HOUSTON — Two people are hurt and the suspect is in custody after a shooting at an Indiana middle school, just a week after the Santa Fe school shooting and several subsequent threats at Houston-area schools.
Many law enforcement experts warn of a copycat or “contagion” effect after school shootings, where threats to schools or even violence can increase. So, is it for real?
Dr. Kristin Anderson, a psychology professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, whose studies include media contagion, says yes. She says studies show it also seems to happen with suicides, especially after well-publicized suicides and those involving celebrities.
Dr. Anderson also says there’s a link between violence and the availability of guns.
Dr. Asim Shah, Executive Vice Chair and Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, agrees. He says those most easily influenced usually feel like nobody likes them, they don’t fit in, and they typically want some way to get back at society or become famous.
A 2015 study by Arizona State University and Northern Illinois University found “significant evidence of contagion in school shootings,” an effect researchers found lasted nearly two weeks after the shooting. It also finds “state prevalence of firearm ownership is significantly associated with the state incidence of mass killings with firearms, school shootings, and mass shootings.”
There are also reports that shooters in Oregon, Sandy Hook, and Tucson all admired previous school shooters or wanted notoriety.
The FBI and Texas State University’s ALERRT center recently launched the Don’t Name Them campaign, citing the contagion effect. It urges media covering mass shootings to focus on the victims and heroes, avoid airing manifestos and videos by the perpetrator, limit photos, and even use boring language to describe their actions.
KHOU can verify there is research that suggests the copycat or contagion effect is real, and many very experienced social scientists agree. What’s not clear is whether the person behind what happened in Indiana may have been influenced by the shootings in Santa Fe or elsewhere.