DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Mother, son involved in murder-suicide at children's hospital

(CNN)—At midnight, staff at Cardon Children's Medical Center checked on 5-year-old Helious Griffith and his mother, who was staying with him at the hospital in Mesa, Arizona.

Helious and Tami Griffith appeared well.



But just two hours later, in the early hours of Saturday, during the next check, they were found dead, police said.

Mesa police spokesman Steve Berry called the nightmarish scene an apparent murder-suicide. The mother, who was in her 20s, apparently shot herself. Berry did not say how Helious died.

Police on Saturday evening said there was no clear motive.







The child had been in the 206-bed children's hospital, which sits alongside Banner Desert Medical Center some 15 miles east of Phoenix, for "about a week," Berry said. He was in "a regular room," the police spokesman added.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety was contacted about the situation as recently as Thursday, according to the police spokesman, who did not say why.

Tami Griffith last month apparently started an appeal on the YouCaring website. The author said she had a special-needs son and they needed $1,800 for a used car. The page features a 2014 photo of a smiling boy and a woman dressed in Halloween costumes.

"My son's name is Helious (like the Greek Sun God Helios) and he has cerebral palsy with dystonia, he has sensitivities to audio, odor, and touch," Griffith purportedly wrote. "He also suffers from separation anxiety when I'm out of his line of sight where he cries and cannot self-calm. He has been traumatized by doctors where now he expresses extreme anxiety and downright terror when he smells rubbing alcohol and/or see someone in scrubs or lab coat."

CNN was unable to verify who posted the page.

Neither law enforcement officials nor hospital personnel would comment on Helious' diagnosis or condition.


Isolated incident


David Lozano -- a spokesman for Banner Health, the company that runs Cardon Children's Medical Center -- said that "at no time were others impacted" by what he also called the "apparent murder-suicide."

"The safety of our patients, associates and visitors is paramount to us and is our top priority at this time," Lozano added.

It's not clear how the child's mother got a gun into the hospital. Banner Health has a policy -- which is posted at entrances -- against carrying firearms and weapons into its facilities, Lozano said.

Berry told CNN affiliate KXNV in Phoenix that the hospital is "cooperating in any way possible" with the investigation.

"They will provide our investigators with information on the child, the family, ... any treatment, anything that may assist us, if you can -- if there's any way to understand -- what led to this."

Okay I know this is a sad story, but come on man. I highlited the part where I thought it was bordering on being in-bred. I don't think theres anybody out there who thinks a sign is going to stop someone from bringing a gun in, if they want to. Thats right up there with having signs in a school zone, saying gun free zone. What good does it do? Are some people really that dense?

i just don't get it. why the kids man...why the kids....

I don't know. It's just sad. I thought the way the spokesman said he didn't know how she got the gun in was crazy, It sounded like since they had it posted it shouldn't have happened Thats my question, are people really that dense?

the issue with that statement is that it doesn't matter if it was posted or not.

it doesn't matter if there were cops present, in theory, either. nobody gets checked at a hospital. the cops or security thats posted at the front is sleep half the time.

her bringing or using a gun in this situation is irrelevant. the issue is these nut cases who feel the need to always harm the kids before they off themselves.

always seems like its the mother doing this nonsense.

I've never claimed to be able to understand the mindset of somebody who would do this and I'm glad I can't.... My only thought is that they think life is hopeless and they want out and in some way they feel like they are protecting their kids from an equally hopeless existence.

It's all just terribly sad.

We live in a fallen world.

It will never make sense.

For a parent watching their child suffer agony every single day, watching the medical bills pile up beyond what you could ever imagine, and to know that nothing you ever do will ever make it better while you watch them get worse and worse is a horror that no one should have to face.

We have trouble understanding this idea of putting a child down because we are raised to believe each day is a precious gift. Yet, to those who live in constant suffering with no hope of a cure and being forced to endure greater and greater pain its not a gift but a trial of burning fire each day.

What would you do after watching for years and years as your child is forced to cling to life by modern medicine yet you see them in so much pain and suffering each day. What would you do if that child looks up at you and just says, "Mommy just make the pain stop!" as she continues to cry in daily pain.

I don't know what I would do but my Bible says, "Judge not lest ye be judged." I think God is the only one capable to judge and I feel like he would know their hearts and only punish wicked intentions and not the pain from broken hearts.