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WORK OUT, RESULT IN ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING.
JOINING ME NOW, TWO PEOPLE WHO
RISKED EVERYTHING TO FEAR WHAT
THEY THINK COULD BE A MASS
SHOOTING.
HE HAD BEEN COMMITTED SEVEN
TIMES TO MENTAL INSTITUTIONS,
BECAUSE THOSE COMMITMENTS WERE
NOT COURT ORDERED HE WAS ABLE TO
LEGALLY BUY AN ASSAULT RIFLE.
HE PLANNED TO SHOOT UP A WALMART
AND MOVIE THEATER.
IF CONVICTED HE COULD FACE THE
BE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE BEHIND
BARS.
BLAKE'S PARENTS JOIN ME NOW.
WELCOME TO YOU BOTH.
LET ME START WITH YOU, IF I MAY.
THIS STORY, AND THE REASON IEN
WATTED TO HAVE YOU BOTH ON, JUST
ABOUT GETS TO THE VERY HEART OF
THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE GUN
VIOLENCE TOLL IN AMERICA.
THAT IS THE APPALLING WAY THE
MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM IN AMERICA
DEALS WITH PEOPLE EXACTLY LIKE
YOUR SON.
TELL ME WHEN YOU REALIZED THAT
BLAKE HAD SERIOUS MENTAL ISSUES.
>> I WOULDN'T SAY THAT BLAKE
REALLY HAS SERIOUS MENTAL
ISSUES.
BLAKE HAS BEEN HOSPITALIZED
SEVEN TIMES.
IT STARTED IN 2008 WHEN HE WAS
DIAGNOSED WITH DEPRESSION.
AT EACH HOSPITAL VISIT THEY
DIAGNOSED HIM WITH SOMETHING
DIFFERENT.
THEY WOULD CHANGE HIS MEDICINE,
THEY WOULD KEEP HIM ON THE SAME
MEDICINE.
WE NEVER REALLY HAD A CORRECT
AND STEADY DIAGNOSIS, IT WAS
SOMETHING DIFFERENT EACH AND
EVERY TIME.
AND SOMETIMES THE MEDICINE WOULD
AFFECT HIM IN DIFFERENT WAYS,
MAKE HIM MANIC, MAKE HIM MORE
DEPRESSED, MAKE HIM SUICIDAL,
HOMICIDAL.
EACH HOSPITAL VISIT WAS A
DIFFERENT DIAGNOSIS.
WHICH JUST, YOU KNOW, LED TO THE
EVENTS THAT HAPPENED LAST FALL
WILL.
>> AND JUST TO PUT THIS INCIDENT
INTO PROPER PERSPECTIVE.
WE GO BACK TO 2009, SOON AFTER
HE IS FIRST RECEIVING TREATMENT,
AS YOUR WIFE JUST SAID, VERY,
VERY DIFFERENT TREATMENTS EACH
TIME HE WENT IN.
IN 2009 HE GOES INTO A WALMART
NEAR WHERE YOU LIVE, I BELIEVE,
HE WAS CARRYING A BUTCHER KNIFE
AND A HALLOWEEN MASK.
HE PICKED OUT AN EMPLOYEE AND
SAID HE HOPED POLICE WOULD SHOOT
HIM BEFORE HE WAS TAKEN HOSTAGE.
HE WAS TAKEN TO AN INPATIENT
FACILITY.
CUT TO LAST NOVEMBER, HE WENT TO
THE SAME WALMART WHERE HE DID
THIS, AND HE WAS LEGALLY ALLOWED
TO BUY AN ASSAULT RIFLE.
BY THAT TIME, HE HAD BEEN
COMMITTED SEVEN TIMES TO MENTAL
INSTITUTIONS, AND REALLY SHOULD
NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS HAVE
BEEN ALLOWED ANYWHERE NEAR AN
ASSAULT RIFLE.
AS HIS FATHER, WHAT DO YOU THINK
ABOUT THE SYSTEM THAT ALLOWED
THIS TO HAPPEN?
>> I THINK IT'S TOTALLY BROKEN.
THERE'S NO WAY I THINK AMERICA
SHOULD ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.
SEVEN TIMES IN A HOSPITAL, GOING
TO THE SAME WALMART THAT HE
HAD -- WAS CARRIED OUT IN
HANDCUFFS EARLIER WITH A BUTCHER
KNIFE, AND HE CAN LEGALLY GO IN
THERE, PUT THE MONEY ON THE
COUNTER, PASS A BACKGROUND TEST,
BUY A WEAPON AND AMMUNITION AND
BE HANDED THAT RIFLE.
GOOD LUCK, HAVE A GOOD DAY.
SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THAT
SYSTEM.
AS A MATTER OF FACT I WOULD SAY
THE SYSTEM IS TOTALLY BROKEN.
>> AND YOU ONLY DISCOVERED WHAT
HAD HAPPENED.
TRICIA, I THINK YOU WERE GOING
THROUGH BLAKE'S LAUNDRY, AND YOU