Chris Matthews asks Dr. Park Dietz what differentiates somebody who is capable of taking setbacks in life from somebody who goes on rampages like the one in Virginia on Wednesday, August 26th, 2015.

By Park Dietz, MD, PhD

Yesterday’s shooting during a live news broadcast in Roanoke, Virginia, can be used to educate your organization about the need for training on workplace violence prevention.

A new report issued jointly by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime offers a first-ever assessment of global efforts to prevent and respond to interpersonal violence.  The report highlights data from 133 countries representing 6.1 billion people, or 88% of the world’s population.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this month on what constitutes a threat on Facebook.  The case is an appeal by Anthony Elonis, who was convicted of making threats against his wife and an FBI agent

TAG is pleased to announce that Raymond S. Mey (FBI, ret.) has joined the firm. Mr. Mey has over 30 years of security and law enforcement experience, including 23 years of federal law enforcement/counterterrorism experience.

At a recent congressional hearing on suicide prevention and treatment, TAG expert Joel Dvoskin testified that “we know how to prevent suicide.  We just don’t do it.”

On August 11, 2014, OSHA fined Brooklyn-based Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center $78,000 because of dozens of incidents in which patients and visitors assaulted employees, one of which left a nurse with severe brain injuries.

The day before Robin Williams’ suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline received about 3,000 calls on its hotline, a number it called “fairly typical.”  The day after his suicide, the number of calls rose to 7,375, the most the organization had ever received. 

A recent workplace shooting occurred on the campus of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, just outside of Philadelphia. A patient arrived about an hour early for an appointment with his psychiatrist and opened fire, killing a caseworker and striking his psychiatrist in the thumb. Another bullet grazed the doctor’s head before he managed to pull a handgun from his desk and shoot his patient three times, critically wounding him. The patient was reportedly upset about a ban on possessing weapons on hospital property.

In late August, Steven Ercolino died after being shot five times outside the Empire State Building. Police identified the shooter as Jeffrey Johnson. Their relationship? Former co-workers. Johnson reportedly blamed Ercolino for the loss of his job as a clothing designer two years ago. 

Dr. Park Dietz joins Mike McConnell to discuss how the media might better handle tragedies such as that in Connecticut.

There's no one commonly accepted definition of a "mass shooting." But whatever criteria you use, the conclusion's the same: There are more mass shootings in the United States than in any other country in the world.