He lived with a person designated by his mother and then asked to live with a friend in North Broward. The North Broward family had let him. The Sentinel has an article that talks about his life.
No gun talk, I promise. Mental illness, students lacking resilience and an unwillingness /inability of schools to create real interventions rather than just looking at least restrictive environments and interventions --these are the real and salient issues. How much mental health options did he and his family have access to or was court ordered? The lack of services is critical for young people on the margins. The systems need money and skilled professionals to create real systems to identify, intervene, and construct safe environments for these young people.
How did people around him miss the signs? Same as what happened with Adam Lanza---strange behavior is strange until it is normalized by over exposure. He was off but no one was constant enough in his life to see or understand his slide into more concerning behavior. People did not stick around long enough to see how scary he was. Relatives mention meeting him once in 18 years. Jumped from school to school. Had people who accepted his oddities and left him alone or ran from him.
These actions by him and others might be lessened with "see something, say something" but more and more kids need/require/are begging for systems to be put in place to give them a shot at becoming more mentally healthy.
Close to home. Unceasingly familiar. Freaking predictable.
Tonight there are families who have to do the grim task of identifying their loved one, their child. Lives are ruined.
There are videos on the internet that students shot as they sat in the room with dead peers and teachers. Lives are ruined.
This gunman had a brother who is not only orphaned but alone in this world, who is horribly affected by the lack of help and care his brother received. His life is also ruined.
The rest of us have to decide when it is time to act---stand up---make change--- and own actions and inactions of ourselves and our elected officials as it pertains to mental health and interventions for those who ultimately ruin their own and others' lives.
