So why are they out running around loose?

First, there's this:

Minutes after he shot four of his children, his girlfriend and his cousin, Hersel M. Isadore Jr. made one last phone call, leaving a message on his sister’s answering machine.

He wanted her to know why.

In a voice that his sister described as clear but sad, Isadore said he didn’t want his family to go through the pain they were suffering. He sounded beaten and tired, his sister said, but he told her he loved her, he apologized for the killings and said he didn’t mean to hurt anybody.

Seven minutes later, he killed himself.

Aja Isadore, his sister, wanted to play the suicide message at her family’s prayer vigil Sunday night, organized by GateKeepers of Kansas City, but cries from the crowd stayed her hand. She said she had wanted to show that her brother was not angry or on drugs or alcohol.

She believes the message shows he was depressed about not giving his family enough, but she respected the crowd’s wish not to hear it at that time.

The message that community leaders want to get out is that people should reach out if they’re hurting. The Christmas season is about more than buying gifts. It’s about loving your family and leaning on each other, said Ron Hunt, a community activist.

“How many of us are living on the edge right now?” he asked. “We can’t be afraid to call for help.”

What could make a person think that killing their children and loved ones is better than another day, another chance to try again? I don't care if he wasn't angry. He still killed or injured the people who loved him.

Then there's this waste of protoplasm.

Prosecutors charged a 19-year-old man today with stabbing and critically injuring a two-week old infant.

Rickston T. Spikes of Kansas City was charged with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action.

According to court records, Spikes had been released from Western Missouri Mental Health Center a few days prior to the stabbing. On Saturday, Spikes, his brother and his brother’s baby daughter were at a home in the 1900 block of Lister Avenue. Spikes’ brother was asleep on the sofa, and the girl was sleeping in a baby chair.

The girl’s father told police that he woke and saw Spikes apparently stabbing the child in the head and neck with a kitchen knife. He jumped up, chased Spikes around the home and started hitting him with a drinking glass. Police eventually arrived and arrested Spikes.

So who would let someone just out of the mental institution around their tiny baby? Why wouldn't it occur to someone that this might not be a good person to be around a small child? Why hit him with a drinking glass?

It makes me sick.