Expert sees link in Colo., Pa. shootings

Marilyn Robinson, Special to the News

Published October 16, 2006 at midnight

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A former FBI profiler says striking similarities in the crimes suggest the shooting at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey could have been a trigger for a shooting a few days later at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.

"I don't think it's a coincidence. I think there's a correlation there," said Gregg McCrary. "I think there's definitely sort of a contagion factor."

The media play a role in such cases, and any highly publicized event is likely to trigger a similar event, said McCrary, who now works for the California-based Threat Assessment Group.

"You have people on the edge. . . . It pushes them over the edge," he said.

But given that the gunman in Pennsylvania may have purchased the bindings he used on his young victims the day before the Bailey attack, others aren't so sure.

"I don't think we can say yet it's a copycat," said Del Elliott, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, at the University of Colorado. "I'm not ruling it out - it's clearly a possibility - but I'm not ready to say it."

The Bailey gunman, Duane Morrison, 53, took six girls hostage in a classroom on Sept. 27, eventually releasing four of them. He shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, then turned his weapon on himself as SWAT officers entered the room. Some of the girls were molested.

Five days later, Charles Roberts, 32, entered a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa., shot 10 girls and killed himself. Five of the girls died; two remain in critical condition.

Authorities say Roberts was carrying items that indicated he planned to molest the children. In both cases, the gunmen ordered boys from the rooms at the outset.

Investigators in Colorado have been talking with Pennsylvania authorities.Sgt. Douglas Burig of the Pennsylvania State Policesaid he wouldn't be surprised if the Colorado incident influenced Roberts, but there are "no writings, no newspaper clippings, no statements" to indicate that.

McCrary urged the media to take a low-key and dispassionate approach in reporting such incidents. He also urged anyone contemplating such crimes to get help from mental health agencies or law enforcement.

"One of the myths is that someone just snaps and does this," he said. "That never happens. It's sort of a downward spiral."

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