TRAVERSE CITY — Crime victim advocates want to know what sort of support the victims of a recent stabbing attack near Traverse City will need.
On Monday, five people who were injured at the Walmart on July 26 met at Garfield Township Hall for a listening session the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Office facilitated, county Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg said.
The closed-door meeting was for victims only, so they would feel comfortable sharing without judgment. They were joined by Dr. Alyssa Rheingold, director of the National Mass Violence Center’s Response, Recovery and Resilience Division, and Krista Flannigan with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime. Both were there to inform the victims about the impact of mass violence, and to hear what kind of support the community might need to help victims, Rheingold said.
Examples of support include federal funding to help those agencies that serve victims, including hiring more victim advocates or mental health specialists, such as counselors or therapists, Rheingold siad.
“Because when a mass violence incident occurs, there can be sort of a surge in services that are needed and, generally, victim services and mental health services are often at capacity as is,” she said.
Mass violence is a unique kind of victimization, so some of that support could involve training people to provide the kind of support they need, Rheingold said.
“We have a couple of various ‘lessons learned’ kind of focused resources we’ve developed over the years,” she said. “Mass violence is just very different.
“We’ve learned that those that were direct and indirect victims can be significantly impacted – and the general community could be impacted.”
Another lesson is that people are resilient, so Rheingold said the goal is to provide them with the information they need to deal with whatever long-term impacts they may face.
That can fall on a spectrum of needing general information about how to help themselves and each other, up to needing personalized help.
Every community’s needs will be different following a mass violence incident, and the support provided could go to existing mental health providers and victim advocates, Rheingold said. Other communities might form a resiliency center to provide more focused programming related to the incident.
It’ll be up to local agencies to take the next steps, and Rheingold also met with various providers to discuss this.
“So that’s one of the things we’ll gather more information to determine what directions people or organizations might want to go in,” she said.
Moeggenberg said her office would typically invite a crime victim and their family to meet at her office to talk about the criminal case against those accused of the crime, and how to access resources like mental health treatment or seek money from the Crime Victim Compensation fund.
“In this case, anyone who was at the Walmart at the time is considered a victim because of the terrorism charge,” she said. “We just don’t have the capacity to have all those meetings, so it is partly for that reason, so we can explain one time the status of the case and what’s happening.”
Police say Bradford James Gille, 42, attacked 11 people with a folding knife at Walmart on July 26. Along with the terrorism charge, he faces 11 counts of assault with intent to commit murder.
Judge Michael Stepka of 86th District Court ruled Friday that Gille isn’t competent to stand trial, based on an assessment that found his delusions would keep him from effectively helping in his own defense. Gille remains at the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline, where he’ll be treated for up to 15 months to see if he can be restored to competency.
After Monday’s listening session, Moeggenberg said one benefit was for victims to be able to meet and check in with each other now that they’re out of the hospital. She’s looking into planning a future gathering for victims to get together and talk.
Rheingold agreed with a message often repeated in the wake of the attack: No community is immune to mass violence. At the same time, people need to live their lives and focus on what gives them meaning, purpose and joy.
She suggested people be mindful of their surroundings without letting fear and anxiety take over. It’s also important to lean on others who can help them in times of stress.
Rheingold likened the risk of mass violence to driving a car, noting that there’s risk every time one gets behind the wheel. But letting that fear take over could cause people to drive in a state of fear – or keep them from driving altogether.
“So sometimes, yes, it’s paying attention to all sorts of things in our world that create risk,” she said, “and, at the same time, leaning into the fact that we can’t let that control us, and how do we sort of lean in and live life knowing that there’s always risk in everything we do.”