In Florida, Mentally Ill Son Kills Mom and Her Boyfriend

Benjamin K. Bishop
 The Tampa Bay Times reports

Bishop, 18, had a history of mental illness, addiction to bath salts and violence toward his mother, Imari Shibata, 49, a nursing assistant, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Shibata and her boyfriend, Kelley Allen, also 49, a popular swim coach, were so concerned for their safety they removed all the knives from their home before Bishop returned in September from a 10-month stint at a rehab center.
Startled by her son that night, Shibata looked at him and the 12-gauge shotgun he bought through a friend, Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Sunday. She asked her son what he was doing. Bishop answered by pulling the trigger. He fired several times, reloaded, then fired again — eight rounds total, killing his mother and her boyfriend, the sheriff said. Then he called 911 and admitted to the crime.
Deputies arrested Bishop on two counts of first-degree murder.
Bishop is unemployed and a diagnosed schizophrenic.
Bishop tried to strangle his mother in July 2011, authorities said Sunday, and probation for that incident prevented him from being able to buy a gun.
On July 26, 2011, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records, Bishop was arrested on charges of obstructing justice by tampering with a witness and domestic battery by strangulation, both felonies. The counts were reduced to a lesser battery charge, the records show, and he pleaded guilty. A judge withheld adjudication and the teen was sentenced this year.
Bishop also had been held four times under the state's Baker Act, Gualtieri said.
A few weeks ago, Bishop told an 18-year-old friend he needed a gun for protection from local gangs. He gave the friend $279 he had made by pawning electronic items, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Is that allowed? Can you buy a gun for a prohibited person as long as it's not a handgun? Can 18-year-olds do that?
He's being charged with 1st Degree Murder which is wrong. He's not mentally sound enough to be guilty of such a thing.  The State of Florida should be charged with felony murder for making gun availability what it is.  That's where this thing went wrong.
What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.