Allen O. Gattino spent 15 years in prison before his release three years ago, according to his father. Although his son had been piecing his life together since then with some success – and some failure – Ted Gattino is still trying to understand how he wound up in an Effingham church on July 5.
“We don’t have any connections for him in that area,” Ted Gattino said in an interview Monday. “So we’re kind of looking for that puzzle piece ourselves.”
Authorities say that at 9:27 a.m. on July 5, police were notified of a suspicious man inside the St. John’s Lutheran Church and a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot, which turned out to be stolen. Effingham police officers and Effingham County sheriff’s deputies responded and, “During the struggle, the man produced a firearm, which discharged, and the man was struck,” state police said in a press release.
Ted Gattino said his son shot himself.
“Allen didn’t want to go to jail again, so while they were struggling, my understanding is they pinned him to the ground. But Allen is very, very strong. And he was able to reach into his left pocket, grab the pistol that he had, and bring it up to his head and shoot himself.”
Allen Gattino died July 6 after being flown to a regional hospital, according to Illinois State Police.
Ted Gattino, a former police officer, returned to his home in Barton, Vermont, on Sunday after spending a week with family in Missouri and in the Effingham area, where he met with police and the Rev. Mike Burdick, the senior pastor at St. John’s. Allen Gattino, 36, was living in St. Charles, Missouri.
“He was doing construction work and he had started his own company and was somewhat successful in gaining more success financially,” Ted Gattino said.
Ted Gattino said two things appear to have contributed to a mental health breakdown in his son.
“A girlfriend that he met after he got out was cyberbullying him really badly,” Ted Gattino said. “This woman out of St. Louis. His whole digital world was contaminated with all kinds of cyber malware from her, and she was stalking him. And she was stealing money out of his accounts digitally from his bank. So he really got shut down where he couldn’t make money. He would be going to a customer’s house and she would change his Google Maps on him and delete the address. And she would delete all of his contacts for all of his customers. And he’d have to start to rebuild all that again.
“And then the other thing was that he got involved in drugs. He was into drugs before he went to prison. And then when he got out, he had an increasingly problematic relationship with some illegal drugs.
“And that combined with the fact that right around July 4th is the date that he originally went to prison. So July 4th was a tough time for him.”
Ted Gattino met with the Rev. Burdick for about an hour. He’s grateful to Burdick for attempting to minister to his son when he showed up at the church that morning.
“When Allen had finished praying with the pastor, you know, there were some tears involved, and he had some legitimate questions about his relationship with God.
“And when (the Rev. Burdick) had finished praying with Allen and Allen got up to kind of wash his hands or wipe his hands off with some paper towels, and that’s when the police entered the room and said that they wanted to talk to him about the truck or whatever. And there was a struggle.”
Ted Gattino said it’s his understanding that there were police officers among the congregation who called in the license plate number of the truck his son had arrived in and it came back stolen from Marion County.
“I’m an ex-police officer, so when we as law enforcement see certain situations, our radar goes off. So you’ve got a kid in muddy shorts and no shoes and driving a brand new truck, all of a sudden they’re like, wait a minute, what’s wrong with this picture?”
Ted Gattino said he and the pastor want to see something positive come from the aftermath of what happened.
“I think both of us agreed that this could be a catalyst for the church, to help them to reach out to people more, kind of an awakening. And, you know, lots of times traumatic events get us to start thinking again when we become kind of complacent in the world. And so we’re both praying that the people in the community will look at this as an opportunity to reach out to other people who might be in situations where they’re trying to better their lives but maybe they’re struggling a little bit, and to help them kind of be hands-on with trying to help them along their journey.
“We connected on a deeper personal level with our discussions. Both of our faith and thinking are in alignment, and I think that’s going to plant seeds in that community that would help as a catalyst for other people to help out other people who might not be in a good situation.”
Ted Gattino is mostly satisfied with the answers he got about his son’s death from authorities in Effingham.
“I’m 90% sure that everything is as they said,” he said. “You know, as a father, you always have questions regardless of your background. I know my son. I know his situation. His mother and I were divorced many, many years ago, but we both tried to help him move along, and he was doing pretty well. And I know that he had told me a couple of times that he was never going back to prison again if anything were to happen, and he told me that if anything were to happen, he wanted me to take care of his dog.
“He had called me (July 4) and told me that he loved me, that he would always love me, and he needed to get out, and he needed me to take his dog, Carter, and take care of him. A little yellow lab. She’s a sweet thing, went with him everywhere, went to all of his job sites with him.
“And that’s the last time I spoke with him.”
The family donated Allen’s organs for transplant.
“Allen saved five people’s lives on Thursday last week,” Ted Gattino said. “His heart went to a gentleman in the Midwest who was 60 years old, his lungs went to somebody, his kidneys went separately to two different people, and his liver also went to somebody. And then they were doing tissue donations on Friday.”
Gattino’s sister, Laura Gattino, set up a Gofundme account to help the family pay for his final expenses. By Monday, it had raised $3,580.
“Despite everything, Allen remained a sweet, caring, inquisitive, intelligent, and charming young man. He quickly learned the ropes in tattooing, his passion, and construction, his family trade,” Laura Gattino wrote on the Gofundme site. “He built himself a beautiful tiny house, adopted an adorable puppy named Carter, and was trying to figure life out.
“Our family is devastated. We all had high hopes for Allen, and he worked hard to achieve his GED, a post-secondary art degree, and continued studying to keep himself busy. He was loved dearly by his whole family and had many friends.”
To view the fundraiser, search for “Allen Gattino” at gofundme.com
Dial 988 to access mental health crisis services or visit 988lifeline.org