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Henry Ford Community College in Michigan Site of Latest School Shooting, Murder-Suicide: Fueled by Recession?

By Javier Lavagnino, Esq. on April 10, 2009 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

In breaking news, CNN reports that two people have been shot and killed at Henry Ford Community College in Michigan. In light of the number of the tragic shootings during the past week and month, the first thing that probably pops into anyone's head is whether this is yet another instance of someone trying to take out as many people as possible before they kill themselves. In the context of school shootings, both the Virginia Tech tragedy and the shooting last month in Germany might pop up in people's minds.

Very few details are released at the moment, but the scene in Michigan is reported to have been contained by police who have not indicated whether anyone is in custody or not. A man and a woman were found dead in a classroom on campus, and the campus does remain in lockdown at this time. The Detroit Free Press now reports that the killing was a murder-suicide.

There have been an unseemly number of mass shootings and murder-suicides in the news lately, ranging from those in Alabama to the tragedies in Binghamton, NY, North Carolina, and California (sadly, this list is not even all-encompassing). Regardless, all of the violence is raising questions about whether such shootings are the product of the recession, or perhaps have begun to feed off each other in a cyclical copy-cat manner, and also whether there's anything that can be done to prevent them.

Unfortunately, whether dealing with someone who is flat-out deranged, someone who is unleashing their anger on the world, or perhaps simply someone who intends to die-by-cop, police are probably faced with a difficult (if not impossible) task in adjusting to deal with these types of criminals considering that negotiation seems to be the last thing on their mind. Below are links to more information and discussions on the possible roots for the shootings.

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