AMARILLO, TX -- When you hear the words "Columbine" or "Virginia Tech," most people probably think back to the fateful shootings on those campuses.
Finding the root causes of teenage killers and why they do it was the focus of an eye-opening and graphic seminar designed to catch the warning signs before they become statistics.
And according to the latest statistics, five murders today take place every day in this country by teenagers. Some in schools, some out of schools, and not all reported on the evening news.
It's the fact that teens are killing people daily that drives Phil Chalmers, a nationally recognized expert who was in Amarillo on Tuesday to speak at his seminar entitled, "Why teens kill."
He says as a starting point, there are warning signs that teachers, parents and student need to be on the lookout for...
"Number one, kids that come from unstable homes or if they're bullied at school. Number two-, they love violent entertainment, so it's a fascination with violent video games, movies, music and porn and third is they're suicidal, which is the most dangerous", said Chalmers.
And one of the biggest triggers he touched upon: the increasing problem of bullying.
"Bullying is one of the biggest catalysts that causes a teen to kill and so when the District is making every issue to address that we need parents and the community to understand that this really is an important issue," added Melynn Huntley with the Safe Schools, Healthy Students group that brought Chalmers here to speak.
The pictures and the video were sometimes graphic, but it's this kind of shock value that may someday save lives and stop teen killers, says Chalmers..
"So, you can't get on TV and say, "Hey, if we get rid of video games we'll stop teen murder!"...won't work. Or if we get rid of guns or drugs, unfortunately, that's won't work, because it's a multiple cause crime, it's numerous things together."
