Joshua Omvig

Suicide

Joshua Omvig returned home after serving an 11-month tour in Iraq. On December 21, deputies arrested Omvig for OWI after he drove into a ditch. By 11 a.m., Omvig was released and returned home, where he asked his mother for a sheet of paper. Omvig handed her a note which described joining his buddies, went out a back door and locked himself in his truck. Officer Terry Oltman arrived after Omvig called and asked him to stop by the house. Seeing what was developing, Oltman told Omvig's mother to get back, but she refused to leave her son. Omvig raised a handgun and shot himself in the head. The Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act (Public Law 110-110) became law in 2007, and required the VA Secretary to develop and implement a comprehensive suicide prevention program. However, the law was never fully implemented and other similar bills were added over the years.