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CNN Worries Trump Calling Parkland Shooter 'Sicko' May Be 'Harmful'

Donald Trump
Getty Images
February 23, 2018

A CNN article published Thursday worried that President Donald Trump comment's calling the gunman who perpetrated the Parkland, Florida, school shooting a "sicko" may have been "harmful," citing a group of professors who argued the remarks were offensive.

Trump called Nikolas Cruz, the alleged shooter, a "savage sicko" on Twitter, following reports that the gunman had been diagnosed with several psychiatric problems.

But "having a mental health diagnosis does not mean he would become violent, many experts say," CNN reported. "And although Trump has said he wants to focus on mental health to stop school shootings, calling Cruz a 'sicko' doesn't help, those experts claim."

King's College London professor Diana Rose told CNN that Trump's comments were "insulting" and "mean-minded," and called his focus on mental health irrational.

"You cannot solve the problem by locking people up," she said. "It is just nonsense, and it destroys lives and is a deep form of social control, rather than provide people the support they need."

"How helpful is calling a black person the n-word? Not only is it disrespectful, it fans racism," CNN quoted Illinois Institute of Technology professor of psychology Pat Corrigan as saying.

"This is not about being politically correct," said Ron Honberg of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "It's about wanting to do everything we can to encourage people to get health treatment that works."

Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder for the Parkland shooting.