NBC 5 Investigates’ Bennett Haeberle digs into Monday’s shooting at a Madison school that left two people dead.
Chicago - Authorities in Madison, Wisconsin late Monday identified the suspected shooter as a 15-year old female student who attended the Abundant Life Christian School - where a shooting earlier in the day killed another student and a teacher.
The suspect shooter was found dead once authorities arrived.
While questions remain about a motive if and what - if any - warnings signs may have been present, the incident follows a similar pattern of other school shootings, according to David Riedman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting Database, and has analysed school gun violence dating back to the 1960s.
Riedman spoke to NBC 5 Investigates Monday afternoon. He told us that this incident followed a common pattern in that it was allegedly carried out by an “insider” - a student familiar with the school grounds.
“We need to understand the actual nature of this problem and apply solutions towards identifying the student who has a grievance , identifying a student who is talking about students and realizing that these are rarely random acts. All the opportunities to prevent it happen before they ever come to campus with a gun,” Riedman told NBC 5 Investigates.
The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, which has studied the motivations of mass shooters for years, has published reports showing the shooters often display warnings signs or offer clues to those close to them in the days, weeks or months that precede incidents.
Riedman says he anticipates we may hear more details in the coming days:
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“We will probably hear in the coming days about a series of missed warning signs , social media posts, a manifesto and so on,” he said.
A school director told reporters Monday evening that the school did not have metal detectors but did have cameras.
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Riedman said the focus should not be on fortifying schools with additional weapons detectors or metal detectors but focusing on the students’ behaviors that may help foretell a future incident - adding that there is a need to “dispel the myth that these school shootings are committed by scary outsiders,” when data shows that they are often committed by those who are familiar with the school and have a grievance that ends in violence.
