A powerful new public service announcement by Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit formed by families of victims of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, hopes to demonstrate that mass shootings are preventable if only people can recognize subtle warning signs.
Dr. Harold I. (Hank) Schwartz, the Institute of Living‘s psychiatrist-in-chief, will be interviewed today by a medical producer from the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” about threat assessment and the specific signs that lead to violent behavior. The story is scheduled as part of the “CBS Evening News” broadcast Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m. Sandy Hook Promise also released a brochure, “Knowing the Signs,” to supplement the video.
Watch the video produced by Sandy Hook Promise:
Inside the shooter’s mind: An interview with Hank Schwartz:
The public service announcement, with more than 5 million views on YouTube since its release Friday, preoccupies the viewer with a story about a bored teenaged student named Evan who exchanges messages scrawled onto a library desktop with an unknown girl. When the two finally meet in the gymnasium at the end of the school year, another student enters a doorway, armed with a rifle.
“While you were watching Evan,” notes the on-screen text, “another student was showing signs of planning a shooting. But no one noticed.”
The video closes with images of those signs, such as the student reading a gun magazine, being bullied in the hallway and mimicking, with a hand motion, the firing of a weapon.
In the accompanying brochure, Sandy Hook Promise outlines some of the warning signs that a student might need help:
- A strong fascination or obsession with firearms.
- Excessive study of mass shootings.
- Over-reaction or aggressive behavior for a seemingly minor reason.
- Gestures of violence and low commitment or aspirations toward a school or a sudden change in academic performance.
- A bullying victim.
- Extreme feelings of isolation or social withdrawal.
- Unsupervised, illegal and/or easy access to firearms or bragging about access to firearms.
- Making overt threats of violence.
To download the brochure, visit Sandy Hook Promise.