Wife says Hodgkinson grew angry after illness in ’90s, went ‘bananas’ after election

The widow of congressional shooter James Hodgkinson of Belleville said he developed an anger problem after a long illness in the 1990s, and it grew to a rage with the election of President Donald Trump.

Suzanne Hodgkinson, in an interview with the New York Times, also said she wonders if there’s anything more she could have done.

“I get up every morning feeling guilty because I didn’t stop it,” Suzanne Hodgkinson told the Times. She added, “I wake up with hot sweats, thinking: ‘You should have known. You should have known.’”

Suzanna Hodgkinson has previously said that her husband left for Washington, D.C., in March, saying he was going to “work on taxes” and “change the tax brackets.” In letters to the editor of the Belleville News-Democrat, he often railed against Republican policies and advocated for more income tax brackets.

James Hodgkinson was a volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. When Trump won the election, James Hodgkinson went “bananas,” his wife told the Times.

Suzanne Hodgkinson told the newspaper, in a story posted online Saturday, that she became so concerned about her husband’s anger level that she wrote to his doctor, asking for help.

James Hodgkinson’s remains will be cremated, and there will be no funeral, according to his wife.

“Coldhearted as it may be, I’m done,” Suzanne Hodgkinson told the Times. “He was not a religious man, and I’m done with this. I want this to get over. I want my granddaughters to be able to go to school in September without this being dredged up.”

On the morning of June 14, James Hodgkinson, 66, opened fire on Republican congressmen and others who were practicing on a ball field for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, was shot, along with a Capitol Police officer, a congressional aide and a lobbyist. They all survived. A Capitol Police officer fatally shot James Hodgkinson.

Suzanne Hodgkinson told the Times that her husband was never abusive toward any of his foster daughters, as one of the foster daughters had once alleged.

This story was originally published July 1, 2017 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Wife says Hodgkinson grew angry after illness in ’90s, went ‘bananas’ after election."