Austria in mourning after school shooting in Graz leaves 11 dead

June 10, 2025: “We’ve been verifying videos posted online following the shooting, including the below footage of the moment loud gunshots were heard in a classroom.”

Source: BBC.com

The Austrian city of Graz is in mourning after a suspected gunman killed 10 people in a secondary school shooting this morning.

Seven women and three men are so far counted among the dead, local officials have said.

The 21-year-old suspect – a former pupil that did not graduate from the high school – is believed by police to have killed himself in the school bathroom.

Read the full article here.

Prevent 2 Protect is a groundbreaking program that helps assess and manage students who have been identified as high-risk through behavioral threat assessment.

Drawing on the expertise of mental health providers, law enforcement officials and educators, Prevent 2 Protect provides a research-to-practice hub.

Written By Alyse Folino Ley, MSUToday

The goal of preventive medicine is to find and treat problems before they become major health issues. Prevent 2 Protect — an MSU initiative that recently began supporting the community through schools in Ingham County and will soon expand to Wayne County — uses a similar approach with high-risk students to prevent acts of targeted violence.

When educators in participating regional schools identify concerning student behavior that could lead to violence, a behavioral threat assessment is completed by the school and then a referral is made to Prevent 2 Protect.

Read the full article here.

Educators are worried about being blamed for “attacking” students when it’s the other way around.

What about “threat assessment teams?”

Districts now must establish and train multidisciplinary “threat assessment teams” to identify and assess students demonstrating “concerning communications or behavior.”

Written By Dorothy Wigmore of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA)

Many forms of violence in New Jersey schools—and elsewhere—seem to be getting worse.

Reported bullying, bias and hate speech numbers are climbing in the state, especially affecting students from marginalized communities. New types of violence are being reported. Two recent Canadian studies warn that low-level anti-social classroom behavior, or incivility, increased since the pandemic started and found it can lead to bullying.

Read the full article here.

Photo by Stephen Harlan on Unsplash

USA Software, Inc. is pleased to announce that Amarillo ISD, based in the Texas Panhandle city of Amarillo, has implemented our Behavorial Threat Assessment Digital Case Management System, a powerful CSTAG-based tool that will help manage the behavioral threat assessments they undertake.

School Districts across the country have created Behavioral Threat Assessment Teams in their schools in an effort to prevent targeted mass violence. In many states, like Texas, Florida, Ohio and more, it is mandated by law. School Districts like Amarillo ISD TX, Dublin City Schools OH, Lake County FL, Fort Smith Schools AR and others, are getting ahead of the curve by getting their BTA Teams trained and by implementing our powerful, CSTAG-based software tool to manage their case load! Their BTA data will be housed in a database where the BTA Teams can easily enter and access this data as well as perform analytics at the push of a button from a desktop or mobile device. This will allow them to focus on school safety, prevention, intervention, and threat mitigation. And focus on Education!

Can Researchers Show That Threat Assessment Stops Mass Shootings?

Experts weigh in on the effectiveness of Threat Assessment. Threat assessments are now required in schools by eighteen U.S. states.

In a recent book by the journalist Mark Follman, “Trigger Points,” concludes that they are a promising tool.

Continue reading…

“This demonstrates the power of paying attention to warning signs”

–J. Reid Meloy, PhD, a threat assessment researcher

In the fall of 2020, a prominent technology company in California contacted forensic psychologist J. Reid Meloy, PhD, a threat assessment researcher, because one of their software engineers had posted worrisome messages on a social media platform. The messages alluded to plans of a violent attack. The platform flagged the posts and alerted the FBI.

Ironically, the case never received any news coverage because nobody was murdered.