The Budd Dwyer anniversary: A public suicide

Twenty-five-year-old me just had to see that footage when YouTube first popped up.

Poor decision on my part.

 

Huge story at the time, even as a teen in South Jersey.
Happened on my 17th birthday.

 

It's like, remember the old "after" shots they used to show of gunned-down gangsters from the '30s? Well, this was as if you got to see how they got that way.

 

Happy birthday!

 

McKeesport Daily News ran the photo of Dwyer with the gun in his mouth.

I was in school that day and the snow had just started to fall. My teacher popped the TV on for the noon news to see what the forecast was and to see if maybe there would be an early dismissal. Thankfully, those old shitty black and white TVs took a while to warm up the color tube, and we had the audio but not the picture.

 

Was at home for snow day. My dad, who worked second shift, watched it live while we played outside. When we came in for lunch, his words were to the affect of "you'll never guess what just happened."

Wasn't their an anchor in Florida who shot herself during a live tv shot in the 1970s?

 

Christine something. There was a movie about it this year.

 

Christine Chubbuck - Wikipedia

 

RSW?

 

I never heard of this story. How incredibly sad.

 

One of her colleagues was Craig Sager.

 

Also the late Rhonda Glenn, the first national female sports broadcaster with ESPN.