This morning I saw a picture of the house on Howard Place, a quaint block in Windsor, Terrace Brooklyn, with lovely attached houses and white porches, where Ryan Devaney, the man who stabbed his parents yesterday and then tried to kill himself, lived with his parents.

His mother, Margaret, inherited the house from an uncle five years ago and moved there with her husband and son from Long Island. She turned the basement into an apartment for her son, who had a history of mental instability and numerous arrests.

Yesterday morning Devaney stabbed Margaret in the eye and abdomen and she later died. He stabbed his father, who is reportedly in critical condition, and then threw himself in front of a G Train at the 15th Street F train station near the Pavilion movie theater. Ryan lived.

Tragedy on every level.

According to the New York Times. Ryan had a history of mental illness and numerous arrests. Relatives had requested orders of protection from him. He was a dangerous person with dangerous mental issues. In the NY Times, a neighbor familiar with the family said, “Ms. Devaney had been adamant that she would care for her son despite his troubles.”

Tragedy.

Yesterday my mind tried to fill in the blanks of a story I had only a few details of. I was upstate with a friend celebrating her birthday. I’d been caught in the subway meltdown that resulted from Ryan’s attempt to kill himself at an F train station. I was one of the mob of commuters who had to figure out other ways to get to their morning destinations.

At the 4th Avenue station where many refugees from the F-train found themselves, there was anger in the air and frustration. The  subway announcer’s  piercing voice blared from an overloud PA system. People were cursing each other (“Get out of my way” “move it” ). It was as if there was a particle of violence in the atmosphere. And this was many blocks away from the tragedy and few knew what had really gone on.

A woman at the 4th Avenue R station told me a bare bones version of the story. But that was enough. The mind tries to fill in the blanks especially when a tragedy of this nature happens so close to home.

All day I wondered what compelled this individual to stab his parents. As a mother it’s a particularly harrowing thought. Matricide.

I checked the news this morning to see if the father’s condition had improved. Was he still in critical condition at Lutheran Hospital? Would he live? It is reported that Ryan is in stable condition.

A dead mother, a dead wife, a dead woman named Margaret.