Mass Shooting Averted In San Antonio, TX

This is a good news story- mostly good - that could have gone so bad if not for one person’s bravery.

But while you read this, think seriously about whether and most importantly when you would have made a call to police. Spoiler, the answer to the second question is always, make the call as soon as you can.

This week, a 19-year-old man was arrested in San Antonio after a co-worker told police he made several threats over several days, including saying how he idolized the Uvalde shooter who killed 19 children and two adults. He said he wanted to commit a mass shooting.

Last Friday, when a fire alarm evacuation occurred at the warehouse building where he worked, he told a co-worker how that evacuation would help a mass shooter kill more people. He added that he was going to commit a mass shooting.

It wasn’t the first time he had said disturbing things. She said he told her he might go shoot up her kids’ school after she mention where they attended.

“The witness didn’t tell anyone on Friday because she said she was afraid of retaliation,” one news story quoted police as saying, “but on Monday, she decided to tell her superiors because she thought [he] was capable of following through on the threat due to other comments he’s made in the past.”

When I am asked about what to look for to stop the next shooter before he strikes – the behavioral clues – this guy is the poster child. His father told police his son owns a handgun and a rifle purchased recently. He said his family was afraid of his son and knew he had been on medication and had stopped taking it. The 19-year-old idolized another killer. He told people he was “tired of living” and wanted to kill himself.

When the news broke, all the comments from my friends on our specialty feeds – police, security, threat assessment – noted the obvious signs and were thankfulness for the reporting. The comments on the public site were less productive, commenting on how he looked like a killer (how can that even exist?) and speculating about his politics.

Everyone in my business knew that delay from Friday to Monday could have been fatal. They commented on how we need to do a better job of getting people to report right away. I agreed. More high school shootings, for example, occur on a Monday than any other day of the week.

This time things turned out okay. She did the brave thing of reporting and he was arrested.

I will say I was encouraged to see some comments on the public sites where people said she should have considered calling earlier. It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback, but I wonder who reading this would have reported and when. When you hear threatening comments and see behaviors of concern, do you report, or wait?

Research tells us too many people, too often wait. They don’t want to get involved. They don’t believe the person is serious. They are afraid. We still have a long ways to go to encourage people not only to report warning signs, but to do it right away.

You can’t know if someone is serious. The woman who reported the threat to police likely didn’t know about the medication the man quit taking, and maybe even about the existence of the guns. The father likely didn’t know his son had told someone at work that he was going to commit a mass shooting or maybe shoot up a school.

What a great example of how you – all of us – are rarely aware of all the facts.

That is why it is so, so important to report what you hear to SOMEONE as soon as you hear it. Report it anonymously to the police, sheriff’s office, or even the FBI’s tip line here, https://tips.fbi.gov/. Call your boss, someone in your human resources department, a school principal, a cleric, a teacher or even other supervisorsa and co-workers.

This man is Bexar County Jail in Texas charged with making a terrorist threat. Hopefully he’ll get the help he needs too as he goes through the system.

As I said, a case that could have gone so bad. Talk to your friends about this case and remind them that reporting and reporting immediately can save lives.

Read article here: https://bit.ly/3R95iIb