When Words Become Crimes: The Cost Of School Shooting Threats

The Dr. Phil Podcast

Dr. Phil McGraw

Mental Health, Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How should we handle school threats and how far should law enforcement go to stop the next tragedy? What happens when school shooting threats—whether real or fake—spiral out of control? In 2025, schools across the U.S. have faced a surge in threats, often spread through social media, forcing law enforcement into action. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood takes a controversial stance, arresting students as young as 11 years-old and publicly shaming them online. But is this tough-love approach the answer, or does it go too far? A mother fights back after her 6th grader son is perp-walked for what she calls a misunderstanding, while Parkland school shooting victim’s parents turn tragedy into action with a controversial video game designed to raise awareness.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It is a felony of the third degree to put a written threat out there to commit school violence.
0:05.0	An 11-year-old landed in jail after allegedly making a school threat.
0:10.0	My son had never made those threats. He's an absolute angel.
0:14.0	Parents will be perpwalk with their children if they know something but did nothing to stop the threat. You have to take every single one of these threats seriously
0:23.8	and you have to hold people accountable.
0:31.2	Well, we need to have a serious talk tonight
0:36.9	about what's going on in our schools.
0:39.3	I've been doing this for a long time, and I've seen my fair share of troubling trends.
0:45.3	But what's happening with school shootings and threats is getting downright alarming.
0:53.3	Let me just lay it out for you.
0:55.0	We're barely into 2025,
0:57.0	and we've already had 40 school shooting incidents
1:02.0	in this country.
1:04.0	Five have resulted in deaths.
1:07.0	Every time we hear about another school shooting,
1:10.0	we ask, could this have been stopped?
1:12.6	The truth is, in most cases, the warning signs are there.
1:17.6	94% of school shooters show clear red flags before they act,
1:23.6	and yet time and time again, tragedy strikes. Now, I have dealt into this issue many
1:31.2	times. Check this out. I sent him off to Marjorie Stelman Douglas, as I had, you know, for all of his
1:40.1	schooling. And I thought he would come home to me. You know I never thought that
1:44.4	Alex would be murdered in his English class. There are identifiable markers on the
	...

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