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Crazed father's attempt at suicide in hospital led to an unexpected 'miracle'

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George Pickering lost all hope when doctors told him his son was brain dead.

A father went inside the hospital armed with a 9mm handgun with a plan to kill himself if his son died. George Pickering, 59, was going to commit suicide in order to die with his son, after the doctors told him he was already brain dead and would be pulled off life support, January 10.

Highlights

By Talia Ramos (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/20/2015 (9 years ago)

Published in Marriage & Family

Keywords: Father, Son, ICU, Miracle, Stand-off, Handgun, Hospital, Devastated, Braindead

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - According to The Blaze, Pickering explained that he pulled out his handgun and told everybody inside the ICU to leave for it was his moment with his son. At that moment, a miracle happened.

The actions of the devastated father resulted in a stand-off with the police and a Swat team deployed around the hospital, geared into action anytime needed.

His other son was with him, wrestled to get the gun away from him, resulting into a verbal-standoff.

Then, Pickering said that he prayed with his son who was still on life support.

After whispering to his son to squeeze his hand if he can hear him, Pickering said he felt a squeeze. "He squeezed my hand four times. It was a miracle! I knew my son was not brain dead. I knew my son was not a vegetable. I am his father, I would've felt something," he said.

The miraculous incident made Pickering surrender to the police after four hours. He believed what happened was enough proof that his son should not be pulled off life support with clear chances of gaining consciousness.

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It is noted that his 27-year-old son woke up later that night, telling his stepmother "I love you, momma." Pickering claims he did not have any intention of hurting anyone. The medical staff previously reported him as disturbed for wanting to "harvest" his son's internal organs.

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