building a baylor bay area, moving forward and finding solutions, this is abc7 news. hi there i'm kristen sze and you are watching getting answers on abc7 hulu live in wherever you stream. we ask experts your questions every day at 3 pm to get answers for you in real-time. memorial day weekend is here, normally carnaval san francisco would draw a huge crowd for the central celebration but this year it's turning into a one-stop resource for everything from a covid vaccine to jobs to mental health support. we will talk with one of the organizers. in the wake of wednesday's massacre at the vta light rail yard in san jose we will talk to a background screening firm to find out just how employers way privacy versus security in terms of handling potentially

dangerous employees. we also want to explore domestic violence and its relationship with mass shootings, joining us now to talk about this is dr. lisa gold, psychiatry professor at georgetown university. thanks so much for joining us professor gold. >> thank you for having me, i'm sorry it has to be under the circumstances. >> it's true, we are just grief stricken here in the bay area and i think across the nation because we see it time and time again. first tell us a little bit about your focus and expertise, you really look at situations where firearms are involved. >> yes, so it happens that domestic violence is one area that is often under scrutinized when it comes to firearms and mass shootings and there is historically a tremendous number of challenges involved in doing research on domestic violence and partner violence depending on how it's defined and who defines it.

so that has been my interest. >> are you saying that some mass shootings that we say, that we see actually have been masqueraded and at the root of it it is actually domestic violence that is driving this? >> yes, in fact one study of about 10 years of mass shootings between 2009 and 2018 found that more than 50% included an intimate partner or domestic violence situation and the other people who get killed whether it is inside the home or in a public place are often either related to the person who was targeted or just bad luck as they are in proximity. for example if a woman is trying to leave an abusive partner, the partner may only know how to find her at a relative's home or at her workplace. and it looks like a workplace shooting for example. or at a church. which happened a couple of

years ago in texas. but over 50% of mass shootings typically include a domestic violence situation. >> if that is the case, is more than 50% of mass shooting victims women? >> no. not necessarily because you start talking about using automatic weapons that kill a lot of people at one time you, if you have nine people in the vicinity for example who are killed it's not necessarily only going to be women or more women but often there is an intimate partner or former intimate partner who is involved , if there are children a lot of times children are unfortunately involved. and killed. and even in mass shootings where a partner is not targeted about 30% of the mass shootings have a history of domestic violence.

>> right which seems to be where this guy falls in, right? because he had problems with the ex-wife and had complained about wanting to harm at the vta but his ex- girlfriend did allege that he was violent toward her and her and had alcohol fueled mute swings which leads me to the question, do they not surprise you? are there common traits that you see or common behaviors between domestic abusers and mass shooters? >> speaking broadly i would say that when people become violent and they have a pattern of violence in their lives you are looking at a number of risk factors that have to be assessed. one of them is certainly substance use, that's a risk factor for violence, prior violence is a big risk factor for future violence, and those really are the two biggest issues that you see commonly among violent offenders of all

kinds. the problem is when you put a firearm into that mix. now you've suddenly created a potentially lethal situation and unfortunately firearms are so readily available to people. more and more situations and more and more people access them legally or illegally, it doesn't matter. >> right. unfortunately firearms are often the mix in this country as we have 393 million firearms, more than people. so when we look in the u. s., do we have percentage wives about the same domestic abuse as in other countries but just more deaths? >> what i would say is that there is no evidence that the united states is a more violent country than any other country, that we have more angry people than in any other country, the only thing we have that is exceptional relative to other countries regardless of which kind of violence related to

firearms you look at, is the availability of firearms. if having more firearms made a safer we would be the safest country in the world. we have more firearms, and many of them are military grade, in the hands of civilians, i far, by far than any other country in the world and because of that our death rates in terms of violent crime, violent acts, become higher whether it's intimate partner homicide or, you just don't see these kinds of mass shootings and other countries. >> right. so i wonder if since there is that relationship that is established what does it take to say okay if you are a domestic abuse or maybe you should have your weapons confiscated or you can never buy another firearm? is there something like that? >> yes there is actually although it needs to be stronger and it needs to have teeth in it so for example if you've been convicted of felony domestic violence you are not supposed to be able to access a

firearm. other violence, the violence against women act which has been stalled for the first time since it was first enacted in congress in 1996 i believe, includes preventing people guilty of domestic violence from accessing firearms. the latin berman meant made it so that people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence cannot access firearms, we know based on the data that came after, especially at the latin berg amendment that restricting people's access to firearms in those situations does decrease the number of intimate partner homicide. presumably by extension mass shootings potentially, it's a softer, it's an unmistakable link but softer research if you want to put it that way. >> are there gateway crimes if you want to call them that to

look out for that sometimes precede serious domestic abuse? >> well, so first of all the terminology is problematic because domestic abuse encompasses child abuse, elder abuse and that kind of thing so if you are talking about intimate partner homicide yes, there are many flags that go up before someone is actually killed with a firearm in an intimate partner homicide and again we don't even have all that data because for example intimate partner homicide is typically defined as a man and a woman and if it happens between couples it is not counted in the same way depending on the jurisdiction, it's a mess in terms of collecting data. but nobody, it is rare to start off with a firearm homicide as part of intimate partner violence. it starts small and builds up, people are often aware, that

people who make accommodations and adjust and a lot of times because it is presented as a family matter there is something of a lack of importance or intervention that can be assigned to it. it's a family matter, it's a private matter. the problem is that these private matters are now spilling over with alarming frequency into the public workspace, social space, communities etc. and the death count is going up. what that tells us is that we should be focusing really on passing more of these laws and putting teeth into the laws which require that the guns not only be prohibited but that they also be turned in or confiscated, if you've been convicted not only of a felony domestic violence offense but if there is a temporary domestic violence restraining order or an ex partake domestic violence restraining order and those are flags for potentially preventing these kinds of

tragic mass shootings. >> all right prof. lee's gold, thank you so much, you've given us and policymakers a lot to think about. >> thank you for having me. >> we will take the weather's perfect... family is all together and we switched to geico; saved money on our boat insurance. how could it get any better than this? there's no goldfish jt caht ain this lake.

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checking in on facebook live. >> great thank you. >> we are looking forward to the conversation. all right, yesterday we talked with the vta employee who witnessed the mass shooting at the vta yard, we want to be clear that he did not sympathize with the gunmen but he did accumishandling employee and grievances. you know, whether fair or not fair he did put some of the blame on valley transportation authority. so let's talk about how employers could handle these situations, joining us now is

less rosen an attorney and ceo of employment screening resources which is a national background screening firm here in the bay area. thank you for your time. >> pleasure thank you for having me. >> the issue has come up not just from our guest yesterday but the question of had the gunmen said things are done things that made other employees fearful or uneasy before the shooting rampage, vta today said they are reviewing records and hope to say more soon about that. but tell us, if he had said things are those things that vta should have or could have told employees? >> well, obviously i can't comment on this exact case but generally speaking when you review the literature on these types of cases although you can't really predict violence, there are problems trying to do that, there are red flags and when those red flags come up you need to make sure that you have, that you are listening for them because often times

what we find is that people who are workplace shooters are individuals that placed so much emphasis on their job, so much of their life worth was based on their job that they feel slighted in some way or if they feel like they are the victims of injustice or mistreatment, those are sometimes people who react violently especially if there are other stressors in their life. so there are definitely red flags that employers need to pay attention to. and there are ways that they should do that. >> and that's what i'm wondering if there are red flags, is that something they keep to themselves due to privacy rules or hr policy, because at least the gentleman we talked to yesterday was saying look, if we don't know about it and they don't tell us or email us, then what if we underestimate the danger of this guy? >> and it's hard to know what the danger is

the first thing employers have to do is understand that even though they may feel as though they don't have control over these random acts, they can't control who has what weapons and you can't predict violence, you start with the basics. the first thing is to have an anti-violence policy and violence doesn't always just mean worst case is like shooting, it can been any type of threat of verbal abuse or any type of disruption that happens in the workplace and you have to have a zero- tolerance policy and you have to train all employees and all managers that if they see certain telltale signs, if you see something say something. and then they should go to hr and then hr can deal with it appropriately. >> all right but do you feel like in this day and age people are afraid to go to hr about someone elarconcerned with because they might be worried that something may happen to them either in retaliation or they may be targeted? what do you think? >> typically now most will have hotlines and you can say things anonymously.

you can bring things to the attention of hr or supervisor that way. so if you see someone and it looks like they have excessive use of drugs or alcohol or are preoccupied with guns in a way that feels intimidating, or you see behavioral changes, poor job performance or they look depressed, they complain about job treatment and complain about the company, they violate company policy and have mood swings, they overreact to criticism, those are the sorts of things that if you see that and you are concerned you should say something. >> okay but what about what you don't no because apparently cassidy had a restraining order against him from an ex- girlfriend and he was accused of . i don't think he was convicted but even if he was let's say, he had rights under the law that can't terminate against him so really are those areas no go zones anyway for employers in terms of hey, i can't tell other employees even if this is something that could make you a bigger threat to them? >> well there are nuances but

if the employer were to know about that it's not something he would broadcast, he would violate the privacy and confidentiality but an employer and i'm not talking about this particular employer or case but in general, an employer might have a team violence team consisting of hr and your attorney, the attorney could be consulted to tell what legal rights are, the team may include an expert on a threat assessment, and when you get this type of information, it's not perfect, there are situations where you don't know what you don't know and there is no way to know it. what you do is try to even the odds. there will be loan gunmen situations where there is nothing to predict . >> but i'm just thinking like for example an employee left on bad terms, maybe they were fired or whatever. if other employees don't no are

they more vulnerable because for example if you didn't know the person left on bad terms and they say hey, you know i'm nearby and don't have my badge anymore but can you let me in and you'd say sure no problem right? but hr rarely tells people the truth behind why someone left. >> and th fo confidentilyity privacy t per y example of someone is let out they shouldn't be allowed back on premises. so you depend upon training and each employee obeying company policy which would be not to let the person back in. but there are situations where you're just not going to know and there are situations where you can take some preventative measures. and you can be on the lookout for people with those red flags and react accordingly, not every red flag means that you call out the cavalry but you take a look at it onroece ete reond. >> sadon't feel ere anymore,

maybe 's who requt ther change the righcovered by osha and occupational health & safety rules so if there is someone who is threatening you are causing a situation in a toxic workplace and you are in fear you absolutely need to report that to your supervisor or to hr. and the company should have a policy and procedure to adjudicate that and make arrangements. otherwise a lot of these situations, people will say well, we saw the person had problems and was acting paranoid or had mood swings or they felt that they weren't being treated properly. or there may have been other life stressors you don't know about. but any employer in that situation with a coworker who scares them or intimidates them, you have to speak up and say something. >> all right, les rosen a very

difficult topic but we appreciate you offering your expertise as ceo of employment screening resources here in the bay area. take care . >> thank you. it is memorial day weekend so we are going to give it to something much lighter, i we all need that. cardinal sf will look a lot different this year

start to go out a little more. welcome back, carnaval san francisco is going to look different this year and of course it's because of the pandemic but there is still plenty of fun and useful stuff. joining us to talk about what's going on is roberto hernandez the artistic director and executive producer of carnaval san francisco, roberto how are you? >> fantastic oh. getting ready for this weekend. >> very exciting, let's get into all the important stuff you have going on but there will be fun right? still fun? >> of course it's going to be

fun, it's about joy and happiness, it's about fantasies and magic you know? >> so tell us what won't be there this year for those who regularly go and what will be there instead. >> so this year we won't have the grand parade, but we are getting ready for next year's so it's going to be bigger and better than ever before. the festival itself will not be on 17 blocks, it's actually going to be on three blocks so it will be a short little festival. and basically what we are focusing on is really healing. because this is what we need to do in our community right now. and how do we heal? we are having the health fair and that health fair, we are going to have the vaccine because people still have not gotten the vaccine and in order to all heal from this pandemic we are gointo need to heal by getting the vaccine. vevid

testing and 'sall for ou get an healthprids going to be thbasic invials screengs because we kn lot of people lost their jobs and that means you lose your health insurance. and or you don't have money to go see a doctor and it's been over a year now. so if you have high blood pressure or if you have diabetes as an example you will be able to get a free exam and then in addition to that a lot of people lost their jobs. and aren't going to be able to return to that job come june 15. when we are supposed to go back to normal. so it's not going to be normal for a lot of people so we are going to be able to have over 30 employers that are going to be on site so bring your resume. you will be able to fill out applications there and then and you will get an interview right there and you just might get a job on the spot. >> wow, are those the big chain

employers or local mom-and- pop's? >> it's a combination of both. it's from small mom and pops to midsized businesses to chain companies. and then the other thing we are doing is we are having an education fair because a lot of people don't realize that a lot of children and young people were not able to get an education this last year because either assume problem or not being able to navigate technology, parents literally had to become teachers this year. and some parents weren't able to do that. so a lot of children are behind and so what we are doing is we're going to provide an opportunity for families to be able to come and sign up for a summer program to help during the summer to catch up what you didn't learn

and learn it so that come fall you are not behind. >> that is so important, that's fantastic. i love hearing that. what about mental health? you mentioned how difficult it has been for so many people. is there going to be support and help for mental health? >> definitely. that is one of the biggest areas that we know has really impacted people due to the frustration, due to the stress of not being able to pay the rent, not being able to pay your bills and so our organization actually started the mission food hub over a year ago and we've been providing groceries to over 9000 families every week and so we hear it every day, the stress level. so we are going to have several organizations that provide mental health services and you'll be able to get in rolled and we are going to also have activities for you to be able to learn how to breathe and do exercise and release that stress and make you feel better. we're going to have a little

bit of salsa and a little bit of somber and a little bit of dance, a little music, not like we normally do but it's going to be fun so come on in and enjoy a little bit of some by and salsa thrown in. we will have a few low riders and we are also going to have a lot of arts and craft vendors. a lot of people have taken up to making >> roberta do you know what i love? there is so much to offer and we aren't even done yet, free groceries too. to learn

>> oh roberto they are cutting us off i'm so sorry. we are out of time. have a great carnival and thank you.

thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show getting answers, we will be here every weekday at tonight, america's first big test as the nation turns the corner in the pandemic. the busiest travel day of the memorial day weekend. 37 million hittin the highways and packing planes over the holiday break. the tsa is screening millions at the nation's airports. nearly 60% of people 12 and older receiving at least one dose of vaccine. president biden today saying we are getting our lives back. the u.s. about to see its biggest crowds since the pandemic started. 135,000 fans expected for this weekend's indy 500. and tonight the cdc with new guidance about children and masks at summer camp. dangerous storms moving in