Robert Hawkins: How Do You Think This Tragedy Could Have Been Averted?

Question by Faith: Robert Hawkins: How do you think this tragedy could have been averted?
The tragegy of the shooting as well as the tragedy was was this young man’s life.

On Wednesday, 19-year-old Robert Hawkins killed eight people and himself in a shooting rampage at an Omaha shopping mall, police said.

Surgical nurse Debora Maruca-Kovac, whose family took in Hawkins after her 17- and 19-year-old sons befriended him, said she saw victims of the mall shooting being brought in to the hospital where she works.Though he had his troubles, Hawkins was gentle and loved animals, Maruca-Kovac said. But he also had a drinking problem and would occasionally smoke marijuana in his bedroom, she said. Hawkins liked to listen to music and play video games — “normal teenager stuff,” she said.
“He was a very helpful young man, but he was quiet,” Maruca-Kovac said. “He didn’t cause a lot of trouble. He tried to help out all the time. He was very thankful for everything. He wasn’t a violent person at all.”
In the note, Maruca-Kovac said, Hawkins said “how sorry he was for everything.” He wrote that he loved his mom and dad and other family members and said he wasn’t “going to be a burden anymore.” He ended the note by saying that now he would be famous.

We see “gentle” but “troubled” people around us everyday.
How do we react to them? Are we helpful or do we put them down further?
What do you suggest could have averted these tragedies?

Best answer:

Answer by xbluelikewaterx
i don’t have the answers to the prevention. but the fame thing from his not stuck out to me. so many times when you hear of this, the person had at least thought of the event making them famous. i think this strange draw can be avoided by stopping the super saturation in media coverage of these events. i know we need to be informed about what’s happening in the world, but we don’t need the story running in repetition 24/7 on all the news channels.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

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