| Man commits suicide over ground zero over election { November 8 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33017-2004Nov7.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33017-2004Nov7.html
Georgia Man Commits Suicide at Ground Zero
New York Daily News Monday, November 8, 2004; Page A04
ATHENS, Ga., Nov. 7 -- The Georgia man who killed himself at Ground Zero was upset about President Bush's reelection -- but his biggest problem may have been his double life, a source said Sunday.
Andrew Veal, 25, was engaged to be married to an Iowa college student, whom he was supposed to see at her sister's wedding in Seattle this weekend. But Veal also had a girlfriend in Athens, where he lived, sources said.
When police found his body Saturday morning, they found a note to his girlfriend saying she was "too good" for him, a source said. The note also included a reference to Bush's victory, the source said.
Friends and co-workers said they had no idea Veal was suicidal.
"I think he wanted it to be dramatic," said one Athens friend, 23. "The election was just a catalyst."
Veal was a peaceful, liberal vegetarian who hated guns, never got worked up about politics or the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and seemed content, friends said.
"He doesn't even have friends who have guns," said Mary Anne Mauney, Veal's boss at a University of Georgia survey research lab. "We're all trying to understand, and nobody does."
Veal and his roommates held an election night party in their clapboard house near the University of Georgia campus, where they expected to celebrate a John F. Kerry victory.
But the day after Bush won, Veal bought a shotgun in an Athens store and drove to New York, a source said, where he went on a spending spree with his girlfriend's credit card.
While his mother and his fiancee tried to reach him by phone, he called an Athens restaurant where he worked part time and said he was in New York on Thursday.
He was found Saturday morning when a hotel worker saw a body lying inside the gated and guarded perimeter of Ground Zero.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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