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‘I made a promise’: Columbine principal aims to end mass shootings

Frank DeAngelis spoke about strategies to end the violence during a summit in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — Activists and survivors discussed strategies to end mass shootings at the AAIM Risk and Crisis Management Summit at the DoubleTree in Westport Wednesday morning.

One of the keynote speakers, Frank DeAngelis, was the principal at Columbine High School when 12 students and one teacher were shot and killed at school.

“I made a promise on April 20, 1999, when I found out that 12 of my kids died,” DeAngelis said. “I am going to do everything in my power to go and talk about school safety and inclusiveness because another life is one too many.”

The former principal does more than 50 speaking engagements a year spreading information and awareness about safety and inclusiveness.

Video: Columbine principal on crusade for change

DeAngelis said there is no single solution that will end the epidemic of mass shootings. He believes one of the biggest factors that leads to violent outbreaks is social media. He said many times attackers show signs of trouble either online or in person. DeAngelis wanted everyone to know what those signs are and if you see something to say something.

RELATED: A look at every school shooting and the warnings signs before they happened

He also said eliminating guns from society isn’t the answer but tighter gun control should be a part of the overall solution.

Columbine High had a resource officer at the school the day 13 people were killed, but the protocols at the time didn’t allow the officer to do everything necessary to end the attack. That has changed and so have procedures at schools and events across the country.

DeAngelis said communities need to continue to to have safety discussions in order to secure the future of the next generation.

“I have a little granddaughter. We just celebrated our birthdays together,” DeAngelis said. “I made her a promise. I never want her to go through what those poor kids at Sandy Hook went through, be hiding under tables like they did at Columbine. I want to do everything in my power to let the country know that these are our kids and do everything we can to protect them.”

Presentations at Wednesday's summit also included violence prevention and intervention strategies, threat assessments and crisis management.

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