It seems people did try to alert authorities about his intentions, but if the authorities shrug it off how are regular people supposed to deal with it?Oh yeah. I do. Problem is that hind sight is 20/20. Probably a kid like that should have ended up on juvenile probation, where the orders will say that the person had to regularly see a therapist or psychiatrist if it’s indicated.
But commitment and off the streets only happens if loud alarm bells are being sounded unmistakeably warning you of that particular moment. If the family he was living with didn’t think anything was going to happen differently that particular day of the shooting, odds are that a shrink would not have caught it either.
It’s like with suicide, if a person wants help they will tell you. If they really do want to die, they will find a way to do it and there is nothing you can really do to prevent it. People even kill themselves in the hospital sometimes.