When a person is motivated, there is really nothing that can be done. Right now, the odds are either you or someone you know is mentally ill. Latest statistics says that one out of every five people suffer from mental illness. Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Thankfully, not all of these people are violent, but they are suffering. If you know someone who may be ill, do the right thing and get them help. Institutionalizing all these individuals is not practicable, but medication is readily available. As noted, the disease will have fully manifested itself before the age of 24. So, more observant parents/caretakers will go a long way in getting help early and this will ensure better results.

PTSD is a whole different issue. For months after I witnessed the Pentagon attack, I suffered from depression and I believe PTSD. I still can not fly and I am very observant of people around me. Am I still depressed? No. Am I paranoid, no because I still believe that the majority of all people are inherently good. With a very supportive family I came to terms with this horrific event. But, due to importance placed on careers of women, not everyone has a committed and observant or supportive family unit. I am one of the lucky ones.

I think that mental health professional need to obey the laws of their states. Many states have created databases, used primarily for gun control, of their mental ill residents. So, expansion of government intrusions was established years ago. Florida allows law enforcement can take an individual to a mental hospital against his or her will for an initial evaluation. If after 72 hours the doctors observing the individual want to continue that treatment, then they can petition a court for permission, even against the patient's wishes. And they can be detained when a primary care, mental health provider, or parent or primary caretaker alerts the police to their concerns.

Cruz, as it turns out, is Hispanic although his skin appears to be white. Therefore, your last remark is not supported.

When a person is motivated, there is really nothing that can be done. Right now, the odds are either you or someone you know is mentally ill. Latest statistics says that one out of every five people suffer from mental illness. Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Thankfully, not all of these people are violent, but they are suffering. If you know someone who may be ill, do the right thing and get them help. Institutionalizing all these individuals is not practicable, but medication is readily available. As noted, the disease will have fully manifested itself before the age of 24. So, more observant parents/caretakers will go a long way in getting help early and this will ensure better results.

PTSD is a whole different issue. For months after I witnessed the Pentagon attack, I suffered from depression and I believe PTSD. I still can not fly and I am very observant of people around me. Am I still depressed? No. Am I paranoid, no because I still believe that the majority of all people are inherently good. With a very supportive family I came to terms with this horrific event. But, due to importance placed on careers of women, not everyone has a committed and observant or supportive family unit. I am one of the lucky ones.

I think that mental health professional need to obey the laws of their states. Many states have created databases, used primarily for gun control, of their mental ill residents. So, expansion of government intrusions was established years ago. Florida allows law enforcement can take an individual to a mental hospital against his or her will for an initial evaluation. If after 72 hours the doctors observing the individual want to continue that treatment, then they can petition a court for permission, even against the patient's wishes. And they can be detained when a primary care, mental health provider, or parent or primary caretaker alerts the police to their concerns.

Cruz, as it turns out, is Hispanic although his skin appears to be white. Therefore, your last remark is not supported.

If you notice, I am not condemning, other than those who are cop h**ers that created the current hesitation by our police departments. Indeed, a while back, I wrote defending our police and warned that this would happen. Police are much less inclined to respond immediately to situations and response times to "troubled" neighborhoods would be slowed down due to their need to have backups.... only because they need a witness that they were not "overly aggressive" in performing the job they were hired to do. We can not have it both ways.... we can not attack officers for "brutality" and condemn them if they do not rush in to "protect" citizens.

I do think the FBI failed and did not follow up as they should have once Cruz was turned in. Simply, they dropped the ball and had they followed up, perhaps those kids would be home with their family.... Cruz' mental health providers also failed to report his condition to the local police department..... and I think that anyone who is exhibiting signs of mental instability should not have access to weapons..... that includes knives, guns, or even a baseball bat.... if they express the desire to "k**l" another individual... in other words, a nice stay in a mental ward. I also think the step parents in this case also failed. They should have known he had stopped his weekly visits with mental health and taken action. So, to me... this was not a "one size fits all" circumstance.... many people knew he had problems, yet they took no action.

I can not help but wonder if the criticism of law enforcement, complete with cell phone videos, had any part in their (as there was four of them) hesitation. How many officers have been vilified by the press for shooting an offender? If you run a search on the net you will find almost 77 million returns and the majority are articles giving daily totals of "police" shootings, some even break down the totals by race. Imagine had those officers gone in, shot the kid and he turned out to be a minority... So, my question would be, has the Liberals that h**e cops so much hold some responsibility in the "cowardliness" of these officers? Is it time for us to stop vilifying officers when they have to k**l someone like Cruz?

Do not misunderstand, I do not condone these officer's lack of action. I am saying that we collectively have created an uncertainty in the minds of many police... seems that they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.