Minnesota Shooting Spurs Talk of Advanced, Compassionate Interventions

(Adobe Stock via Minnesota News Connection)

(By Mike Moen. Minnesota News Connection ) – As Minnesotans mourn those killed in Wednesday’s mass shooting, public frustration is mounting over the frequency of such attacks in the United States.

Local researchers recommend a comprehensive and compassionate way of spotting warning signs and responding to them. The deadly attack on students at a Minneapolis Catholic school has again brought gun violence back in the spotlight.

James Densley, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Metro State University and deputy director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University, said his team’s recent findings showed those who carry out school shootings are often in a noticeable crisis, meaning students, staff, and parents should be trained to recognize concerning behavior, and how to report it.

“A lot of this is really around communication that people trust in the systems that are going to get people off of that pathway to violence,” Densley explained. “So that they don’t go looking for answers in the darkest corners of the internet