wheelhouse of the boat that carried his name, took out the Glock pistol that he kept there for protection, and . . .
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