In the aftermath of another mass shooting, the usual suspects are inevitably singled out for a collateral role. Bureaucrats who missed red flags–from mental health warnings to public safety concerns–to neighbors who didn’t get involved.
But there is typically a more obvious, insidious suspect. The see-something-say-something culture has to include–indeed, start with–those literally closest to a would-be mass murderer. The Columbine killers’ clueless parents. Adam Lanza’s unconscionably enabling mother. Or Omar Mateen’s wife, who is accused of helping, witlessly or not, her husband in casing potential terrorist attacks, including the Pulse nightclub.
We also know that a couple, James and Kimberly Snead, took Nikolas Cruz into their home last Thanksgiving at the request of their son. “We didn’t see this side of him” they told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. What they did see, however, was that Cruz came with a small arsenal–the notorious AR-15, two other assault-type rifles, plus knives, BB guns and pellet guns. He was welcome as long as he agreed to keep it all locked up.
Say what? You invite, indeed, welcome a 19-year-old friend of your teen-age son into your home, your neighborhood, and he comes with a weapons cache? See-something-say-nothing.