After something like Wednesday's school shooting, there's one thing on everyone's mind - how did this happen? As students and parents try to cope, we sit down with a mental health expert to find out what triggers young people to act out in such violent ways.
Many people in the Harrisburg community, and across the state right now, are asking 'how can something like this happen here?'
"There's a level of trauma that's now occurred on a pretty broad scale. Even if you weren't right there, there's a sense that you could have been. Or that you could have been in harm's way," said Dr. Matthew Stanley, Vice President of Behavioral Health Service Line at Avera.
Dr. Matthew Stanley with Avera Health doesn't personally know the background of Wednesday's shooter, but he does know a lot about young people with violent tendencies.
"They come from a history of childhood trauma themselves, some adverse experiences. Whether it's physical or sexual, that may or may not always be the case. Usually they have a less structured or less close relationship within their family," said Stanley, "And of course, the best predictor of future violence is past history of violence."
These students also don't usually show much interest in their school work or social settings. It hasn't been confirmed whether the Harrisburg teen was targeting principal Kevin Lein, but Stanley says it's not uncommon for school shooters to choose their victims; whether it be authority figures or fellow students.
[For more of this story, written by Sammi Bejelland, go to http://www.keloland.com/newsde...-violence/?id=185606]
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