Effects of Bullying Part 3 - Sad Day For Chardon, Ohio

The town of Chardon, Ohio started out their day as usual today (2/27/12) Something would be different though, and it would leave two high school students dead, another five wounded. For reasons yet to be determined, an angry and hurting student walked into his high school, sat down alone at a table in the school cafeteria and then at some point, he pulled out a gun and started shooting other students.

****UPDATE****
A total of three students have now passed away from the injuries sustained in this sad event 2-29-2012

Speculation says that he may have been the victim of bullying prior to acting out like he did. Some others disagree, saying he was a kid with lots of friends who was quiet and well liked. This morning, an entire town was torn apart by fear and grief regardless of the reasons. According to a person close to Shortwave America whose anonynomity is being strictly guarded, and who lives lives in Chardon, Ohio: (paraphrasing) "some people are already using this as a platform for politics and gun control."

****UPDATE****
The Prosecutor in Ohio has determined that the accused is seriously mentally ill and legal proceedings are moving forward. New information says this was a random act of violence by someone who was NOT a student at the school but IS a local minor in that area. New information says that the accused may not have been a bullying victim 2-29-2012

This alone (politicking) is an act of bullying in this whole episode of grief and adds insult to injury when real people need real trauma support and care in such a serious time of real need. Police have arrested the shooter who committed this crime, and he is going to be held accountable for what he did. Politics and gun control issues aside, this young student who acted in such a deadly way is still a human person who obviously had some sort of intense suffering going on and he was so hurt by it that he was somehow unable to express himself otherwise.

On the flipside of this same issue, his pain has now caused many families to also suffer life changing, life - long pain. The question is whether or not the proper social and psychiatric supports would have been available to the student who committed this shooting if he had been detected earlier on by way of a Facebook post and a tweet he left behind. Who saw the Facebook post, who saw the tweet, and why didn't anyone suspect anything?

Social media is a great thing to have for an endless list of things ranging from business promotion, keeping in touch with family and friends, socializing with the community even on an international basis,and  maintaining a means of contact with the outside world for busy people and those who are shut-ins. Over time, it has been known that people with troubled lives also use the internet to cry out for help, to voice their pain, to give the world around them a clue that they are at a breaking point.

Shortwave America, along with business partners PCJ Media/PCJ Radio, and The Nash Holos Show and others wish to express their heartfelt sympathies to all who were involved in this sad event. We are all people and we are all deserving of care, support, compassion, and safety.

Please keep the entire Chardon, Ohio community in your thoughts and prayers. All of us can be heroes when we take the time to be there for someone. All of us can help bring the national and international epidemic of bullying, psychological violence, and real physical violence to an end by getting involved. It isn't someone else's job.



These community resources are available to anyone who needs help and support with psychological or psychiatric matters:

Youth Violence Project

Anti-Bullying Hotline 212-709-3222

School Violence Hotline:

CALL 1-866-748-7047, toll-free
TEXT to 847411 using keyword, “Reportit” Include school name and city.

National Hopeline Network:  1-800-784-2433

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453 (Even a juvenile can be investigated for abusing another child under child abuse laws) this hotline only wants calls where an injury to a child or a dangerous situation towards a child would be thought by a reasonable person to have happened by other than purely accidental means.

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Gift From Within: Post - Traumatic Stress Disorder support and support for those with PTSD related symptoms.