FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“CRIME WATCH DAILY” SPECIAL EDITION
COLUMBINE: THEN AND NOW
Crime Watch Daily Talks to the Survivors of America’s Most Infamous School Shooting, Goes Inside the Minds of Teen Killers, and Takes a Look at How Things Have Changed Since the Massacre
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (April 19, 2016) — Crime Watch Daily dedicates a special episode to the school shooting that changed a nation. The show will sit down with survivors and the victims’ families in powerful interviews that recount that tragic day. Crime Watch Daily also talks to an expert on teen killers and participates in an active shooter demo to see how police have altered their response tactics since 1999.
Columbine: Where Are They Now?
Crime Watch Daily sits down with Columbine survivor Sean Graves who shares his harrowing story recounting how he was shot five times and left paralyzed. Plus he recalls the horror of losing one of his friends, Dan Rohrbough. “The hardest visual I had from that day was when I was being dragged out by the fire department…I was focused on Dan and they picked his head up and it was purple and that’s when I knew,” Graves says.
We also hear from Craig Scott who lost both his sister, Rachel Scott, and friend Isaiah Shoels in the shootings. “I remember Isaiah; the last thing he said [was] ‘I want to see my mom.’ They shot [Isaiah] in the head… I was lying there just pretending to be dead… I thought I was going to die, I thought I was going to be next,” Scott says.
And who could forget Isaiah’s father, Michael Shoels, famously consoled by Katie Couric while appearing on the “Today Show” just a day after the massacre. He joins this special Crime Watch Daily episode where he heartbreakingly reveals, “[Isaiah] was buried in his cap and gown and his diploma.” “The 20th is every day for me. I can’t miss him anymore than I do now…I find myself crying all the time,” he adds.
Columbine: What Have We Learned?
Crime Watch Daily interviews Phil Chalmers, an expert on teenage homicide who reveals what we’ve learned in the aftermath of the attacks. “The biggest thing we’ve learned from Columbine, from a law enforcement standpoint, is we’ll never ever wait to go into a school where there’s a massacre happening…Law enforcement will act immediately,” says Chalmers. Chalmers also advocates a “see something, say something” policy saying, “81% of school shooters had warning signs that were noticed by other people and they didn’t report it” including how the role of bullying plays in these attacks. “Most kids being bullied don’t kill obviously, but bullying is the number one cause of teen murder,” he says.
Active Shooter Demo
The Columbine shooting completely transformed the way law enforcement deals with active shooters and put into the forefront the need for immediate action. Now, Crime Watch Daily takes viewers inside an active shooter training course that shows just how important a speedy response is. “Columbine was a watershed event. ‘Surround and Contain’ while people are being shot and killed doesn’t work,” says Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputy James Grady to Crime Watch Daily. “What we had to look at was small team tactics…Time is life, we can’t wait.”
Watch here: Columbine Where Are They Now video
Tune into Crime Watch Daily this Wednesday, April 20.
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