Thread: Henderson shooter depressed

Woman says Henderson gunman suffered from depression
Girlfriend: Wasn't warned of attack
By Jason Riley • jriley@courier-journal.com • June 27, 2008

HENDERSON, Ky. -- Wesley Neal Higdon told his girlfriend several times in the past few months that he was going to kill himself, but she always managed to talk him out of it, she said, throwing her arms around him and pleading until he calmed down.


But when an angry Higdon called Teresa Solano-Ventura from his job at the Atlantis Plastics plant Tuesday night, he told her he'd had enough: "I can't stand it anymore; I'm going to kill myself," she recounted yesterday in an interview through an interpreter outside her Henderson apartment.

Two hours later, Higdon, 25, grabbed a .45-caliber gun he kept in his vehicle and went on a rampage at the plant -- killing five people and injuring a sixth before killing himself.

"He couldn't stand the pain anymore," said Solano-Ventura, who said he suffered from depression and physical ailments.

But she said it's not true that Higdon told her that night that he was going to kill his supervisor, contrary to what Henderson police have said.

Officers said yesterday that Solano-Ventura most likely is changing her story for fear she could face criminal charges for failing to contact authorities after Higdon told her of his intentions before shooting supervisor Kevin Taylor in the head and leaving him to die in the plant parking lot.

The funeral for Taylor, of Dixon, who was married with a son and daughter, will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Rudy-Rowland Funeral Home. Burial will be in Roselawn Memorial Gardens.

Others slain were Joshua Hinojosa, 28, Trisha Mirelez, 24, and Rachael Vasquez, 26, all of Sebree; and Israel Monroy, 29, of Henderson.

Noelia Monroy, 22, of Henderson, was in good condition yesterday at St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center in Evansville, Ind. She had been shot in the chest, leg and arm.

"I'm so sorry for all the other people," Solano-Ventura said, crying.

'They are just broken'
In Henderson and the nearby town of Sebree, family members planned funerals for the five slain victims.

Hinojosa, Mirelez, Vasquez and Israel Monroy all attended St. Michael's Catholic Church in Sebree. Area businesses were accepting donations yesterday to help cover the expense of taking their bodies to Mexico for burial.

The Rev. Jason McClure of St. Michael's, who had been meeting with family members since 4 a.m. Wednesday, said the deaths were devastating.

"Basically, they are just broken," McClure said. "Absolutely broken."

The visitation for all four will be today from 6 to 8 p.m., with their funerals at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

The tiny town of Sebree, where three of the victims lived, has been struck especially hard. An estimated 800 of the town's 1,800 residents are Hispanic, officials say.

"Everyone is saddened by this," Mayor Ron Todd said. "There's a lot of people really upset right now."

Sebree in shock
People in Sebree expressed shock and grief over the shootings.

"She was a very good person, a very good mother," Gloria Leon said of Vasquez, who is survived by three children, ages 3, 6 and 7.

Leon, who worked in one of two Mexican groceries in Sebree, said Vasquez sent part of her paycheck to her parents in Mexico. Leon's store and another Mexican grocery were among the businesses raising money for the victims.

McClure said the victims and their families were average, hard-working people who "make sacrifices to take care of their children. They are very loving people."

Todd said a large chicken processing plant, now run by Tyson Foods, opened near Sebree 14 years ago, bringing in Hispanic workers.

"We get along great," he said. "They are very courteous people, and we haven't had to change our way of living to pacify them."

Talking to witnesses
Police in Henderson said they are continuing to talk to witnesses of the shooting and have begun to focus on Higdon's family and friends in hopes of learning what set him off.

Solano-Ventura said Higdon's father died when he was 3 and he had never gotten over it.

She said he also was in pain from back injuries that caused him to take pills.

"His whole life had been really tough," she said.

Solano-Ventura, who has a 7-month-old son with Higdon named James, acknowledged that Higdon drank some and had a temper. But she said he was always nice to her and her children -- she has a 3-year-old girl who was not Higdon's child.

"He could get real mad easy, real quickly," she said but added that she was always able to calm him down.

She said she knew he carried a gun in his vehicle and had asked him repeatedly to throw it out, though she never thought he would use it to hurt anyone.

"He only talked about hurting himself," she said.

When she got his call Tuesday night, Solano-Ventura said, she did not think he would follow through with his threat to kill himself. She heard about the shooting from television after her son woke her up early Wednesday.

If she could have been there, Solano-Ventura said, she could have helped him.

Solano-Ventura said that Higdon's funeral is today in Dixon and that he is survived by his mother and half siblings.

Reporter Jason Riley can be reached at (502) 582-4727.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... /806270437

So am I and I don't go out killing people.