8706 36th Ave. was the site of a murder-suicide in February 2013, when a university student shot his roommates, killing one, before killing himself.
When a person decides to commit a mass act of violence, it’s challenging for police to interrupt that plan.
But often, a tragedy can be prevented by connecting the dots of an individual’s behavior.
That’s where the BETA Team comes in.
THE TEAM
This university formed a Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment Team just before a shooter killed 33 people at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.
The small team of directors and university officials come from departments such as University Police, the Office of Student Conduct, the Counseling Center, Mental Health Service and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.
The group meets every Friday at 10 a.m. to look at new incidents and review the status of ongoing cases, said John Zacker, BETA chairman and student affairs assistant vice president.
THE CASELOAD
The university’s BETA team receives about two or three calls a week, Zacker said, but the board only deems a few to be serious enough for review. Very few incidents addressed by the team constitute serious physical violence.
In March 2012, a University Police aide called the department to report a suspicious threat on Reddit. A university student, later identified as Alexander Song, threatened a shooting rampage on McKeldin Mall, and the university took immediate action after a sergeant reviewed the case.
The BETA Team and information technology workers traced the IP address of the post’s author as reports of similar online threats came in. Less than 12 hours after police received the first report, Song was in custody. Later, a judge ordered that he receive an emergency psychiatric evaluation.
THE INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS
When the team perceives an immediate danger, members begin working on a case right away.
Following the February 2013 murder-suicide, police learned that a student had a gun, which his concerned roommates had locked in a car truck. The student called Prince George’s County Police to ask for help in retrieving the gun. The county police notified the university and a county crisis response team, and University Police stepped in.
“[The roommates] did not call anybody. They did not tell us, didn’t tell the campus,” University Police Chief David Mitchell said. “It’s OK to call and tell the university, tell people in responsible positions and let us take it from there because we’re going to act on this immediately.”
