I tried the various search possibilites on this site and didn't see this covered yet, so here it is. I will gladly delete if this is a duplicate.
Hunter S. Thompsons family has spoken out about his suicide. The CNN story is here
I don't have much to add to the quotes below, but I'm willing to take the family's word for this and let it lie. No conspiracy. No government plot. Just a man who chose his time and had had enough pain.
"
Journalist Hunter S. Thompson did not take his life "in a moment of haste or anger or despondency" and probably planned his suicide well in advance because of his declining health, the family's spokesman said Wednesday.
Douglas Brinkley, a historian and author who has edited some of Thompson's work, said the founder of "gonzo" journalism shot himself Sunday night after weeks of pain from a host of physical problems that included a broken leg and a hip replacement.
"I think he made a conscious decision that he had an incredible run of 67 years, lived the way he wanted to, and wasn't going to suffer the indignities of old age," Brinkley said in a telephone interview from Aspen. "He was not going to let anybody dictate how he was going to die."
...
"Thompson, famous for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works of New Journalism, spent an intimate weekend with his son, Juan, daughter-in-law, Jennifer, and young grandson, William, the spokesman said.
"He was trying to really bond and be close to the family" before his suicide, Brinkley said. "This was not just an act of irrationality. It was a very pre-planned act."
And, of course, the family is going to try to arrange to have his ashes fired out of a cannon.
R.I.P. Hunter.
