On-Line Journal Gives Freund Details

The story of William Freund, who killed two of his Aliso Viejo neighbors and himself last Saturday, is beginning to come out.

It is, as I thought, the story of a loner who struck back at the less-loney, but it's sadder and more nuanced than that.

The OCRegister reports that Freund suffered from a type of autism, Asperger syndrome. The founder of an Asperger syndrome forum that Freund posted on said:

"There has been some discussion about whether Asperger's has anything to do with what he did. It sounds like he was picked on a lot and those of us with Asperger's have symptoms that cause us to be picked on. We don't speak in the right tone, don't look people in the eye, we don't read body language. Some people pick on us for that."

Freund was bullied in school and his anger over his treatment was evident in posts on the Asperger forum:

"Start a Terror Campaign to hurt those what have hurt me," was the plan for the future submitted on Freund's online profile dated Oct. 16....

"I'm going cause a lot of damage with my Remington 870," he said in an Oct. 15 posting. "And is super heavy to whack people with. ... Not I have never whacked anyone but I'm guessing thats why its so heavy." He went on to say in the message, "I look forward for the 870, a gun made since the 1950s In blowing some parts of me out of 2006 style with some of the latest ammo."

One person who read this on the forum tried frantically to track down Freund's family and warn them, but there are a lot of Freunds in OC, and the killings occurred before the right Freund was found.

Obviously, most Asperger syndrome sufferers manage their condition through the medical and psychological help available to them. For whatever reason, Freund didn't, and this is the sad story that resulted.