Journalist Mark Follman reported a groundbreaking story digging deep into an infamous mass shooting—chronicling the experience of a shooter’s mother for the first time and shedding light on key lessons for preventing future tragedies.
In 2014, in the college town of Isla Vista, California, a 22-year-old murdered six people and injured 14 others before killing himself. Contrary to popular belief, Elliot Rodger didn’t suddenly “snap” one day; he had long spiraled into crisis and planned the attack. The catastrophe left experts wondering: What were the missed warning signs?
Through his years of reporting on mass shootings, Mark developed numerous sources in law enforcement and mental health who rarely, if ever, speak with journalists. In 2021, he learned from a source that Chin Rodger, the mother of the perpetrator in the Isla Vista attack, had begun a dialogue with leaders in the field of behavioral threat assessment, a community-based method for intervening with troubled individuals who may be planning violence. Chin wanted to help their mission by sharing what she knew about her son.
Mark contacted her and began a lengthy, delicate process of winning Chin’s trust and engaging with her deeply. Eventually she became willing to go public with her experience, hoping to help build greater awareness about warning signs and increase prospects for preventing violence.
The public rarely hears from parents of mass shooters apart from brief statements of sorrow, and the prevailing theme has long been that no one can see the violence coming, the parents included. (As the story also details, that has begun to change with the recent prosecution of the parents of a Michigan school shooter, a starkly different case.) This story flips that narrative on its head, showing how concerned parents and other bystanders can be key to recognizing and helping avert a tragedy in the making.
This story from Mark Follman covering the mother of a mass shooter is a master class in finding an angle of a story that’s rarely been covered. It was a testament to his determination and deft skills as an interviewer that he was able to get interviews with Chin Rodger and that he was able to have her share her pain and guilt about what her son did. A really compelling and compassionate piece. This project was also presented with respect and empathy for the families that lost children. This is another category that had amazing stories that could have easily been winners.
