Here's How Some Experts Think Attacks Like the Buffalo Shooting Might Be Prevented

To people who study extremist violence, Buffalo wasn’t just the latest mass shooting. It was also the latest missed opportunity to stop one.

Law enforcement officials say the suspect planned his attack for months. But the police didn’t discover it, even when they detained him in June 2021 over an alleged threat to kill. While not blaming police, experts in mass shootings say the case cried out for intervention from a behavioral threat assessment team — a group of law enforcement and mental health professionals who look closely for a person on a path to violence, and try to intervene to disrupt it.

Given the political gridlock over gun laws, they say this model may be the best hope to reduce the frequency of mass casualty attacks that have become a fixture of American life.

For more on this story, go to NBC News.