An Army veteran is accused of killing his mother at their Florida Panhandle home on Mother’s Day and hitting a deputy’s cruiser with an iron rod.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the home Sunday morning and heard yelling and the sounds of someone in distress, The Pensacola News Journal reported.
A bloodied 38-year-old Christopher Reed Lynch approached deputies, wielding an iron rod with a hook on the end, a police report said. He became violent and hit a deputy’s cruiser with the rod. The deputy used a stun gun, but Lynch was still trying to punch and kick deputies after repeated shots from the stun gun. Lynch was eventually placed in leg irons and handcuffs.
Deputies found Cheryl Lynch on a blood-covered porch. She told deputies her son hit her but said she couldn’t remember what happened. Her eyelids were swollen shut and she had multiple cuts on her face. She was taken to the hospital where she died.
The newspaper reported that Lynch suffered a traumatic brain injury on July 13, 2000, while on training exercises with the Army in France. He returned home and his mother was his caregiver.
In 2009, Cheryl Lynch wrote a letter to the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, describing his condition.
“If something were to happen to me, who will know enough about my son’s individual difficulties and medical needs to continue to manage his care? … Who would be able to put the proper supports in place for my son not to end up on the streets, institutionalized, or even worse?”
It’s not known what caused the confrontation early Sunday.
Lynch remains in jail on an open homicide charge, along with charges of aggravated battery, assault on an officer and resisting an officer with violence.
Records don’t say whether a lawyer is representing him yet.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
My brother and sister were continually
trying to piss me off when we were growing up (guess who’s the middle
child). Family members know where
your buttons are, and will, oftentimes,
push them, for whatever reasons.
I have absolutely no idea, in this case,
what happened or what was said. There are things that, once said, can
take you from cool to white hot instantly. What you do at that point
determines the outcome. The bottom line is that if you blow it, they win (or lose if it turns deadly).
As a Vietnam veteran, I can fully understand (but not condone) what
happened. Not all of the casualties
we’re physical, as is true for many of
the returning Veterans today.
Because its hard not to leap to conclusions before all of the facts are known, it’s better to wait until the investigation has been concluded
before making statements or passing
judgement.
Regardless of the legal outcome, I sincerely hope he will be able to get the help he needs to rejoin society if
he’s not convicted of murder.
In the Air Force, we were taught the
places in our heads to put traumatic
experiences so these kinds of incidents don’t occur. My Army brother
may, or may not, have had this kind of training. My heart and prayers go out to him regardless of fault or cause. Please pray for him and the many lives which are now changed forever.
I am a middle child and I know a lot of people who have the same middle child problems. we had problems with our mother. She beat us, starved us, and I still hve scares on by back from with she beat me with a whip and poured salt on the wounds. When I was 2 days old she put a pillow on my face and pushed. I lived but could not breath through my nose. I was put with her parents as I had polio and I lived with them until I was 7. Then my life went to hell in a hand basket. I have 3 children and all of them I treated the same. My son was in the Navy. I have 8 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren and none of them have tried to kill me.