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HOLLYWOOD - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S. Thompson fatally shot himself at his Aspen, Colorado, home last night. He was 67. The pioneering journalist's son Juan Thompson has requested the media and public to request his family's need for privacy during this trying time--although local police authorities confirm Thompson died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Juan says, "Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family."
Hunter enjoyed his heyday in the 1970s when his charismatic personality and adventurous style was in demand across the globe--and his fictional work garnered critical claim with other works including The Great Shark Hunt and Hell's Angels.
Paul Krassner, a former colleague of Hunter, says, "He may have died relatively young, but he made up for it in quality if not quantity of years. It was hard to say sometimes whether he was being provocative for its own sake or if he was just being drunk and stoned and irresponsible.
"But every editor that I know, myself included, was willing to accept a certain prim Donna journalism in the demands he would make to cover a particular story. They were willing to risk all of his irresponsible behavior
in order to share his talent with their readers."
Hunter leaves behind his wife Anita who was not at home when the tragedy took place.
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