Armed man disrupts AA meeting (Where I live!)

[Catty1]

I caught up on some of this at a meeting I went to today...everyone was fine. But it could have been a LOT worse. If you need to be talked down, a meeting like this is the place to do it.

The guy had lost his job, was coming down off morphine and had been "delusional all day", according to his wife. She dropped him off at the meeting, and a few minutes after she left, she saw police cars rushing in the direction of the hall. She turned around and went right back!

We are all hoping that this guy gets help and is ok. Yes, the members there were scared - but no one panicked.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ad/cbc-0903...a_meeting_guns

Armed man disrupts AA meeting

2 hours, 42 minutes ago

CALGARY (CBC) - A man walked into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Cochrane, Alta., and brandished two loaded guns, but the situation was diffused peacefully.
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Just before 8 p.m. on Tuesday, RCMP were called to Weedon Community Hall just north of Cochrane about a man who walked in with a revolver and a shotgun.

The man made no explicit threats, said RCMP Const. Darleen White in a news release.

He unloaded and surrendered the weapons at the request of people attending the meeting, who then walked out of the building with the guns and gave them to police.

The suspect left on foot and was arrested by the RCMP about an hour later without incident, said police.

Charges are pending.

[RedHedd]

Guess we'll be saving him a seat, eh?

[Catty1]

Hee, hee! Yup!

As one blogger on a newsite said, "Keep coming back."

I posted, "Hell, that would've scared me sober in a second!"

And one other - "Ooo, a new Twelve-Step program."

The one I feel most for is the kid who was at his first meeting when the guy with the guns showed up! Poor guy! The senior member who brought him has contacted him to tell him this is NOT the norm at all...can you imagine?

[Daisy and Delilah]

I know it must be hard enough to attend those meetings. I would have been terrified!! I hope all the people come back and don't get scared away.

[Catty1]

They all will come back. They are the ones that persuaded this guy to unload his guns and then lay them on the table.

He was mostly disarmed by the spiritual vibe in the room - they let him talk, and talked to him as an equal. Addiction of any kind being a sickness, the folks there were on home turf.

[Cataholic]

Addictions ARE a disease, for sure. However, being delusional is a state of mind, and with two loaded firearms, people were really testing their faith by staying in the meeting. AA or not, that is pure lunacy to me.

[Catty1]

Um - he was between the group and the door, with loaded guns, the 44 was aimed. I have been to that meeting and know the layout of the room. Big room, seated around banquet style rectangular tables in a large circle. They were wide open targets.
No way to sneak out without being seen - and shot.

They didn't deal with him out of sheer compassion - they did it out of wanting to live. Trust me!