A family in Missouri turned their mentally ill son into police after they felt he was going to start a shootout similar to the one in Aurora, Colo.Tricia Lammers' son Blaec Lammers was in and out of mental facilities throughout his life, mainly for his violent nature.
Despite being admitted several times to mental institutions, he was able to buy a $865 shotgun at a Missouri Walmart, the same Walmart where he was arrested by police a year earlier for holding a butcher knife and wearing a Halloween mask.
He told his parents after the incident that he had planned to kill an employee once the person went to the backroom. He said he was inspired by the movie Halloween.
"What he told us was he had picked out someone. He was going to watch them go into the back room, follow them back there, and hopefully the police would get him and shoot him first before he did anything," his father Bill said.
When Tricia decided to turn her son into police, she said, "My first thought was, 'What have I done? I just destroyed my son's life.' And people would come up and say to me, 'No, you saved our lives.'"
"This is my hell. This is my hell. If I make it through this, I go to heaven."
While his parents repeatedly checked him into institutions, he only stayed for four days at a time, which is the legal limit without a court order.
They also didn't realize how serious his mental condition was, as doctors seemed to not properly diagnose him. Each time he was admitted, he was given different medication and a new diagnosis, ranging from Asperger's to schizophrenia.
Once he was able to buy the shotgun, he had been in the institution seven times, but none of it showed up on his background check because he had not been committed involuntarily by the courts.
It took Tricia just one day after discovering the gun to contact police, who arrested him.
Later, investigators found out he had purchased two assault rifles and 400 rounds of ammunition.
He admitted he was planning on launching a murderous shooting spree in a movie theater during the opening weekend of the new Twilight film. He had already purchased a ticket to Breaking Dawn Part 2.
He also said he planned on starting a shootout at the Walmart near him, and was going to "just start shooting people at random until police arrived."
Lammers is now in Polk County jail charged with making a terrorist threat, first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He is facing life in prison.
Sources: Daily Mail, CBS Reported by Opposing Views 12 hours ago.