RICHMOND, Ind. – One question dominated the reactions among parents who rushed to pick up their children after a shooting at their school Thursday: How could this happen to us?

What many Dennis Intermediate School parents had seen happen in other communities across the country was suddenly in their own backyard, affecting their own children. A 14-year-old, equipped with a pistol and a rifle, shot through the glass of a door at Dennis Thursday morning but was stopped by a locked door in a stairwell. Trapped and confronted by police, the teenager took his own life.

Reunited families were visibly distraught as they walked out of Civic Hall, where Dennis students were transported for pick-up. Most of them clung tightly to one another as they headed left, faced with the daunting reality it was time to drive home and process what has just happened.

"If this happens in Richmond, Indiana, it happens absolutely anywhere," Richmond Police Chief Jim Branum said. "If you had told me 30 years ago that we would have to train officers on entering into a school after a shooter, I wouldn’t have believed it."

No students or staff were injured during the incident, but it left the Richmond community shaken and wondering, is this the kind of thing that happens in Small Town, USA? And, ultimately, does it reflect a broader issue within the community?

What local experts say

Multiple members of local law enforcement who spoke with the Pal Item cited Thursday’s event as something separate from the norm, especially among teenagers under 18 years old.

That's why Neal VanMiddlesworth, juvenile detective with Richmond Police Department, said he doesn't think we've reached "epidemic proportions," but there does, however, appear to be more of a fascination with guns among young people, and that’s especially prevalent on social media.

"Because gun control is a hot topic on social media, younger people are definitely aware, probably more so than a generation ago,” VanMiddlesworth said. “As a detective I deal with a lot of social media stuff. (Kids) throw out gun conversation all the time, and it doesn’t occur to them they will get in trouble with that.

"Guns and gun violence are a part of their conversation. I think that as adults, it’s something we should be aware of. The impact of what we’re saying is probably impacting our children more than we realize."

Branum said his department occasionally confiscates weapons from minors, "but we always have," and he hasn’t seen an increase. Though in general the department has taken "a whole lot more guns off the street than we used to."

His department has actually experienced multiple cases involving look-alike weapons. For example, a juvenile was arrested in August for an armed robbery, after which investigators later located a BB gun. The department has also received complaints involving teenagers appearing on social media sites with weapons, though a recent investigation of such revealed the weapons were not real.

RPD Captain Bill Shake said that while his department didn’t have specific data to compare Richmond with other areas in teen gun-related crimes, anecdotally, "we appear to experience less teen gun-related crime than large metropolitan areas."

Meanwhile, Wayne County coroner Ron Stevens has recorded more than 30 suicides by gunshot since 2013. Within that time frame, there have been four recorded teen suicides, three of which were by gunshot and recorded in 2018 (that's counting the 14-year-old who took his own life Thursday.) "It seems to be on the rise," Stevens said, "but it’s too soon to tell."

EARLIER COVERAGE:

► Shooter's mom made 911 call that likely saved Dennis lives

► Superintendent: A teacher made the decision to put Dennis on lockdown before shooting

► State police turns Dennis building over to RCS administration Friday morning

► From dispatched to death: 3 minutes inside Dennis active shooter response

► 'I’m going to hug her extra tight': Parents react to Richmond school shooting

► Richmond police: School shooter took his own life

► Richmond school shooting: What you should know

'If you're a gun owner, you need to secure your weapons'

Richmond police officer Tim Davis, who teaches a safety program to Richmond elementary students, instructed Vaile Elementary kindergartners in November what to do if they found a gun. Just six days later, those same kindergartners faced the real-life situation and found one on their playground.

They did what they were supposed to do: surrounded the gun to block it and notified supervisors, who determined the gun was a toy. Davis was proud of the students for handling the situation properly.

The moral of the story? Education is key.

"The first thing I thought when I heard the story, was I'm like, 'Wow, they're really listening,'" Davis said.

Earlier, Davis had asked those students who had parents with guns at home. He estimated about 60 percent of them did. Then he asked how many knew where those guns are hidden. Davis said he was shocked to learn that nearly all of the children who raised their hands for the first question also raised their hands for the second.

"That sort of defeats the purpose of the word 'hide,'" Davis said. "It’s also obvious (the children) have an idea where they are, and that’s dangerous, too. Some kids will say that their mommy or daddy hides the gun in a safe in a basement or in the closet, and that’s always good to hear, but some will say the guns are behind the door and know where these weapons are."

Davis added that while it’s good to educate children and OK to let them know the guns are in the house, it’s not good for them to know where they are or to have access to them. To help with this, he said RPD offers free gun locks.

Wayne County had 8,871 active gun licenses issued as of October 2018, according to state records.

"Most people who are gun owners are good, law-abiding gun owners who keep their guns locked up," Branum said. "Most are, but there are folks who don’t keep their weapons secure … If you’re a gun owner, you need to secure your weapons."

A community left shaken

Numbers aside, when an incident like Thursday's happens, children are affected. Parents are affected. The entire community is affected.

Richmond's incident marked the 12th time since 1880 that an Indiana community has faced either a fatal or nonfatal school shooting. And it wasn't long after the most recent one. Just seven months ago, a teacher and student at Noblesville West Middle School were shot by another student, who was recently sent to juvenile jail.

Richmond has also had its share of other gun-related incidents in recent months. In June, 18-year-old Austin Neathery was charged with the murder of Antwone-Tremell Carpenter, also 18, who was fatally shot just before he was set to graduate from Richmond High School.

Angela Wright, a psychologist at Living Pathways in Richmond who has had specialized training with children and adolescents, said an event like Thursday's has a “ripple effect” throughout the community and beyond.

"Everyone responds in their own way to tragedy, but certainly anger, fear and feelings of helplessness are common after something like this,” Wright said. "Some people process their reactions internally, some benefit from processing with close family or friends and others may need the support of mental health professionals."

A problem, Wright said, is that safe spaces where kids can get the support and guidance they need, or where they can feel heard and understood, are not accessible for many. She added that adolescents of today's society face many challenges: inadequate support systems, limited access to mental health services and social media's magnification to the already challenging aspects of growing up.

"The stress is sometimes impossible to bear," she said. "Kids' brains are not yet fully developed, and their attempts to cope can be desperate, dangerous, and as we have also seen, sometimes deadly."

The search for the long-term solutions

So what are the solutions? Many local experts say there isn't a single one, but rather, multiple solutions.

"We need to look at the big picture and come together to start tackling all of the factors," Wright said, including youth mental health, access to quality services, bullying, youth's accessibility to guns and the need for continued public health research.

"I don’t know that it’s preventable on a community level with the things children are bombarded with every day in video games and on their phones," Branum said. "We as parents don’t know what they’re watching all of the time."

Branum said he believes responsible gun ownership is the first step. "It’s a fine line between gun-owner rights and accessibility," he said, suggesting that gun owners get a quality gun safe and keep the key or combination to themselves.

Meanwhile, Shake said when the investigation into what occurred Thursday is concluded, RPD will have a better understanding of the specific causes, which will help develop future responses.

Mike Emery of the Pal Item contributed to this report.

Audrey Kirby is a reporter at the Pal Item Follow her on Twitter @ajanekirby, and email her story ideas: ajkirby@gannett.com.

