Hats off to law enforcement for averting a mass shooting at Wooten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP!

It's made the national news here and is currently on BBC News online.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68858405

Hope my parents in Europe don't see it - they would FREAK OUT!

Why would your parents freak out?

Because my kids are in MCPS, though not Wootton, and American mass shootings in schools by troubled teens are now a trope everywhere in the world. My mother would probably demand I pull them out, because "even in your neck of the woods, it's not safe!".

And you know what? She's not wrong, but we live here currently and can't just wish gun control into existence. Luckily this particular kid had no access to guns.

[Anonymous]

What is Wootton HS planning as a community if anything to bring the community together in these times?

[Anonymous]

I read that the parents are Chinese PHD Statisticians. As someone who grew up in a Chinese household, I am not surprised to read that one of the parents dismissed everything as "fine" and that the kid would get therapy if he needed it - this was prior to the kid being taken into custody.
There is a lot of undiagnosed psychological issues in the Chinese population because of the need to maintain face. The culture's intense focus on studying and academics loses sight of the need to develop as a social being. My kid is studying in Asia this year and she and her American classmates still don't know how to react to the incredibly socially awkward kids at their college - so shy that they refuse to look at you, sometimes turn their entire body away, pretend you are not there....
This poor kid probably didn't get a whole lot of direction on social cues from his parents growing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may give law enforcement a little too much credit. Other people were involved as well. The police did what they had to do, with little creativity so far, from my perspective.

What else would you have liked the police to do?

I appreciate we are in MoCo, where any positive comments about police are promptly dismissed so we can go back to vilifying and criticizing. But this seems to be one of those cases in which we can throw a small “good job” their way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read that the parents are Chinese PHD Statisticians. As someone who grew up in a Chinese household, I am not surprised to read that one of the parents dismissed everything as "fine" and that the kid would get therapy if he needed it - this was prior to the kid being taken into custody.
There is a lot of undiagnosed psychological issues in the Chinese population because of the need to maintain face. The culture's intense focus on studying and academics loses sight of the need to develop as a social being. My kid is studying in Asia this year and she and her American classmates still don't know how to react to the incredibly socially awkward kids at their college - so shy that they refuse to look at you, sometimes turn their entire body away, pretend you are not there....
This poor kid probably didn't get a whole lot of direction on social cues from his parents growing up.

+1

As a Chinese American, this is true. There is so much focus on academics, the parents were not looking at the kid as a whole. Probably only talked to him when they wanted to know his grades. The Chinese in this area are so focused on Ivy League schools in this area is sad. They push there kids in kumon, prep courses, music, and Chinese school on the weekends. They do not believe in mental health issues. They are in denial that mental health issues exist. There is stigma around it. They lose face. Just snap out of it.

The real hero is the kid who spoke up.

[Anonymous]

He was getting help. But not the right kind of help. Nothing was working. There are therapists that suck and just take your money.

Hopefully, he can get real help now.

[Anonymous]

Agree that the real hero is the kid that raised a concern. We can hope our kids are brave and smart enough to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Therapy is not the magic treatment some seem to believe it is. Neither are medications. Some people simply don’t wrk right. We haven’t figured out how to deal with them as a society, especially when they are young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Montgomery County press conference yesterday really showed the case. However, Chief Jones did mistakenly say the Ye’s father had a gun.

How would you know it’s a mistake. It’s been reported repeatedly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He has had a few psychiatrist inpatient admissions. Seems the manifesto is parts of his real life mixed in with fiction.

There was more than just the manifesto/memoir/work of fiction. There were Google searches and the purchase of a BB gun.

According to him the manifesto was actually a book draft and the google searches were research for the book.

I didn't see anything about a BB gun but if he actually was planning to try to be a mass murderer or serial killer, a BB gun doesn't seem like a good choice.

It will be interesting to see where this goes given the mental health issues and fiction / non fiction aspects of the book / manifesto / plan.

He is facing ten years in prison given the charges. A long time for an 18 year old and even longer / more isolating given he is biologically female - probably would mean segregation or protective custody.

I also find it disturbing that people would defend the behavior by calling it a work of fiction. I mean, we have parents in this country who are serving prison sentences in connection with disturbing writings that were labeled works of fiction so we know the consequences of calling it wrong. I’m not saying it’s not a possibility, but the level of doubt expressed about the arrest is disturbing.

I think it’s pretty tragic that an 18 year old whose parents, the medical system and the school district seemingly worked hard to help is at the point where the future might realistically be a sentence of more than half of the life of this teen will be spent in prison. But the real scary thing is that despite a community of resources being poured into this teenager, this is where he is. It’s scary that we don’t know how to successfully treat some mental illness and that means that innocent people surrounding those whose conditions are intractable are vulnerable. It makes me really sad for the family - I can’t imagine their pain, but I am glad for them that it was discovered because their pain could be far worse.

It’s kind of like cancer. There are some kinds you can treat, and come you can’t. It’s sad, but that’s the way it is. Unfortunately this teen will need to be locked away or in a residential inpatient facility because he is clearly a threat to the general public. [/quote]

You know nothing about our broken mental health care system. You only get locked up for a few days if you are an *imminent* threat to yourself or others. It is a very narrow standard. No crime was committed so he can't be held convicted and then held involuntarily and private medical insurance will not pay for more than a few days hospitalization.

This is not correct. If you are wanting insurance to pay, it’s a high standard. But this kid has already been hospitalized for months at a time. And the state can keep you institutionalized even after you pass the imminent danger state.

But your point that our system is typically inadequate is well taken.

[Anonymous]

Kudos to law enforcement but also the person who alerted authorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read that the parents are Chinese PHD Statisticians. As someone who grew up in a Chinese household, I am not surprised to read that one of the parents dismissed everything as "fine" and that the kid would get therapy if he needed it - this was prior to the kid being taken into custody.
There is a lot of undiagnosed psychological issues in the Chinese population because of the need to maintain face. The culture's intense focus on studying and academics loses sight of the need to develop as a social being. My kid is studying in Asia this year and she and her American classmates still don't know how to react to the incredibly socially awkward kids at their college - so shy that they refuse to look at you, sometimes turn their entire body away, pretend you are not there....
This poor kid probably didn't get a whole lot of direction on social cues from his parents growing up.

He had been in therapy, crisis services, inpatient, and residential. He spent almost a year in inpatient / residential. This wasn't an undiagnosed issue ignored by his culturally avoidant parents. The issue is that he has had homicidal ideation for almost two years despite all the mental health and psychiatric help he has had. Dad didn't mean fine as in the kid has no issues, he meant fine as in he is status quo - same as how he has been for ages.

[Anonymous]

My mom was asking how our district was handling this after seeing on the national news. That was the first I had heard of it! Did MCPS send out a message and I just missed it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was asking how our district was handling this after seeing on the national news. That was the first I had heard of it! Did MCPS send out a message and I just missed it?

Why would they blast negative publicity? They want to continue pretending the largest school district in MD still offers same high standard as in the '90s. Apparently the county executive whatever his name mentioned police's role and apparently they had a news conference about it on Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was asking how our district was handling this after seeing on the national news. That was the first I had heard of it! Did MCPS send out a message and I just missed it?

My kids go to Wootton and we got nothing. I know he hasn’t been a student since Fall 2022 but still, a lot of students knew him. We had news and police outside the school last week. Not one peep from MCPS or the principal.