News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Madison, Wisconsin school shooting this week committed by a 15-year-old girl, a rarity according to a Tennessee Tech expert.
Tennessee Tech Public Safety Lecturer Mark Warnick said in the public safety industry, female mass shooters are considered unicorns. He said he can only recall three instances of a female being the shooter in the last 20 years.
“Females tend to be by nature less aggressive, normally more nurturing,” Warnick said. “So when we see a female those of us studying the field actually take a step back and go, wait a minute let’s look at this.”
Warnick said females who commit acts of mass violence tend to have different motives compared to males. Warnick said in many cases, it can be radical beliefs that lead to a female following through with the violence.
“What we see and of course we are not sure this is the only thing but the females that tend to do this become radicalized in some way,” Warnick said. “As an example, one of the females was fundamentally racialist Muslim. Another one was transgender, the third one we are hearing a rumor that she was a radical feminist. Now we are not sure of this and this is just what is being told around at this point. However, it would fall in line with what we’ve seen in the past.”
Warnick said regardless of gender, mass shooters show warning signs before committing the act. Warnick said communities all across the country are not doing enough to prevent tragic incidents like this from happening.
“We need to train the general public so that instead of having a hundred or two hundred police officers for 40,000 people or 50,000 that we turn that into about 10,000 eyes looking and trying to identify people that may be on the edge,” Warnick said.
The average person might think a 15-year-old girl would not know how to operate a firearm. Warnick said nowadays the most unexpected people know how to use a firearm.
“We just saw last year or the year before a six-year-old shoot his teacher,” Warnick said.
Warnick said acts of mass violence are continuing to get worse. Warnick said he believes non-stop media coverage of a mass shooting is not only giving the attention the shooter wants but also encouraging the next shooter to follow through with acts of mass violence.
