DPS urges parents to step up and help stop school shootings

Iowa (KCRG) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety urged parents Friday to be mindful of their children's actions during a news conference about the Perry school shooting.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety released several new details Friday morning about the shooter and what led up to the shooting. In that shooting, a 17-year-old student killed a sixth-grader and the principal and injured six others before taking his own life.

Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens issued a call to action directly to parents, asking them to help prevent violence like this.

“Willful blindness is not a parenting strategy,” Bayens said. “You have to get involved. You need to be present in your children's lives. They need to set the duration and content moderation on their digital devices.

Bayens says people who knew the shooter had a chance to talk about concerning behavior before the shooting: “This shooter told friends about his fascination with violence.” This shooter told people online about his fascination with school shootings. “

Staff at Tanager Place in eastern Iowa say open communication can be difficult, but it's one of the best tools parents can have. Clinical therapist Joella Gerber says parents should also pay attention to warning signs such as significant changes in behavior.

“If a child used to be more outgoing or wanted to be with friends more, even more with family, and then you notice a big change in that, they're really withdrawn or don't want to be around people,” says Gerber.

Bayens said he was speaking Friday morning as a father, not as a commissioner, and asked anyone who sees warning signs in a child or friend to come forward.

“I agree to apologize for any misunderstanding. What I don't like is standing in front of a mother who has just lost her son or daughter to violence at school. I'll apologize all day for the misunderstanding. “I don’t want to be in the position of having to confront a parent again because someone was too polite to say something,” Bayens says.

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