Deeds: System Failed Son

The Virginia state senator who was stabbed by his son before his son fatally shot himself told a local newspaper that the mental-health system is “responsible” for the tragedy. Creigh Deeds told the Bath County Recorder that the Rockridge County Community Services Board, which oversees mental-health and substance-abuse services, is to blame for the death of his son, Austin. A magistrate judge had ordered mental-health services to evaluate Austin Deeds, but he was turned away due to a bed shortage just one day before he attacked his father and killed himself. “I cry a lot,” Deeds told the Recorder in an email. “I can’t focus now and talk to anyone.”