FRESNO (AP) — The California man suspected of shooting two of his adult daughters was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Vietnam as a Marine, the man’s son said on Tuesday.
Anthony “Tony” Alvarez Sr., 63, was diagnosed several years ago at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto with the disorder, his son Anthony Alvarez Jr. told the Fresno Bee. The son told the newspaper that his mother’s death last year and the PTSD might have been too much for his father to bear.
The elder Alvarez’s wife, Christine Mary Alvarez, died in January 2012, according to an obituary in the Visalia Times-Delta.
“The war had a lot to do with” his father’s state of mind, Alvarez Jr. said. “He just stressed out after my mother died... he’s never been the same.”
The shooting occurred in Orosi, a Central Valley town of about 9,000 about 20 miles southeast of Fresno.