Intervening Early: Behavioral indicators in active shooter prevention
Early identification and intervention for children showing troubling behavioral traits could significantly improve outcomes, not only for the child, but for public safety, according to two forensic psychology professors at Roger Williams University.
“You need to intervene if you identify kids with callous, unemotional traits,” said Matt C. Zaitchik, Ph.D. “Don’t just say ‘they’ll outgrow it.’ These tendencies may be a predictor of antisocial behavior or oppositional defiant disorder.”
“If you have a child who is having difficulty showing empathy for classmates or siblings, it’s worthwhile to intervene,” agreed Kyle Gamache, Ph.D., LMHC. “Intervention and warm supportive parenting can make a difference, absolutely. It’s not just a question of whether they are a future mass killer, but a question of improving the wellbeing of the child.”
The Bristol, RI-based professors and researchers have published two studies on key factors leading to active shooter events (ASEs), analyzing 88 events occurring prior to 2015 and 56 occurring from 2015 to 2023. ASEs are defined as public, stranger-based mass shootings with three or more victims killed or wounded and not committed during another crime.
ASEs have increased substantially in frequency. The analysis showed that from 1966 to 2014, on average 1.95 such events occurred per year. Since 2015, there have been an average of six such events annually. The average event involved 8.5 deaths and 11.4 injuries. Most of the events were brief, with more than half lasting under 10 minutes.
Only 13% of the events ended with the shooter voluntarily stopping; 41% ended with the perpetrator’s suicide and 33% with the police subduing or killing the shooter. School shootings accounted for a third of the incidents, a number that dropped significantly after 2015. Zaitchik attributed this drop to the increase in shootings overall.
There’s no one reliable psychological profile of a mass shooter, said Zaitchik. While 97% of the shooters in events analyzed were male, 69% were white, and 78% were single, only 22% had documented psychological issues, and only 28% had sought previous mental health treatment. Over half had displayed behavioral problems prior to the event, such as workplace or school-related issues, and a third had a history of violent behavior.
“There may have been no prior arrest or incident, but there could have been some sort of interpersonal issue,” said Gamache. “There’s often a pattern of behavior for many of these people that they may have been either socially, interpersonally or even physically aggressive in other parts of their life prior to these events.”
Zaitchik and Gamache said psychologists should take patients seriously whenever they exhibit tendencies of violence, both towards others or themselves. Nearly a third (29%) of the perpetrators in the Roger Williams researchers’ study disclosed their plans in some way or made threats beforehand.
“People do betray what they are doing. Sometimes it’s very overt with boasts and posts online, and sometimes a shooter will tell their classmates ‘Don’t go to school tomorrow, something bad’s going to happen’,” said Gamache. “There are people who never say anything, but that’s the minority. Most people either overtly or subtly or accidentally reveal their anger, frustration, and capacity for violence. There’s this myth that people just snap, and according to the research, that’s actually not the case.”
Extremist ideology wasn’t present in most cases in the research: only 20% expressed hate towards specific groups and when those beliefs were present, they were almost always a primary motivator. But 45% of the shooters in the ASE study experienced additional stressors, such as an obsession with weapons, violence, or violent media.
In risk assessment, recent acquisition of guns should also be considered, said Gamache.
“The vast majority of these events were perpetrated by people who were using legally owned firearms, or firearms they had unrestricted access to,” he said. “Guns don’t shoot themselves, but they do give aggressive people a greater capacity for violence. It’s much easier, and it removes the barrier to hurt other people, because it can create a detachment from violence.”
But, added Zaitchik, it’s not just guns. “There’s a certain ideology of violence that happens in our country that has to do with power and control, often over other males and over the environment. Aggression is part of our culture.”
Clinicians should pay attention to a client’s violent fantasies, said Gamache. “They may not tell you something directly, but many active shooters have had an obsession with violence and weapons.”