A Day of Thanks... and Mourning...

I'm used to working on Thanksgiving... but this year I worked a 13 hour day. Photojournalist Zac Gooch and I headed to Soldotna early this morning to do a follow-up story to yesterday's hospital shooting.

Normally a joyful time of thanksgiving, Thursday in Soldotna was a somber day of reflection and mourning as residents struggled to cope with the horrors of Wednesday. Joseph Marchetti, a 47-year-old disgruntled former employee at Central Peninsula Hospital, returned his old workplace the day after being fired and gunned down his former bosses.

Mike Webb died from his wounds. Margaret Stroup is in critical condition at Providence Hospital in Anchorage after undergoing surgery here. Marchetti was shot and killed in the hospital parking lot by state troopers after a short standoff.

Many in Soldotna -- including friends of Marchetti -- say they are shocked and saddened by what happened.

"It's going to be a very different Thanksgiving than it would have been," City of Soldotna Mayor Peter Micciche said. "One of the positive things about Soldotna is its innocence, but that innocence also, I think, will make it so it won't sink in what happened yesterday at the hospital."

The lingering question on many minds is why Marchetti went on the shooting spree.

"It's just a tragedy that this stuff happened," said Robert Wright, Marchetti's close friend and landlord. "It's like losing a son, you know? I never had any sons, you know?"

Wright met Marchetti a little over a year ago when Marchetti moved up from Nebraska. He saw Marchetti leave his apartment Wednesday morning but had not talked to him since Sunday night.

According to Wright, Marchetti was under a lot of stress because of his job at the hospital.

"Apparently he had a hell of a lot more than he could handle because of what he did," Wright said. "He's not a monster, I just want you to know. He's a nice guy, he was. But he's a sick person. When he done what he did, he wasn't right."

Kim LaBrel also knew Marchetti. She says he was a private person, but did open up over the past year she knew him.

"It just broke my heart, it absolutely broke my heart, but what really shocks me is that it didn't in the least bit surprise me," she said. "The more comfortable he got, the more he would talk, but it was almost always about his job. The conversation always steered toward his job."

According to LaBrel, Marchetti not only talked about his job but also of the people he worked with, and expressed a lot of animosity. "When they were shot yesterday, I pretty much knew who they were before anybody even told me," LaBrel said.

LaBrel and Marchetti's friendship became rocky a few months back because of an incident involving one of her family members. LaBrel says Marchetti was e-mailing harassing messages from his work computer and she reported it to the hospital. The hospital won't reveal why Marchetti was terminated, but LaBrel said she urged them to go easy on him.

"They assured me they would let me know in the event that they terminated him because I told them at that time I feared that he could be dangerous, if he lost his job," she said. LaBrel's prediction came true and she believes the rampage could have been prevented.

"I don't know what it takes for people to listen when someone has the intuition that something's seriously not right," LaBrel said. "But apparently I either didn't do enough or people just chose not to hear me. I don't know."

According to Wright, Marchetti left him a suicide note, which has been turned over to investigators. In it, Marchetti asked Wright to tell his parents he was sorry for his actions.