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After killing his parents and three younger siblings at home, 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego reloaded an assault rifle and a .22-caliber rifle and planned to go somewhere "populated" and randomly shoot more people until he could be killed in a shootout with law enforcement, authorities said.

The New Mexico teen also sent a picture of his dead mother to his girlfriend, and met her and her grandmother at the church where his father used to work, according to charging documents.

It wasn't immediately clear if that contact avoided further bloodshed. But a statement of probable cause says Griego spent time at the church, first talking to his girlfriend and her grandmother and then meeting with the church pastor and a security guard.

Church officials called authorities

After killing his father, Griego said he reloaded the guns so "he could drive to a populated area to murder more people," according to the statement.

His plan, the statement said, was to "shoot people at random and eventually be killed while exchanging gunfire with law enforcement." Much more at http://news.yahoo.com/report-mexico-teen-planned-more-shootings-163446
042.html

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The teen had no history of mental illness, and drugs and alcohol didn't appear to be a factor, Houston said. He did note, however, that the teen liked violent video games, including "Modern Warfare" and "Grand Theft Auto." Houston did not say whether he believed the games were a factor.

Greg Griego was a gang member-turned pastor who had once served at Calvary, one of Albuquerque's largest Christian churches. He had an extensive arrest record from his gang days.
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In addition to the two rifles, there were two 12-gauge pistol-grip shotguns in the home, Houston said. Griego's father had taught him to use guns, and they shot together on a regular basis, Houston said. More at

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Greg Griego's wife, a son and two daughters were already dead. One of his other sons, Nehemiah, 15, was waiting for him in a bathroom with a high-velocity AR-15 rifle, police say.

Greg Griego, who'd turned around a troubled life and involvement with gangs to become a chaplain .... was returning home from an overnight shift at the Albuquerque Rescue Mission when he was killed early Saturday morning. Excerpts from http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-griego-albuquerq
ue-shooting-20130123,0,5069135.story]
There's much mention of him loving video games and only coming alive when he discussed them, while having a flat affect when talking about his family and the killing. Where he played the video games isn't mentioned in any article, tho'

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local media said the home schooled teen wasn’t allowed to play video games, and that his family never let him watch violent shows on television.
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He waited for her to fall asleep, and then is believed to have helped himself to his parents’ guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle and a .22 caliber pistol.

They’d been kept in a closet, and not in a safe, the report said.Excerpts from: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/n-m-teen-accused-killing-family-
quiet-article-1.1243888#ixzz2J6NwxMzN I met Nehemiah, I knew something wasn't right," Harrison said Wednesday. "I could feel it, I could see it in his eyes and I could see it in his behavior and his demeanor so the red flags went up and that's when I called the sheriff's department."

Harrison said he drove Griego back to the family's rural southwest Albuquerque home to meet authorities, interviewing him along the way.

"He went into detail of where they were, where the guns were and he was very matter-of-fact, really cold so I knew something wasn't right," Harrison said.
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He said he doesn't know why Griego decided to come to the church, but that it was like a second home for the boy, who was schooled at his house. Excerpt from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/nehemiah-griego-new-mexico-fa
mily-murder_n_2533035.html]
There's a video of his uncle giving a statement:

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That clip doesn’t show other parts of the interview. But, according to local television reports, Griego questioned during the interview the potential role in the killings of his nephew’s 12-year-old girlfriend, with whom Nehemiah reportedly exchanged a series of text messages — including a photograph of 40-year-old Sarah Griego’s dead body. Sheriff’s officials have said the girl is not facing any charges at this time.

"Eric Griego recently appeared on a nationally syndicated talk show, and as a result, the Sheriff has received new requests for interviews today in response to statements apparently made by Mr. Griego. Sheriff Houston stands by the facts as presented in the investigation of this horrific case." Excerpts from http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/01/24/abqnewsseeker/bernco-sheriff
-wont-comment-on-griego-family-statements.html]
What "statements" did Griego make that resulted in people wanting a new interview?

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The statement noted that several family members were military veterans. "Pictures of [Nehemiah Griego] being circulated in his dad's old fatigues were part of his interest in someday being a soldier," the family statement noted. Excerpt from http://abcnews.go.com/US/alleged-mexico-family-killer-nehemiah-griegos
-girlfriend-tells/story?id=18290148&page=2

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We can probably never know what makes a person do what he did, so I'm just trying to put bits and pieces together to get a picture. Tried to find the interviews I saw, but have been unable to.

Obviously news stories can be wrong, nobody but the boy knows why he did what he did, and we can guess forever whether he was suffering from an existing mental illness, snapped, or what.

Trying to put together a picture, I thought about a father who was a gang member then became a pastor (as some who get religion or are reformed from violence can be overly strict and hard to live with, and who can sometimes put themselves into something "redeeming" at the cost of paying attention to their own family), who was homeschooled (thereby not getting normal social interaction), felt the church was a second home (might there have been something wrong with his first home?), wore fatigues and wanted to be in the military, loved violent video games but wasn't allowed to play them or see violent TV at home (maybe played them at his girlfriend's house? Certainly went THERE first after the murders...how much time did he spend there, with a different family?). The father was apparently deeply involved in trying to "save" jail inmates in several places and, coming home at 5am from an overnight shift doing such things again makes me wonder how much time he spent with his own family.

Why would a young man who everyone described as "bright", "polite" and "talented", who'd never had problems with the law before, suddenly do such a thing? Unquestionably he was mentally unstable/really fucked up when he did it, but people don't "suddenly" become mentally ill, there are almost always signs along the way.

I'm just guessing, nothing more, because I find people fascinating and am often curious about what makes them tick. One thing I'm REALLY curious about is why I can't find the two interviews I saw....? I've looked on YouTube, Googled the story, and they're nowhere. All I can tell you is I DID see them...if anyone else unearths one or the other, I'd be grateful if they'd post them.

One other thing is absolutely unquestionable to me: not keeping guns locked away made all this possible.

Tit for tat got us where we are today. If we want to be grownups, we need to resist the ugliness. If we each did, this would be a better reflection on Firefly and a more welcome place. I will try.