On April 10, a Michigan judge ruled that the parents of a child involved in a school shooting would spend 10 to 15 years in prison for their failure to stop the incident from happening. Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews denied the sentence had anything to do with poor parenting but rather was the result of “repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.” She was referring to the 2021 school shooting when the son killed four students and wounded seven other people. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2022.
How local citizens can become more aware of the signs that might indicate an act of violence and how to respond to it, was the focus of a presentation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Saturday at an afternoon event on the Gettysburg College campus.
Hosted by Urban Rural Action, the community awareness briefing was presented by Ashley Wilson, DHS Regional Prevention Coordinator. She agreed that if family and other community members might in the future be held responsible for such actions, then they should be equipped with the knowledge of how to identify and prevent them. “The message at the end of this is empowerment,” she said. “Citizens can learn to help those who need it before they act when communities are equipped with appropriate tools and training.”
Wilson commented that the incidence of targeted violence in schools, workspaces or open areas has increased since the early 1990s from two to 40 mass casualty plots per year in the U.S. “That’s an increase of 1,900 percent,” she added.
The pathway to violence can be described as personal grievance or ideation, research and planning, preparation, probing or breaching, and then attack. Wilson cautioned that the model is not always predictive but said most people who did reach the stage of violence had behavioral changes that could have been identified.
Some of those include:
- Family, significant other, and/or peers espousing or supporting a violent extremist ideology.
- History of encouraging violence by dehumanizing people who are not in the same identity group or who are ideological opponents
- History of noncompliance with restrictions, boundaries, or laws
- Unstable mental state resulting in threat to self or others, or past exposure to violence and/or a traumatic event
- Real or perceived injustice by a person, group, or event.
These types of concerns can be addressed by a threat assessment team with referrals to appropriate service providers for rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.
“It’s regular people every day who can stop an act of violence,” Wilson said.
The DHS is also partnering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide grants for communities to help prevent targeted violence and terrorism, including $18 million for state and local agencies, nonprofits, and universities. The deadline for application is May 17 and more information can be found at FEMA.GO.
“Pennsylvania is becoming a nucleus for helping prevent violence,” Wilson said, “by taking a tragedy and turning it into hope.”
The Pennsylvania Core Team of the national organization Urban Rural Action is led by Kira Hamman and Joe Bubman. They lead the implementation of Uniting to Prevent Targeted Violence in Southcentral Pennsylvania. The Adams County team advisor is Chad Collie.
Part of a four-county coalition, the group encourages discussion between those with ideological differences and works with Mediation Services of Adams County, Inc. to promote constructive dialogue and diffuse political tension.
They team created “Kid Cards” to help children learn more about themselves and “Tent Talks” which pop up around the county during events to provide a place for residents to discuss difficult issues such as race, politics, or other issues affecting the community. Planned tent talks include:
- May 29 at the Adams County Office for Aging’s Spring Fling
- June 14 at the Adams County Library’s Fun Fest
- August 6 at Gettysburg’s National Night Out
Talking about incidents of violence that personally affected her growing up, Gettysburg Mayor Rita Frealing said, “This stuff has to stop,” urging people to learn the way of love and co-existence.
Featured image caption: Patti Robinson, President of the Board of Directors for Mediation Services of Adams County, speaks to those gathered to learn more preventing acts of violence in the community.
Judith Cameron Seniura is a freelance reporter. She began her journalism career in the early ‘70s and has written for newspapers, magazines, and other media in Ontario, Canada, Alaska, Michigan, Nebraska, San Antonio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Well done! Thank you for such an informative article. It was good to read about our project from the perspective of someone who hasn’t been entrenched in it.
Thank you. It was inspiring. Will try the kid cards on my grandson.