College Park Murder-Suicide Suspect Purchased Gun Despite Mental Illness
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WJZ)—A deadly triple shooting in College Park once again has the issue of mental illness and gun control in the spotlight.
Monique Griego has more on the issue of mental health and gun control.
While the shooter was being treated for mental illness, he was still legally able to purchase firearms. That has some people questioning state policies.
Early Tuesday morning in College Park, police say 23-year-old University of Maryland student Dayvon Green shot his two roommates, killing one before turning the gun on himself.
His motive is still not clear, but detectives say Green suffered from mental illness.
"It keeps coming back and people who do these acts are seriously disturbed," said psychologist Dr. Jim Dasinger.
Dasinger says while Green may have been treated for mental issues, health professionals don't always know when someone is about to snap.
"We can only predict violence if there's a history of violent behavior. We're going by the track record," Dasinger said.
Despite his condition, Green was able to legally purchase guns.
Governor Martin O'Malley is currently trying to limit the access certain mental health patients have to regulated firearms.
In both the mass school shooting in Connecticut and movie theatre massacre in Colorado, investigators found the suspects had some type of personality disorder.
A new report by a state task force is now also calling for mandatory reporting of severely ill patients who make threats.
"If someone makes a credible threat--whether it be to a health care provider, an educator or other--that should be reported to law enforcement and law enforcement should have to investigate that," a member of the task force said.
But the task force also found mental illness alone is not an indicator of violence. It showed drugs, alcohol and other issues play a major role.
"Such as anger, despair, greed. Some of these human things that we have, they're what lead people to act out violently," Dasinger said.
It has been reported that Green suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, but that has not been confirmed.
O'Malley is also looking to ban assault rifles and require fingerprinting of gun buyers.
