I'll was in a CNN Interview (https://tinyurl.com/Doll-CNN-May-2019) 5/10/19 at 11:45pm EST on School Shootings and their Prevention - Dr. Jonathan Doll

Tonight, May 10, 2019 at 11:45pm EST (10:45pm Central, 8:45pm Pacific), I will be on CNN with Don Lemon and also a retired New York City Police Detective, Tom Verni, with special experience working as an ally for gay and transgender students and adults. We will be discussing the school shooting this past Tuesday at STEM School Highlands Ranch, in suburban Denver, where a courageous student, Kendrick Castillo lost his life while disarming one of the two shooters. Other heroes include the students, Brandon Bialy and Joshua Jones, both of whom were a force of resistance that saved many lives.

The Denver Channel reports that this was the first two-person shooting since Columbine and it really shows that we as a country have not learned how to support hurting young people effectively.

Kris Brown, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said today in a USA Today Op-Ed that young people are being put through increasing trauma by the continuous use of lockdown drills. She also shared the powerful insight that what is needed is fully-funded research on evidence-based solutions that aim to support hurting students and prevent eventual school shootings. According to Ms. Brown, the US House and Senate are set to vote on $50 million in funds that the CDC could use to study the epidemic of gun violence. The reader should note that 2018 was the worst year for fatalities in schools by guns from 1970 to 2018 (Reference: School Shooting Database by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security out of the Naval Post Graduate School, in Monterey, California, https://www.chds.us/ssdb/).

This is a very touchy subject and people's lives across our country have been lost in this critical area which our generation must solve. My heart goes out to the brave, courageous, awesome students, teachers, and leaders at STEM School Highlands Ranch and their Superintendent, Thomas Tucker who wisely shared many strategies to help grieving families in a most timely fashion.

Solutions to this problem will collaborative, supportive, deescalating, and in the words of President Barack Obama, they are something that "Yes, we can" accomplish. Yes we can create solutions to end school shootings. Yes We Can!

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Dr. Jonathan Doll is the author of the book, Ending School Shootings: School and District Tools for Prevention and Action. He was the 2-day keynote at SAMFORD UNIVERSITY for the BADGE 2019 PREVENTING SCHOOL VIOLENCE CONFERENCE. Learn more at www.endingschoolshootings.org.