FBI expert in Sonoma: how to end the mass shooting crisis

For too long it has felt like no place is safe from gun violence …not concerts, or parades, or supermarkets, or places of worship, or nightclubs, or even schools. America averages 20 mass shootings a year. 

Between 2009 and 2020, 1,363 people in the U.S. were killed and 947 more were injured in 240 mass shootings. Among those casualties, 362 were children or teens. 

The number of shootings is so high that solid research is emerging, as are experts like Katherine Schweit, author of Stop the Killing: How to End the Mass Shooting Crisis. She created the FBI’s active shooter program after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

A career FBI Special Agent, Schweit will speak at the Sonoma Speaker Series on January 23 at Hanna Center. 

Schweit authored the FBI’s seminal research, A Study of 160 Active Shooter Incidents in the U.S., 2000 – 2013, and was part of the crisis team responding to many of these incidents, including the shootings at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Pentagon, and the Navy Yard in the Washington D.C. area.  She worked daily with local police investigating and responding to mass casualties and active shooter situations.

Mass shooters are 98% male, Schweit said, but typically they don’t have bad criminal histories, at least “the kind of criminal history that puts people in jail. They have anger issues and court orders about domestic violence situations.” 

Though there’s “no question” Americans live in a “gun culture,” she’s said, “We’re not going to find our mass shooters necessarily by looking at gun violence. And I think that’s an important message.”

Schweit is the executive producer for the award-winning film, The Coming Storm, which explores the growing threat of school shootings. The video is widely used in security and law enforcement training in the United States and relied upon by the Department of State worldwide. This work earned her a second U.S. Attorney General Award.

As a recognized expert in crisis response involving school and workplace violence, Schweit often provides on-air television and radio commentary about her insight into the challenges in preventing and managing mass shootings. 

For the 7pm event, Schweit will be in conversation with David Bolling, journalist and Sonoma Speaker Series board member. Tickets are $35, and $75 with VIP reception. Readers Books will sell signed copies of her book before and after the presentation.