Idaho courthouse shooting reveals difficulty of locking up mentally ill

As the bullet-pocked county courthouse reopened following a shooting rampage that left four people dead, authorities defended their response to the shooter's cryptic warning that he wanted to kill lots of people.

Jason Hamilton had recently told a mental health professional he would take a large number of people with him if he were to commit suicide. This weekend, he killed his wife, a deputy and a church sexton before taking his own life at the Latah County Courthouse.

Police said Tuesday that a search of Hamilton's home turned up an Aryan Nations flag and written materials from the white supremacist group. Police were investigating the extent of Hamilton's ties to the group, but he did not appear to be an active member, police said.

The victims in the shootings were all white.

Hamilton's comment about wanting to kill others if he killed himself _ later recanted _ may have raised a red flag but was not specific enough to allow authorities to have him involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in Idaho or many other states, police and mental health professionals say.

"Any time you live in a society where people have freedoms, it's very difficult to restrict their movements," said Sheriff Wayne Rausch, whose communications office and patrol cars were riddled with bullet holes. "It's very difficult to take specific actions against them unless they actually break the law."

Most mental health treatment in Idaho is voluntary.

"We can't make someone receive treatment," said Tom Shanahan, a state Health and Welfare spokesman. "Unless a court commits a person to our care, treatment is voluntary."

But others want involuntary commitment laws changed. Hamilton had been evaluated for involuntary confinement, but a judge had not yet made the final decision that he was dangerous enough to send him to a mental hospital.

Hamilton's statement that he would take people with him, while not naming a specific individual, "nevertheless is an expression of danger to other people," Jonathan Stanley, assistant director of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Va.

He predicted that more tragedies like the one in Moscow last weekend will happen until improvements are made in involuntary commitment laws to make it easier to get people quickly into mental health treatment programs.

"As tragic as this is for the families, this is just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

Because privacy laws prohibit disclosure of mental health records, circumstances surrounding Hamilton's journey through Idaho's mental health system, or whether mental illness was diagnosed, remained vague.

What is clear is that Hamilton, 36, who had a history of violence, was placed in protective custody on a court-ordered 72-hour mental health hold after a failed suicide attempt in February, said David Duke, Moscow assistant police chief.

Hamilton had received two mental health evaluations and had appeared in a Latah County courtroom May 15, but was released on the condition that he get mental health counseling and not possess any weapons, Duke said. A judge continued the hearing for a month, a common practice, to allow Hamilton to seek counseling in nearby Pullman, Wash.

Moscow Police Chief Daniel Weaver said the recent shootings of a University of Idaho student and at Virginia Tech show how difficult it is to know when a mentally ill person could become violent.

"To blame professionals for that is in error," he said. "Unfortunately, we have some folks that turn to the dark side and do things that are abhorrent to us and illegal and harm society."