Shooter video raises questions about youth and social media views

A Virginia news station is mourning the deaths of a reporter and a cameraman.

A disgruntled former employee gunned them down live on TV on Wednesday morning.

Police are still trying to figure out a motive in the shooting.

The gunman, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, recorded the shooting and posted it on his social media accounts.

The shooter’s Twitter and Facebook page are now suspended after he posted graphic video of the crime.

But, you can still find and watch that video.

Some parents are worried about what they should do if their child sees that video.

By the time students were in class this morning at Coachella Valley High School some students had already seen the video.

Saul Valenzuela said he was not expecting that much violence when he watched the video .

With the immediacy of social media it’s very hard to protect your kids from this type of violence.

Principal Victor Uribe said you shouldn’t try to.

“We can’t shelter our kids from it. They need to understand that this does exist in the real world to me. It is something parents need to be talking to their kids, that this is the real world we exist in,” Uribe said.

Coachella Valley Unified School District’s Director of child welfare said the most important thing is to have an open conversation.

“It’s a big deal right now, it’s important to be realistic and say ‘look this happened but it didn’t happen here,'” David Gibbons said.

Uribe said these types of crimes are becoming too common.

“They’re kinda being exposed to it so much that yea they’re being de-sensitized to the fact that this is real. People are dying, but they’re seeing it so often that it doesn’t shock them any more,” Uribe said.

When it comes to younger kids Uribe and Gibbons said knowing what they’re looking at online is your best line of defense.

“It is difficult these days with all the social media out there and they have to really go through the Facebook and look at what’s there and I think monitoring is a big part of it,” Gibbons said.

The most important thing to do is make sure they have someone who they can talk to.

When it comes to younger kids, everyone Gibbons said this type of violence is too graphic for them to watch.

He said don’t bring it up unless your child asks about it.

Unfortunately, if they have seen the video Gibbons said you do need to have a very serious conversation about right and wrong.