ABS-CBNNews.com reports that a psychiatrist fears that the September 20 mall shooting in SM Pampanga involving two minors may have been a copycat of the September 14 shooting incident in SM North EDSA.
Dr. Bernadette Manalo-Arcena, consultant psychiatrist of the St. Luke’s Medical Center, said last week’s mall shooting incident-involving a woman who shot her husband and a security guard-might have "laid the seed for one of the minors in (SM Pampanga incident) to commit suicide publicly."
In an interview on ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda, Manalo-Arcena said, "Kasi ang mga bata ay napaka-vulnerable sila sa mga nakikita nila sa paligid. There is a possibility there na yung time na yun siguro nakita niya o naisip niya, ’Ah, makakakuha ako ng atensyon kapag ito ang gagawin ko.’ At titignan din natin yun sa puntong nalungkot sila. Both of them had been in a state of depression at tindi ng pagseselos. Kasi pag nandun ka na sa ganung stage, ang hirap kontrolin ng iyong emotion."
Manalo-Arcena also added, "Copycat syndrome or copycat suicide. Kapag nakikita ang isang tao na gumagawa ng ganitong pangyayari, there is a condoning feeling na, ’OK pala kung ganito ang gagawin ko.’"
According to another ABS-CBNNews.com report, both boys involved in the SM Pampanga shooting died yesterday.
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