Manifestos, Red Flags, and Missed Chances: What Minneapolis Teaches About Violence Prevention

“At the end of the day, prevention demands something simple but increasingly rare: that people actually give a damn.” — Spencer Coursen

The Bystander Effect is Killing Us: Social media made us loud online but silent in real life—and our unwillingness to speak up is fueling preventable violence.

The recent shooting in Minneapolis should not surprise us. Horrify us, yes. Shock us, no. Because the warning signs were there all along.

The shooter’s manifesto was not the ramblings of someone acting on a sudden impulse. It was deliberate. It was modeled on past attackers. It was a case study in premeditation. Add to that the behavioral anomalies—fixation, obsession, limerence—that were not just present but observable. And still, nothing was done.

This is the uncomfortable truth: violence rarely “just happens.” It escalates. First comes fixation. Then planning. Then execution. The point of intervention is not at the door of the church or the school or the office building—it’s in the months and years before, when someone is spiraling and signaling that spiral to the world.

But acting on those signals requires something simple yet increasingly rare: that we actually care enough to get involved.

“Our willingness to help another is often the first step to saving ourselves.”

The tragedy is that so many who “act out” aren’t skilled enough to ask for help in healthy ways. Lacking the emotional intelligence to say “I’m struggling,” they show us instead—through fixation, anger, or erratic behavior—that they are in crisis. It is their maladaptive cry for help.

And yet we, as a society, routinely fail to respond. Why? Part of it is the bystander effect—when many see the same red flags, each assumes someone else will say something. Too often, no one does.

Part of it is cultural. Social media has trained us to invest in para-social behavior—sharing opinions, critiques, and feelings about strangers online—while our capacity for pro-social behavior in real life has withered. We are quick to comment on the lives of people we will never meet, but hesitant to ask, “Hey, are you okay?” to the colleague, classmate, or neighbor right in front of us.

This detachment is not harmless. It is lethal.

The lesson from Minneapolis is clear: prevention is not technology, it’s humanity. It’s choosing to ask, “Are you okay?” before typing, “Did you see this?” It will come from us choosing to show up for each other, in real life. To put our hearts before hashtags. To put people before posts. Communities before clicks. Neighbors before notifications. Compassion before commentary. Because the path to violence is a progression. And the only way to stop it is to interrupt it before it begins.

“Our Willingness To Help Another Is Often The First Step To Saving Ourselves” — Spencer Coursen, The Safety Trap

Minneapolis Shooting: Hard Truths We Need to Face

1. Premeditation Was Obvious
   The Minneapolis shooter’s manifesto wasn’t impulsive. It was deliberate, modeled on past attackers, and filled with signs of planning and intent.

2. Behavioral Anomalies Were Visible
   Patterns of obsession, fixation, and limerence were routinely observable—yet went unaddressed. These are the red flags we need to act on before they escalate to execution.

3. Early Intervention Matters
   Violence doesn’t begin at the moment of attack. It starts with fixation. If we don’t step in early, we lose the chance to redirect the trajectory.

4. We Are Required To Care
   At the end of the day, prevention demands something simple but increasingly rare: that people actually give a damn.

5. Acting Out is a Cry for Help
   “Our willingness to help another is often the first step to saving ourselves.”
   Most offenders don’t have the emotional intelligence to ask for help directly. Instead, they act out—self-identifying through dangerous behaviors that scream for intervention.

6. The Bystander Effect is Deadly
   When many people see the same red flags, everyone assumes “someone else” will say something. Too often, no one does. Silence becomes complicity.

7. Social Media Has Warped Our Priorities
   We’ve become experts at para-social interaction—commenting, critiquing, and caring about people we’ll never meet. But our ability to engage in pro-social behavior—showing care and accountability for the people in our actual lives—has atrophied. And that disconnection is proving deadly.