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By JUDY BLANKENSHIP
"In those first frantic days, people were all asking, 'Why, why, why?'" Thurston High School Principal Larry Bentz told The Oregonian months after the shooting in Springfield, Oregon, that left two students dead and 25 injured. "It became pretty clear early on that we weren't going to know why, that there was no clear reason we could cling to, so the community found comfort in each other and doing anything they could to help." The soul searching of parents, teachers, and other professionals in the wake of recent school shootings around the country-shootings that in the Northwest region alone have left eight dead and close to 30 injured-has produced a clear consensus that youthful violence can't be pinned on one cause. However, ominous warning signs pointed the way to each tragedy. A look backward into the lives of the young killers-all boys ranging in age from 10 to 16-reveals a surprising number of common characteristics. Each boy felt inferior and picked on, and blamed his problems on others-fellow students, a teacher, a principal. Most, if not all of the boys, were seriously depressed and suicidal. Some were trapped in desperate family situations well known to local social service agencies. Several were heavily immersed in violent video games, movies, and TV. All had easy access to high-powered guns. "The signs were there," school board President Bob Herron in Bethel, Alaska, told the Boston Globe after 16-year-old Evan Ramsey shot and killed the principal of his high school and a classmate in February 1997. "But for whatever reason, we didn't hear them. We were in a comfort zone where we thought, 'That can't happen here.'" Three weeks after the shootings in Springfield, President Clinton directed the Education and Justice departments to develop a guide to help adults recognize and reach out to troubled children quickly and effectively. Released in August, Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools tells parents, educators, and other concerned citizens how to identify early childhood behaviors that indicate potential violence (see the sidebar on Page 43). If we understand what leads to violence and the types of intervention that have proven effective in preventing it, the report says, we can make our schools safer.
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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