(KNX 1070) - Last weekend, a gunman cut through a fence at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and shot and killed three people including two children. On Saturday in El Paso, a gunman shot and killed at least 22 people and wounding more than two dozen. That could be categorized as a federal hate crime and could lead to the death penalty. A day later nine people were killed in a popular nightlife area in Dayton, Ohio.
During a special KNX In-Depth "America in Crisis" with hosts Charles Feldman and Mike Simpson on the mass shootings, trauma and white nationalism, Chris Babcock, editor-in-chief of the El Paso Herald-Post, and Jim Bebbington, editor of the Dayton Daily News, gave updates on the current situations in both El Paso and Dayton.
"The crime scene is still an active crime scene. If you did not know, passing by the Walmart, which is really dead center in the middle of our city," Babcock said. "It's a very popular shopping area, it's easy to reach, it's within walking distance of a school and a very nice neighborhood. It drew shoppers from all over the tri-state area, New Mexico, Texas and of course our neighbors over in Chihuahua."
"The gunman did not discriminate. He got residents from here in El Paso, from suburbs, from actually in the interior of Chihuahua and our sister city of Juarez," Babcock said.
In Dayton, Bebbington said the community really came together last night during a vigil.
"There was really an unprecedented public re-cleansing of the community or the Oregon district which is the name of the area that this shooting occurred in," Bebbington said. "There were about a thousand people, shoulder to shoulder, wedged in for a memorial for the victims and there was also when the Governor spoke, yells from the crowd for him to do something, presumably to do something about gun laws, or access by folks like the perpetrator here to the weapon he used."
People throughout Southern California and the entire country are feeling unnerved after a total of three mass shootings in only one week.
Trauma therapists say feelings of anxiety in the aftermath of the tragedies are normal.
If you've caught yourself planning how to escape quickly at public spaces or you've been dwelling on all the what-ifs or you just can't seem to stop thinking about the mass shootings, you're not alone.
It's a natural response to trauma.
"Our minds are always preparing us for how to deal with danger and when we're hearing these multiple reports over the news the possibility of that being heightened is absolutely a possibility, says Dr. Deborah Sweet with the Trauma Counseling Center of LA. She was interviewed by KNX reporter Cooper Rummell.
She says there are ways to cope with the anxiety including deep breathing. Grounding exercises are key.
"Can I feel my feet on the floor because when things like that happen it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under us and certainly our nervous system experiences it in that way," she said.