Dozens of Arrests over Mass Shooting Threats
KEILAR: The city of Lancaster, California, is on edge as police search for a sniper. A barrage of bullets rained down on a Los Angeles County Sheriff's station yesterday hitting a deputy. And authorities say that his injuries are minor, thankfully. They believe the gunfire came from a nearby four-story apartment building that serves as a mental health living facility. The incident in California follows two mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso. And authorities have also arrested at least 29 people across the country for threats to commit mass attacks. The suspects who have been arrested seem to fit into a pattern. Most of them are between 13 to 38 years old, according to the ages that police have released. The majority are white males. Eighteen out of 29 threats were made on social media. And some of the biggest targets are schools, Walmart's and places of worship. Here with me now is Katherine Schweit. She is a former senior FBI official with expertise on mass shooters. She's one of the nation's pre-eminent experts on active shooters. Thank you for coming in to lend us your particular expertise here. Why do you think we've seen this recent spate of mass shootings? And I also don't want to forget the one in Gilroy, California, because there were a number of victims there and that was -- that precipitated El Paso, indeed.</s>KATHERINE SCHWEIT, FORMER SENIOR FBI OFFICIAL WHO STUDIED MASS SHOOTINGS: Yes. Why -- why is this occurring? Is that your question?</s>KEILAR: Yes, why.</s>SCHWEIT: I mean it's kind of a -- it's a -- it's a very multifaceted why. But I think if we look to solve it -- if we want to solve it, and we have to look to how our -- how can we catch the people who might be doing it, because they may be doing it for a whole bunch of different reasons, right? So it's really what we're looking for is kind of not a profile of a person, not a -- not a white male who's 20 years old. We're looking for anybody, although most of these shootings occur absolutely are males, but they hit all demographics, they hit all age ranges. And as you said, the -- a lot of these people were identified through social media. That is the key. We're looking for the behavior that social media interaction by them, that's a -- that's them reaching out, for whatever reason, to find like kind people, or to brag about what they want to do because they have a grievance and they're all frustrated and they're feeling hopeless, and they want to lash out, so they're doing that. So what we want people to do is look for behaviors, like posting in social media, or other actions that aren't online.</s>KEILAR: Posting threats on social media?</s>SCHWEIT: Posting threats on social media, but also actions they see right in their own home, right in their own neighborhood, right in their schools.</s>KEILAR: Like, give us -- give us some examples, because these are the things that teachers, family members, neighbors could be looking for?</s>SCHWEIT: Absolutely. So I would say this. FBI research shows that if the -- if the subject is 17 or under, chances are teachers are going to be the first ones or peers are going to be the first ones who see -- see these actions by -- by these potential shooters. If they're over 17, they're likely to be peers, co-workers and, most importantly, partners, spouses, domestic partners.</s>KEILAR: So they're looking for social media postings. They're looking for people reaching out to find like-minded folks on opinions --</s>SCHWEIT: Right.</s>KEILAR: And other behaviors?</s>SCHWEIT: Absolutely. We know from research that we're looking for what really categorizes itself as atypical behaviors. So, if you have never shot a gun before, and you buy a gun, that's an atypical behavior for you. If you have a gun, you use guns, you grow up in an area that they hunt and fish, that's fine, but is the behavior of that person with regard to firearms suddenly changed? Are they buying more firearms? The FBI research just released last summer said 40 percent of the weapons that were used between 2000 and 2014 -- 2013 for the active shooters, 40 percent of those weapons were purchased for the shootings. So, are there more shootings that are being -- that weapons are being purchased for? Is your Amazon account at home suddenly click, click, click and there's packages arriving at your house that include bulletproof vests and other types of ways that a shooter can harden their -- harden themselves, more ammunition, more clips. So we're looking for not just firearms. We're looking for other things like, have you started to -- have you stopped -- like are you giving your things away? Are you -- have you stopped participating in life? Have you moved to isolate yourself? These are all things that peers, families members are the first ones. We know that -- from research that 80 percent to 90 percent of the time there are signs that people see and they look the other way. That's the hard part. They look the other way. They deny it.</s>KEILAR: Because they're in denial. So if we're talking about the younger shooters, like you said, teachers, peers are going to see things.</s>SCHWEIT: Right.</s>KEILAR: Parents also need to have a dose of reality, right?</s>SCHWEIT: Yes.</s>KEILAR: What do they need to do?</s>SCHWEIT: Yes, that's a big concern, too, because although as many of these shooters are in their 20s and 30s and 40s, it's super important to remember that, as a parent, you know, your job in -- in -- is to make sure that, you know, you don't have a lock on your kid's door, that you know what your kid is doing.</s>KEILAR: That they don't -- that they don't have a degree of privacy that completely shuts you out of what might be going on?</s>SCHWEIT: Right. Exactly. And don't deny it. You know, we just had this arrest in Florida of a 15-year-old and the body cam video from the -- from the police officer. The mom is standing there saying, he's not like one of those crazy people. He just made silly comments. He's a good boy. That's denial. And I understand, as a parent, I'm a mom, I understand as a parent that you don't ever think your kid could do that. But isn't it better that you find out that your kid might be headed in that direction and you save them from being killed at the scene of a crime?</s>KEILAR: Katherine Schweit, thank you so much. Amazing expertise.</s>SCHWEIT: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: To give us a look into what we should lo for and what we shouldn't be districted by it. It's so important.</s>SCHWEIT: My pleasure. Than you.</s>KEILAR: President Trump again says he is looking seriously at birthright citizens, putting him at odds with the U.S. Constitution. Could Congress step in? Plus, new warning signs on an economy, including a deficit that is rising faster than expected.