It seems as though the "suicide posters" were kind of the odd men out at the beginning of this case and served as "devil's advocates." Now it seems as though more people are leaning in that direction and those of us still on the fence as the "murder posters" might need to now take on the roll of "devil's advocates," so hear I go. I would like to put forth several questions that I have that are keeping me from being sold on the suicide theory:
1.) Many are pointing to possible discouragement of not finding a job with another police department soon enough as a possible motive for suicide and collecting a death benefit for his family. But that is a big stretch for a healthy, physically fit man at least 20 years behind necessary retirement. Also, it seems as though he hadn't even formally decided to retire, nor was he being forced to retire at 52 years old. He could have certainly continued his work with FLPD and even looked into plenty of other avenues of employment. With his experience and skill set, he could have a career with a number of different places, even as a consultant, a trainer, an investigator, etc... It would seem as though he would have had an endless plethora of options available to him outside of the Chief of Police for Antioch.
2.) His persona - aside from a couple of short posts about disappointment in not landing the job in Antioch and being in debt, he seemed to retain his positive spirit that he seemed to display his entire life. Suicide is the result of hopelessness, IMO, and he seemed about as far away as hopeless as can possibly be. Many people have challenges finding a job, college debt, etc...but they don't commit suicide. Why him? Why now? After living a perfectly successful life, taking on and conquering challenges throughout, suddenly become so despondent as to feel the only solution was suicide.
3.) Failed self-injury attempt - I don't buy this for a moment - if he wanted it to look like an injury, he could have chosen several other places to shoot himself than in the chest. A knee cap would have sufficed.
4.) On duty/off duty situation - much has been made of his time of arrival and whether or not he reported to roll call. If he had planned this event, he would have insured he was officially "on duty" at the time of his death, and therefore, there would be no question as to whether or not he was actually "on duty."
5.) Suspects - knowing what he knows about the town he policed for 30 years, he would have known there would be videos of the area. If he had chosen these 3 suspects at random, why choose 3 suspects that can certainly be found and ruled out almost immediately? If anything, if he had seen these 3 he would likely choose someone completely different. And if he truly planned it out, which I believe he would have, he would have chosen every detail of what he was going to say to dispatch well ahead of time.
6.) The plan - he would have known full well the risk he was taking in the endeavor to try to do this. Everything was riding on this. Get it wrong and your family is not only out the death benefit, but also out their breadwinner and their beloved father. He seemed a very loving man, and I don't think he would have put his family through this without crossing every t and dotting every i. If this turns out to be suicide, I think it was a sloppy one, and I would be very surprised that this man, in particular, would have been this sloppy when it comes to the single most important event of his life, with no turning back.
7.) BLM - I don't think that has anything to do with it. Tons of cops and tons of my own friends post stuff on their FB either pro or con such a hot political issue. Nothing he has ever posted was anything much more than re-sharing previously design posts from other people - most of which I have seen all over my own FB friend's profiles as well. If he were to want to go out and try sticking it to BLM, he would have chosen a different situation - he would have said 2 black male, or 3 black male, or even 2 black 1 white. 2 white 1 black would really do nothing to BLM so much as just the more general anti-cop sentiment.
8.) No trace - hmmm....I know of so many cases out there that have had the same result. Someone obviously murdered yet no scent trail, no physical evidence, just completely inexplicable. Look at the Brown's Chicken case. I think there were several people slaughtered with no leads. Until years later someone talked, and luckily, someone chose to keep the food in the trash and was able to compare the DNA to a suspect. Not every crime is solved and those that are, generally take more than 3 weeks. I think it is extremely early in the investigation to come to any conculsions.
9.) In defense of LE, even if it is a suicide - there is a LOT riding on this. If they rule it as a suicide too early, that family, a cops family, is out in the cold. I see nothing wrong with them waiting until every test is complete and that every other option is eliminated, before ruling it a suicide and thus, closing the case. Even if the off-chance that it isn't a suicide, it will be very difficult to ever determine once the case is closed.
10.) Possible accident - could be possible, although unlikely - perhaps he did investigate 3 people and off they ran. He follows, gets to the marsh, and is spooked by something. perhaps he accidentally shoots himself. It has been known to happen. There is something called sympathetic muscle response, or something to that effect. I don't know everything there is to know, but if he was drawing his weapon and he tripped or was startled by a sound, and his finger was reaching for the gun and the trigger, it could have caused him to accidentally shoot himself. Perhaps the 2nd shot was from the gun falling or an involuntary reaction in reach back for the gun. Stranger things have happened.
Anyway, until I hear definitive word from LE that this is a suicide, I am quite comfortable (and I drive through FL all the time) with allowing the police to continue their investigation until they are 100% confident in a resolution.
