[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Redliner

Be careful how much blame you throw at friends and family in a situation like this. This is a horrific tragedy, but the kid made the decision to do it himself. I understand that people are looking for answers and maybe it makes them more comfortable to point fingers, but the kid's family har nothing to do with it. My parents know the shooter's family very well, and I went to high school with his older sister. They are all wonderful people who are struggling to understand how this happened just as much as anyone else. You can raise your kid perfectly, but at the end of the day they still have to make their own decisions and be responsible for their own actions, and in this case Derek's actions have largely made victims of his family members as well. No, they weren't shot, but the stigma of an event like this will follow them around for a long time - not to mention the psychological beating his parents are taking wondering where it all went wrong.

I don't know the friends at all, but the above statements may or may not apply to them. To the girl who apparently heard Derek threaten his ex and saw him push her out of a chair, why wouldn't you call the police and report that? I really don't think anyone believed Derek was capable of something like this, but maybe that phone call could have saved 4 lives.

Do you think that calling police would have landed him in jail for pushing someone out of their chair? Or is there another reason how it could have prevented this from happening?