Manhunt intensifies after ‘Slender Man’ stabber cuts off monitor bracelet and flees
Authorities have launched a manhunt for Morgan Geyser, the Wisconsin woman convicted in the 2014 “Slender Man” stabbing, after she cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and fled a Madison group home Saturday night, police said.
The Madison Police Department announced Geyser’s escape in a social media post on Sunday.
“Morgan Geyser was last seen in the area of Kroncke Dr. around 8 p.m. with an adult acquaintance. Her whereabouts are unknown as of Sunday morning,” the department wrote. “The Madison Police Department was notified of her disappearance Sunday morning.
“A recent image of Geyser, captured on security video from this past month, is attached below. If you see her, please call 911,” police added.
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In 2017, Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the violent stabbing of Payton Leutner, but claimed she was not responsible due to her mental illness.
She told investigators she tried to kill Leutner to please the horror character Slender Man and was ultimately found not guilty by reason of mental defect.
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Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, were 12 when they lured Leutner into a wooded park during a sleepover in May 2014. Geyser, encouraged by Weier, stabbed Leutner 19 times.
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Leutner miraculously survived the attack.
Geyser has been in custody at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for the last seven years.
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She was initially sentenced to 40 years in the psychiatric hospital and was permitted to ask the court to consider her conditional release every six months.
Police told local outlet WMTV that Geyser was staying at a group home in Madison before she disappeared.
Foreign ‘patriots’ caught red-handed as Musk’s X unveils hidden account locations
A new feature on Elon Musk’s X is exposing the truth behind social media accounts across the political spectrum, with account owners apparently misleading followers about where they are posting from.
The new feature allows all X users to inspect where a given account is based, usually listing a country or region. Many popular accounts posing as American “patriots” or “constitutionalists” have been exposed as being run from foreign countries since the update rolled out on Friday.
One account with the handle “@1776General_” boasts over 140,000 followers and has a user biography describing the owner as a “constitutionalist, patriot and ethnically American.” The biography claims the account is based in the U.S., but X’s new feature reveals it is actually based in Turkey.
“I work in international business. I’m currently working in Turkey on a contract,” the owner of the account posted after the new feature was released.
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Another account, “@AmericanVoice__” had over 200,000 followers before the update rolled out. The new feature exposed that it was being run from South Asia, and the owners simply deleted the account.
X head of product Nikita Bier says the new feature should help X users sift out misinformation from their feeds.
“When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical for staying informed about important issues happening in the world. Part of this is showing new information in accounts, including the country an account is located in, among other things,” Bier wrote.
The phenomenon is not limited to American politics, however. Many accounts claiming to have been reporting on alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza also appear to be misleading users.
One user, Motasm A Dalloul, uses the handle “@AbujomaaGaza” and claims to be a “Gaza-based journalist.” His account has over 197,000 followers, but X says the owner is actually posting from Poland.
Dalloul has pushed back on claims that he is lying to his followers, however, posting a video on Saturday that appeared to show him on the ground in Gaza. Many users have argued about whether the video was digitally altered.
Another Palestinian-related account, the Quds News Network or @QudsNen, describes itself as the “largest independent Palestinian youth news network” and has over 600,000 followers.
The account lists its location as “Palestine,” but X says the account is actually based out of Egypt – unlike other accounts that X does list as being based in “Palestine,” such as American-Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti.
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A similar account under the name Times of Gaza/@Timesofgaza has nearly one million followers. It claims to provide the “latest news updates and top stories from occupied Palestine.” The account is based in “East Asia and the Pacific,” according to X.
X representatives have said its new feature could be partially spoofed by using a VPN to mask a user’s true location. In such cases where a VPN was detected, X added a warning next to the listed location.
Colombia uncovers treasure from $20B ‘Holy Grail’ shipwreck lost for centuries
Archaeologists in Colombia have retrieved the first items from the fabled San José galleon, a wreck known as the “Holy Grail of shipwrecks” due to its sheer amount of treasure.
The galleon, which sank in the Caribbean Sea in 1708 during an attack by a British fleet, has been the subject of intense scrutiny and international disputes since it was discovered in 2015.
The shipwreck is believed to contain about 11 million gold and silver coins, along with emeralds and other valuable cargo. Its treasure is worth as much as $20 billion.
The San José was carrying chests full of jewels and gold coins when it sank on its way to King Philip V of Spain.
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On Thursday, Colombia’s culture ministry announced that archaeologists have recovered a porcelain cup, three coins and a cannon from the site.
Pictures released by the government show President Gustavo Petro marveling at the ancient bronze cannon that was retrieved, which has remained in remarkable condition.
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The recently-announced artifacts represent just a fraction of what the ship was carrying when it sank over 300 years ago.
Colombia and Spain have both claimed ownership rights to the treasure. Colombia is in arbitration litigation with Sea Search Armada, a group of U.S. investors that claims it discovered the wreck in 1982.
The wreckage’s exact location has been kept a state secret, and it lies nearly 2,000 feet deep in the sea.
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Petro’s government has affirmed that the deep-water expedition is focused on research, not treasure hunting.
Though the San Jose galleon remains the world’s most valuable known shipwreck, other notable maritime discoveries have surfaced in 2025.
This summer, a group of marine experts determined the exact location of Captain James Cook’s HMS Endeavour, the ship used to reach the eastern coast of Australia.
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In June, officials unveiled the deepest-recorded shipwreck in French waters, off the coast of Ramatuelle. The ship still retained ancient cargo, including well-preserved porcelain.
Southern colleges see major surge as students flee elite schools’ campus culture
Students from the Northeast are heading South in record numbers, drawn by universities where sunshine, football and Greek life define campus life.
Rather than chasing the Ivy League dream, many students are now opting for schools in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which consists of 16 schools including the University of South Carolina (USC), the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee, The Sunday Times reported.
Between 2014 and 2023, SEC colleges saw a 91% increase in undergraduate students from northeastern states, according to The Sunday Times, citing government data.
USC alone is up 90% over that same period.
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USC hit a record this year with more than 40,000 students. Out-of-state enrollment has jumped 58% over the past decade, largely from the Northeast, as the school’s student body has grown 46%, according to The Sunday Times.
The largest pipelines are from North Carolina, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, The Sunday Times reported.
“All my friends are from [New] Jersey, [Philadelphia], New York, Maryland,” Sean Carroll, a 21-year-old USC senior from New York, told The Sunday Times. “People always ask me, ‘was it a culture shock?’ but there’s so many people from the north that you don’t even realize you’re in South Carolina. It’s just so trendy.”
Carroll, a member of USC’s Chi Psi fraternity, said only ten of its 200 members are from south of Virginia.
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“Northern fraternities hang with northern fraternities, southern with southern,” Carroll told The Sunday Times. “Even the tailgate lots are divided.”
Meanwhile, Cameron McManus, a high school senior from the Washington, D.C., suburbs, recently told Fortune Magazine he had been eyeing Clemson University, USC or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after seeing TikTok and Instagram videos featuring sports, Greek life and warm weather.
“You can be outside all months of the year,” McManus said.
Since 2019, applications to Southern colleges have risen 50%, compared to less than 30% for schools in New England and the mid-Atlantic, Fortune Magazine reported, citing Common Application data.
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The rise stems from the growing appeal of Southern schools and tougher competition for the nation’s most elite universities, as students now apply to more colleges than ever, according to Fortune Magazine.
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As competition intensifies, some Southern states have moved to preserve access for local students. Clemson’s acceptance rate has fallen from 52% to 38% in a decade, The Sunday Times reported.
North Carolina now caps out-of-state enrollment at 18%, while Texas offers guaranteed admission to its public universities for the top 10% of high school graduates, according to The Sunday Times.
USC, SEC and a spokesperson for the New England Board of Higher Education did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
New Arctic discovery could deal massive blow to China and a big win for the US
A project heralded by Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and accelerated by President Donald Trump stands to deal a huge blow to China’s dominance in the nanotechnology, energy and automotive sectors as the GraphiteOne site near Nome uncovered vast reserves — for which Beijing previously accounted for 90% of production.
As of 2024, the U.S. was at least 93% import-dependent on both rare earth elements (REEs) and graphite itself, according to the International Energy Agency, and the Graphite Creek deposit has already been dubbed the largest such tranche in the U.S.
But, this week’s announcement that REEs were discovered in addition to the graphite lode portends a step-up that the U.S. can take against the CCP through Trump’s “American energy dominance” agenda, according to a source familiar with the situation.
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Batteries, renewable energy technology, fiberoptics, lights, magnets and consumer electronics like phones and tablets rely on REEs, which often places the U.S. at a manufacturing disadvantage — accentuated by China’s 2024 export limits on magnet-related REEs, according to PRNewswire.
GraphiteOne President Anthony Huston said the Nome discovery is proof of a “truly generational deposit” at the Graphite Creek site. Some of the materials from the site will be shipped to an advanced graphite and battery anode material plant in Ohio.
Huston confirmed the presence of two Defense Production Act-qualifying materials and said that given the “robust economics of our planned complete graphite materials supply chain, the presence of Rare Earths at Graphite Creek suggests that recovery as a by-product to our graphite production will maximize the value.”
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REEs found include neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, along with ore rock containing garnet deposits. The site’s chief geologist noted that garnets can absorb certain REEs into their mineral structure.
In his State of the State address earlier this year, Dunleavy praised the GraphiteOne project as the largest such in North America and encouraged it to continue moving forward with the support of both Juneau and Washington.
Huston said Dunleavy rightly understood the role of Alaska as a crucial American source of metals and minerals “transforming the 21st century” and making the U.S. less reliant on foreign sources, including “entities of concern.”
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Outside of Alaska, REEs have been discovered in Pennsylvania, with then-Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican, trying to draw attention to them during his time in Congress in the 2010s.
Antracite coal deposits of Appalachian Pennsylvania have been found to contain as many as 17 different REEs, which could strike another blow to Chinese dominance.
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Barletta told Fox News in 2018 that funding had been secured for a pilot program to look into extracting REEs from coal wastewater, as long-abandoned mines dot the landscape from Shamokin to Audenried, the latter falling in the aptly-named Carbon County.
While little has been done in Pennsylvania when it comes to extracting such minerals, compared to Alaskan efforts in the time since, researchers at Penn State said in September they had developed methods to recover cobalt, manganese and nickel from acid mine drainage and fly ash.
First daughter’s new fitness hobby has surprising brain and body benefits
Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump, has been hitting the water for a workout.
The 44-year-old mother of three has been open about her active lifestyle, which has included resistance training, racquet sports and jiu-jitsu lessons for the whole family, as Fox News Digital has reported.
Recently, Trump has been spotted paddleboarding in her home state of Florida. She was photographed on the water in a black athletic mini-dress with matching visor and sunglasses on Nov. 15.
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In an Instagram post last year, Trump shared a video of her exercise routine with various equipment in the gym, noting in the caption that she used to focus primarily on cardio, yoga and Pilates.
“Since moving to Miami, I have shifted my focus to weightlifting and resistance training, and it has been transformative in helping me build muscle and shift my body composition in ways I hadn’t imagined,” she wrote.
“I believe in a strength-training approach built on foundational, time-tested and simple movements — squats, deadlifts, hinges, pushes and pulls. These are the cornerstones of my workout, emphasizing functional strength for life.”
Los Angeles-based celebrity personal trainer Kollins Ezekh, who also practices paddleboarding, spoke with Fox News Digital about the activity’s health benefits.
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“When I’m out on the board, I feel my whole body working, but the first muscles that light up are my core and lats,” he said. “Every time you pull the paddle through the water, you’re basically doing a controlled lat pull. My shoulders and upper back always feel it the next day.”
The activity also works the lower body. “Your legs are quietly doing a ton of work — my glutes and hips are constantly firing just to keep me balanced, especially if there’s even a small ripple in the water,” Ezekh said.
Rachel Williamson, a physical therapist at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, who is a frequent paddleboarder, added that the activity also helps to improve balance, which tends to decline with age.
“You have to use all those stabilizer muscles you don’t often use daily,” she said. “You’re not standing on solid ground — it’s unpredictable.”
She also said, “We must continue to do things that challenge our balance as a way to look into the future and prevent falls.”
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Ezekh agreed, noting the body constantly makes “small micro-adjustments,” which improves balance and coordination.
“And because you have to stay tall and open through the chest when you paddle, people naturally start standing straighter after a few sessions,” he told Fox News Digital.
Paddleboarding is a form of “dual-tasking” — using mental and physical strength at once — which promotes brain health and critical thinking, Williamson noted.
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“If we don’t challenge the brain, we will start to backslide,” she said. “That’s why doing crosswords helps keep the brain sharp. When we stop challenging, the cognitive deficits start to show. We need to continue to challenge our body and brain for preventative care later in life.”
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Paddleboarding can also promote mindfulness and relaxation, according to the expert. Over time, this can lower stress and decrease the inflammation that can lead to chronic disease.
For those looking to try paddleboarding for the first time, Ezekh said it’s important not to try to “muscle everything” with the arms.
“The first time I ever went, I made that mistake and my lower back let me know about it,” he said. “Once you learn to bend your knees, keep your core tight and pull with your lats, it becomes much smoother.”
“Starting in calm water and wearing a life jacket is just smart, especially if someone’s nervous,” he added.
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Those who go paddleboarding twice a week will start noticing a stronger core, as well as better posture and balance.
“Even once a week helps, as long as they’re consistent,” Ezekh said. “I’ve seen clients make great progress without going overboard.”
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The activity is suitable for all ages and fitness levels, he noted.
“I’ve seen kids, older adults, total beginners — everyone seems to find their own rhythm on the board,” Ezekh said. “You can make it relaxing or turn it into a legit workout. It meets you wherever you are.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ivanka Trump’s representatives for comment.
Kennedy cousin’s silence ends 50 years after Martha Moxley’s unsolved killing
Fifty years after the daughter of a wealthy Connecticut family was found murdered in the yard of their quaint suburban home, questions remain surrounding the involvement of a Kennedy relative who was convicted of her killing – but ultimately walked free after the guilty verdict was overturned.
Michael Skakel, cousin of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., spent 11 years in prison for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. However, since his arrest in 2000, Skakel has maintained his innocence – and is speaking out for the first time in a new NBC News podcast titled, “Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley Murder.”
Moxley was just 15 when she was beaten to death with a golf club on Oct. 30, 1975. In the hours leading up to her murder, Moxley was hanging out with friends on Mischief Night, known as the evening before Halloween when teenagers partake in pranks throughout their neighborhood.
According to friends, Moxley was seen flirting with Thomas Skakel, Michael’s older brother, later that night. By 9:30 p.m., the pair were seen “falling together behind the fence” near the Skakel family pool, the Hartford Courant reported.
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The next day, Moxley’s battered body was discovered with her pants around her ankles, alongside a broken golf club under a tree on her family’s estate, according to The Associated Press.
An autopsy later revealed Moxley had been beaten and stabbed to death with the golf club, which was ultimately traced to the Skakel family’s home.
Initially, investigators pointed to Thomas as the primary suspect in Moxley’s murder, before turning to the Skakel children’s live-in tutor, Kenneth Littleton. However, neither man was ever charged with a crime.
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Their focus eventually shifted to Michael Skakel, and 15 years later, on Jan. 19, 2000, he turned himself in to authorities after police issued a warrant for his arrest.
“This is what I call the cross-finger pointing problem, when only two people in the family are the suspects,” Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Law Boston, told Fox News Digital. “In the whole world, we only have these two suspects and they’re family, so they stick together like glue. [If] they both take the Fifth and they agree to be each other’s built in reasonable doubt, you’ve got a problem.”
Michael Skakel was ultimately charged with Moxley’s murder and arraigned as a juvenile, since he was 15 when the killing took place. The case was later moved to regular court.
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During his arraignment, Skakel, who was 39 at the time, pleaded not guilty and reportedly approached Moxley’s mother before telling her, “You’ve got the wrong guy.”
Two years later, on June 7, 2002, Skakel was convicted of murder by a panel of 12 jurors in Norwalk Superior Court. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
However, questions remained regarding Skakel’s guilt – and his ability to accurately recount a crime that was committed nearly three decades before.
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“When he was convicted, it was 27 years after the murder,” John Clendening, author of “Julia’s Angels,” told Fox News Digital. “So, just imagine you being called as a witness in a trial in 2002. How much do you really remember about a certain night when you were 15, 16, or 17?”
In 2013, following multiple failed attempts to appeal his conviction, Skakel was granted a new trial after a judge ruled his attorney, Michael Sherman, did not adequately defend him in his original case.
Skakel’s murder conviction was ultimately vacated by the Connecticut Supreme Court on May 4, 2018, with prosecutors later deciding to not seek a second trial for Skakel on the murder charge.
Skakel, Sherman and NBC News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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However, Moxley’s brother, John Moxley, has vocally denounced the court’s decision.
“Just because he’s out on the street doesn’t mean what we know isn’t right,” he said in “Murder and Justice: The Case of Martha Moxley,” a three-part documentary on his sister’s life and death.
“Where we are now is that it’s all about judges and technicalities. It’s not about who killed Martha. At this point, him being out doesn’t change anything for me. And he’ll be in prison for the rest of his life regardless of where he’s walking the streets. He will be in his own prison for the rest of his days.”
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Following Skakel’s second chance at freedom, the mystery surrounding Moxley’s death remains – with listeners awaiting the chance to hear Skakel’s story in his own words.
“I think what’s going on here is [Skakel] sees an opportunity to get his side of the story out there, and I can’t blame him for that at a time when the world is revisiting the crime,” Clendening told Fox News Digital. “He’s only going to have so many opportunities to do that. So I think that’s what’s going on. I think he sees an opportunity to tell his side of the story.”
Former secretary of state ‘daydreaming’ about announcement that Trump ‘is gone’
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a post on Instagram Saturday that she was “daydreaming” during a recent event about a “Goodbye, Trump” announcement that would notify the nation that President Donald Trump is “gone.”
Clinton posted a video from a conversation she had alongside historian Heather Cox Richardson and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda on Nov. 18 titled “History Has its Eyes on Us.”
Clinton also shared the clip on X, writing in the caption, “When a fire announcement interrupts the event… you might find yourself daydreaming about a ‘Goodbye Trump.'”
“You know what this reminds me of, is that I wish that there could be like a huge national sound system. And, we would all wake up, and they’d say ‘Attention, attention. We have found the problem, and we have solved it, he is gone,'” Clinton said in the video, which was met with loud applause.
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“But the reason we’re here tonight is to remind all of us, including ourselves, that that can’t happen unless we make it happen,” Clinton added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The event benefited Latino Victory and Onward Together, which Clinton said helped to fund candidates that would stand against this “tide of intolerance and cruelty.”
The former Democratic presidential candidate has been outspoken about her criticism of Trump since losing to him in the 2016 election.
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Clinton recently took aim at Trump’s ballroom construction, posting on X, “It’s not his house.”
“It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” she continued.
Clinton’s post was mocked as conservatives revisited a 2001 controversy when she and former President Bill Clinton returned more than $28,000 in items after questions arose about gifts designated as White House property, according to The Washington Post at the time.
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The growing danger playing out in the hidden corners of the internet
Federal investigators are examining the online activity of the suspect accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah, as questions grow about how digital spaces are fueling a new wave of politically motivated attacks — including last year’s attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.
A viral post from the Libs of TikTok account on X listed several recent shootings and noted multiple suspects identified as transgender or nonbinary, calling it “an epidemic of trans violence.”
But experts say those claims miss the mark. The real danger, they warn, is playing out in the hidden corners of Reddit, Discord and other chat platforms, where grievance and validation feed off one another and push isolated individuals toward violence.
Former homeland security advisor for New York state Michael Balboni told Fox News Digital that assassinations have risen over the past decade and the targets are no longer limited to politicians.
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“We’re seeing activists and media figures targeted,” Balboni said. “These are people who feel aggrieved or insignificant and believe they’ll commit a heroic act. The Charlie Kirk case shows how the threat landscape has widened.”
He described online hatred as the spark that turns grievance into action, allowing angry users to find each other and fan the flames.
“Like-minded folks feed off one another in social-media spaces until somebody takes the next step and decides to kill. That’s the key to radicalization today.”
Investigators are reviewing digital evidence tied to the suspect in Kirk’s assassination, including Discord messages recovered after the shooting, according to court filings and law-enforcement statements. Federal agencies are also examining related chat logs, Homeland Security Today reported.
Similar digital footprints have surfaced in other cases. The Buffalo supermarket shooter kept a private “Discord diary,” according to the findings in the New York State Attorney’s investigative report.
The Uvalde gunman used the teen chat app Yubo and Instagram DMs to send disturbing messages before his attack. Earlier shooters in El Paso and Christchurch posted manifestos on 8chan before livestreaming their crimes.
The common thread, experts say, isn’t gender or political identity, it’s digital isolation.
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Former FBI investigator and international security expert Bill Daly told Fox News Digital the radicalization pattern emerging in these shootings mirrors what agents once saw with international terror networks.
“Their reasons for being radicalized are often very similar to what we saw with ISIS recruits — a mix of ideology, personal grievance and a search for belonging,” Daly said. “It doesn’t always happen overnight. There are breadcrumbs, small behavioral changes, that build over time as they find validation in online communities.”
He said extremists exploit familiar digital environments such as gaming servers and chat apps to reach younger users.
“Those same gaming and chat sites that once were harmless now give extremists direct access to impressionable minds,” Daly said. “Younger people live in these spaces, and that’s where they’re most vulnerable.”
Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack, who has responded to multiple mass-shooting scenes, said the temptation to see a demographic pattern is understandable but misleading.
“Identity does not predict violence. Trying to forecast danger based on labels alone is like trying to predict the weather with a fortune cookie,” Pack told Fox News Digital.
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This puts the focus where he believes it belongs – on behavior, not biography.
He said the FBI’s behavioral model focuses instead on a pathway to violence, which includes grievance, fixation, validation in online communities, planning, and finally the “breach point” when an attacker decides violence will solve a personal problem.
“People on the pathway to violence drift into places like Discord or niche forums because those spaces give them anonymity, validation and a sense of belonging they don’t have in real life,” Pack said. “Those corners of the internet can run like an open sewer, and folks already in a dark place tend to drink from the wrong end of the pipe.”
Balboni said the environment that breeds such attackers has been years in the making, from pandemic isolation to fears over automation and artificial intelligence.
“We’ve lived through years of anxiety — the pandemic, job loss, now fears about AI,” he said. “Add deep political polarization, and you get people online being told they’re worthless and dismissed by society. Some decide to act.”
He said today’s environment represents a “lone-wolf nightmare” for law enforcement.
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“These aren’t organized cells,” Balboni explained. “They’re individuals not on anyone’s radar who have weapons, motivation and access, the hardest scenario for the FBI and police to anticipate.”
Daly agreed that encryption and overseas hosting complicate detection.
“People move to encrypted sites that are difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to penetrate,” Daly said. “Even with today’s technology, it can be extraordinarily hard for law enforcement to see what’s happening behind those walls.”
According to the New York Attorney General’s report on the Buffalo case, these forums provided “a sense of community and tactical instruction” that accelerated the attacker’s radicalization.
The assassination of Kirk, who was shot during a public event in Orem, Utah, was the most prominent political attack since the July 2024 rally assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania. Both incidents fueled fears of escalating partisan violence.
Authorities said early evidence in the Kirk case suggests the gunman’s motive stemmed from online relationships and personal grievance more than ideology.
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Pack said he sees a familiar dynamic.
“In the 1990s it was foreign extremists. After Oklahoma City it was anti-government radicals. Each era brings a cluster of cases that people try to tie together,” he said. “Sometimes those clusters show a wider shift, sometimes they’re coincidence. You can’t tell by identity — you study the behavior.”
All three experts agreed the solution lies in vigilance and connection, not profiling.
“It takes a larger group to have an active intervention process. Families, friends, anyone who sees troubling behavior needs to speak up,” Daly said.
Balboni urged both restraint and awareness.
“Don’t glorify the shooter. Don’t even use the name,” he said. “And if families see behavior change or access to weapons, report it. That’s where intervention starts.”
Pack echoed that sentiment.
“What helps someone step back from the edge is connection,” he said. “Sometimes that’s family, sometimes it’s friends, sometimes it’s faith that reminds them they’re not walking alone.”
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As political tensions rise and social-media outrage amplifies each new attack, investigators warn that focusing on identity misses the point.
The greater danger, they say, lies in how grievance, loneliness and online validation collide, turning personal despair into public violence in the shadows of Reddit threads, Discord servers and encrypted chatrooms few outsiders ever see.