The FBI and Oregon State Police are working to create new threat assessment teams in the state to bolster the ability of local communities to help identify and prevent mass violence.
Oregon hasn’t been immune from such carnage.
In 1998, a 14-year-old Thurston High School freshman shot and killed his parents and then killed two students and wounded 24 others at the Springfield school; in 2012, a 22-year-old gunman killed two others and wounded a teenager at Clackamas Town Center before he shot and took his own life; in 2014, a 15-year-old freshman at Reynolds High School in Troutdale fatally shot a 14-year-old student, wounded a teacher and then killed himself; and in 2015, a student opened fire inside a classroom at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, killed nine people and wounded eight others before exchanging gunfire with police and killing himself.
“While we haven’t had an active shooter here or an act of mass violence here in Oregon in a few years, we know that the potential is ever present and it’s something that keeps us up at night,” said Kieran L. Ramsey, Oregon’s FBI special agent in charge. “It’s very important for us here at the FBI in partnership with our local and state community members and even law enforcement, that we do everything we can to identify and stop any such violence, especially at our schools.”
FBI agent Damara Gonzalez, who works in Portland and is the agency’s liaison to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia, said people involved in mass shootings usually plan ahead and aren’t acting spontaneously.
That’s why it’s important to train bystanders and others to be alert to potential behavior that might warrant attention, she said. Research has shown that those responsible for such violence often have personal grievances and have been suffering from personality disorders or some type of mental break in the preceding year or two, she said.
“There’s no one piece of information that’s going to alert a threat assessment team, or bystander or concerned individual that someone is on the pathway to violence,” she said. “We’re really looking at a variety of different pieces of information. And so essentially, we’re taking this holistic approach, leaning on what these individuals are saying and how they’re behaving and using that to determine where they are on this pathway.”
The FBI and state police provided training to about 350 people during the summer and recently expanded the number of threat assessment teams in Oregon from five to 10, said state police Lt. Kyle Kennedy. The summer workshops were held in July in Lincoln City, Canyonville and LaGrande.
In Oregon, Marion County has had the Mid-Valley Student Threat Assessment Team for years. It focuses on the threat of violent behavior in schools. But such teams haven’t been consistent across the state.
Research has suggested that school attackers usually confide in peers ahead of time about threats or their plans, have ready access to a gun and may suffer from depression, desperation or despondency, according to the American Psychological Association.
Any Oregon agency, educator, mental health organization or service-provider group interested in learning more about threat assessment teams can contact the FBI in Oregon at (503) 224-4181.
Community members interested in learning more about how to help identify and stop violent threats can find more information in the FBI’s Making Prevention a Reality: Identifying, Assessing, and Managing the Threat of Targeted Attacks.
Anyone with information about a potential threat or act of violence should call 911 in an emergency or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Information may also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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