Suicide

Update: Grandma May Have Been Triggerwoman in Howrey Associate Murder-Suicide

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Elizabeth Fontaine Howrey LLP.jpgIn yesterday’s post regarding the tragedy that left a Howrey associate, Elizabeth Fontaine (pictured), and three of her family members dead, we promised to keep you posted on new developments. We now bring you this update, from the Orange County Register:

Sheriff’s investigators believe they know how four people, including two young sisters, died in a bloody heap Monday inside a million-dollar home in Talega.

Grandmother Bonnie Hoult, 67, fired the gun that killed her daughter and grandchildren before turning the .357 magnum on herself, a senior homicide investigator told the Register, citing the department’s prevailing theory behind the killings that rocked a gated community.

He said her daughter Elizabeth Fontaine, 38, appeared to have been a willing participant in the killings, with both she and her mother choosing death for themselves and the girls instead of allowing the sisters to be sent temporarily into the custody of a sister of their father.

More about these modern-day Medeas, after the jump.

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Howrey Associate Dead in Family Tragedy

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Howrey logo.JPGTragedy struck the Irvine, CA, and Houston offices of Howrey earlier this week. The ABA Journal reports:

A Howrey intellectual property lawyer was found dead along with her daughters and mother Monday in an apparent murder-suicide.
Associate Elizabeth Fontaine, her two daughters and her mother were killed on the same day that a California judge gave temporary custody of the girls to an aunt, according to the Los Angeles Times’ L.A. Now blog and the Associated Press. Authorities are conducting forensics tests to determine who pulled the trigger.

Howrey confirmed that Elizabeth Fontaine was a Howrey employee in a firm-wide email yesterday. The email, plus AN UPDATE, after the jump.

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Casey McGinnis, RIP
Missing Michigan 1L Took His Own Life

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Casey McGinnis University of Michigan law student.jpgThis afternoon brings tragic news. Casey McGinnis, a first-year law student at the University of Michigan who was previously reported missing, has passed away. From AnnArbor.com:

A University of Michigan Law School student reported missing last month hanged himself, Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies said.

The body of 35-year-old Casey Neil McGinnis was found Wednesday afternoon in a wooded area behind the Washtenaw County Recreation Center on Washtenaw Avenue, deputies said.

We extend our deepest condolences to McGinnis’s family and friends. A message from Michigan Assistant Dean David Baum, which includes a statement from the McGinnis family, appears after the jump.

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Missing Michigan 1L Took His Own Life”

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Breaking: A Sad Day at Kilpatrick Stockton

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Kilpatrick Stockton logo.JPGWe’re not entirely sure of all the details, but there appears to be a very sad situation developing at Kilpatrick Stockton in D.C. today. Everybody in Kilpatrick’s building received this email this morning:

Good morning,

Please remain in our space until further notice. Metropolitan Police Department are currently responding to an unconscious male with a gunshot wound to the head on the 11th floor of Kilpatrick & Stockton. We are contacting building management to determine further information.

We will keep you posted. Thank you.

Kilpatrick is located at 607 14th Street, NW in D.C.

After the jump, we have another email from building management and a statement from the firm.

Update (1:54 PM): We also have reports from tipsters, after the jump.

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More About the Virginia Tech Shootings

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Virginia Tech shooting VT Above the Law blog.JPGWe’ve learned more about the tragic killings at Virginia Tech since our brief post from yesterday. We’re guessing you’re following the case as closely as we are. But in case you’re not, here are some new facts:
1. The final death toll — at the time of our last post, it was over 20 — is now 33 (including the shooter, who killed himself).
2. We now know the identity of the killer. “He is Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old resident alien of the United States, as first reported by ABC News.”
Feel free to discuss further in the comments.
Virginia Tech Killer Identified [ABC News]
Virginia Gunman Identified as a Student [New York Times]
D.C. Area Man Was Va. Tech Shooter [Washington Post]
Earlier: Breaking: Gunman Kills At Least 20 at Virginia Tech

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Lawyer Jumps To His Death From Empire State Building

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Empire State Building Above the Law legal blog.jpgThis is tragic rather than funny. But it’s the subject of much gossip right now, and several of you have written to us about it. So here’s a quick post.
On Friday, Moshe Kanovsky, a 31-year-old lawyer from Brooklyn, jumped to his death, from the 69th floor of the Empire State Building. From the New York Daily News:

It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted Kanovsky’s suicide.

“He was interviewing a client,” said a man who works in the suite. “He just got up, opened the window and jumped.”

A police source said that Kanovsky met with the client in one room and jumped from another.

Jokes about the misery of Biglaw driving people to suicide would be misplaced:

Investigators questioned employees at Levine & Blit, a personal injury practice, and at Ashok Karmaker. Both law firms share a suite on the 69th floor where Kanovsky “did odds-and-ends work” for Karmaker.

Our condolences go out to the Kanovsky family.
Empire State Building Suicide Shocks Neighborhood [Gothamist]
Lawyer dies in Empire suicide horror [New York Daily News]
EMPIRE STATE DEATH LEAP [New York Post]

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