US Secret Service Launches Specialized Training in Lake County to Combat School Shootings and Targeted Violence

In the heart of Lake County, Illinois, a critical training session unfolded at the Almond Campus of Warren High School in Gurnee. Here, educators and law enforcement officials gathered in March to delve into strategies aimed at preventing targeted violence in schools. The initiative was spearheaded by the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC), an organization renowned for employing the same behavioral research and preventative tactics used by the U.S. Secret Service to safeguard high-profile individuals.

Participants were introduced to the training with a thought-provoking exercise: envisioning the image of a potential school shooter. Often, preconceived notions paint this individual as a white male. However, David Gabbard, NTAC Program Manager, cautioned that such stereotypes could lead to overlooking other potential threats lurking in the shadows.

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Lina Alathari, Chief of the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, echoed this sentiment. She emphasized, “Our research on school attackers shows no singular profile exists. These individuals come from diverse backgrounds, demographics, and vary in age.”

To underscore the unpredictability of potential threats, Gabbard recounted a sobering example during the training. He spoke of an 11-year-old student whose mother noticed missing knives while washing dishes. Trusting her instincts, she alerted the school. Subsequent investigations revealed the child carried three knives and a handgun in his backpack, highlighting the importance of vigilance and intuition in preventing tragedies.

“Our research on school attackers have shown that there is no profile of the type of student that will carry out an attack. They ranged in backgrounds, demographics, even ages,” said Lina Alathari, chief of the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center.

“This example, the 11-year-old student… When his mother was doing the dishes, she had noticed that knives were missing… and had just had this gut feeling. So, she called the school. And when school officials located the student, they found that he had in his backpack those three knives as well as a handgun,” said Gabbard during the training.

The common link, according to the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center or NTAC, is behavior.

“Grievances directed at staff or at work, it appears staff, romantic relationships and otherwise personal again was the number one reason for somebody wanting to plot their attack,” said NTAC Education Program Specialist Kelsey Morris.

NTAC, established a year before the Columbine High School shooting to prevent targeted violence, is teaching communities to see those concerning behaviors and take action before damage is done, not to punish, but to help save the lives of targets and potential perpetrators of mass violence.

“Everybody who is working with children, with kids, with teenagers on a daily on an hourly basis, they need this vital information to look for the warning signs to make sure that we don’t have any targeted violence at a school or anywhere else,” Lake County, Illinois State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told the I-Team.

“Those are important because they’re, you know, the trainings that they have to go through, the discussions that they’re having throughout the year to ensure that they know what to do if a situation does arise,” said Lake County, Illinois Regional Superintendent of Schools Michael Karner.