She was 13 years old. She was in this world since the age of 8.
A week after her birthday, Audrey died.
Her mother doesn’t know why – not until a detective calls to tell her that Audrey’s journal was filled with pictures of school shooters. Not until she searched TikTok and recognized her daughter’s artwork everywhere. Until she realized that the online world her artistic, funny, guitar-playing daughter had been living in for five years had a name.
True Crime Community. TCC.
TCC is one of the most dangerous pipelines going on right now – and most parents have never heard of it.
A fandom built around killers
This is not an organization. There is no leader, no membership card, no political ideology. Researchers call this nihilistic violent extremism – a fan group built around mass murderers, driven by hatred of humanity and a hunger for notoriety.
The Columbine shooting gave this world a look and feel. The members dress up like the Shooters, make fan art of them and celebrate them the same way other teens celebrate musicians. The community has shifted from Tumblr to TikTok, where a hand making an “OK” sign with a picture of a shoe indicates TCC membership — and comment sections recruit.
When a new shooting occurs, the perpetrator often becomes the next idol. After the December 2024 shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, the 15-year-old shooter became a figure the community celebrated — and it was followed by three more school shootings in Tennessee, Minnesota and Colorado. Each attack feeds the next.
Since January 2024, researchers have linked TCC to at least 25 attacks or disrupted plots. The FBI reported a 300% increase in such extremism between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025. And this week, a school shooting in Argentina was linked directly to TCC by government officials, who said it had nothing to do with bullying — only membership in an international online subculture. This is no longer an American problem.
The signs are there – parents don’t know what they’re looking for
There is no recruitment script. No one knocks on your door. Your child doesn’t come home saying he’s joined an extremist group. She asks for a t-shirt. She draws something in her notebook that you don’t recognize. She uses a username that seems random.
One mom – Audrey’s mom – just didn’t see the signs. He helped create them. She created custom T-shirts printed with logos associated with the Columbine killers for her daughter. He had no idea what they meant. When she found out, she said, “I wanted to vomit.”
These communities target children who are struggling – isolated, anxious, looking for a place to live. According to Alejandra Herberhold, de-radicalization expert at Parents for Peace, about 95% of TCC participants never harm anyone else – they are far more likely to harm themselves. This is as much a crisis of self-harm as it is a crisis of violence.
Another thing most parents don’t know: TCC is about half girls, half boys – which is unusual for any extremist group. Girls often find their way through online eating disorder communities. The boys generally come from promiscuous forums. If you think only boys are at risk, you’re missing half the picture.
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A phone call can stop it
In January, an Indiana mother called the sheriff after hearing something was wrong with her 17-year-old daughter. Investigators found that the girl had recorded a walkthrough video of her school and was planning the attack with people she met online. Mother’s call stopped this.
Another mother, Heather Dineff, watched her daughter Liliana enter the world of TCC. Liliana idolized the killers, wrote a manifesto and made a list of people she wanted to hurt at school. Eventually she told a doctor. The doctor called for help. Liliana was admitted to the hospital before anything could happen.
Two different families. Two different paths. Same result – someone noticed and called.
Warning signs are about looks, not words. Keep an eye out for specific shooters, pictures of killers, references to Columbine, or usernames and symbols you don’t understand. If something confuses you — a meme, a post, an image — explore it before you respond.
Monitor not only public profiles, but also private channels. Discord needs to be paid close attention to. Experts say don’t allow children on Telegram at all – it’s full of violent and exploitative content.
Don’t wait until you’re sure. Parents for Peace runs a confidential helpline for families who are worried about where their child is going. Their number is 1-844-49-Peace. No decision. No obligation. The Anti-Defamation League has sent TCC research to more than 16,000 schools and provides guidance on what to look for. Lawmakers have also introduced a bill that would make it a federal crime to push children toward suicide — a step in the right direction.
The adults closest to these children don’t know what to look for.
We have systems in place to identify jihadist radicalism. We are creating them for domestic extremism. There is almost nothing we can do to deal with this menace at the school and community level. Researchers say the most sustainable solution is to treat it like a public health problem – reducing youth vulnerability before an assault occurs, not just responding afterward. This means youth mental health investments, school-based threat assessment training, and making sure the counselors, coaches, and pediatricians who see these kids every day know what they’re looking at.
That gap is where children are dying.
mothers in it cnn The story is not asking for sympathy. They are demanding accountability – from the platforms, from policymakers, and from a public that continues to be surprised by the attacks on researchers.
Children are going to discover a secret world. That instinct is human – it’s what draws them to detective stories, adventure novels, and stories about people who matter and belong to something bigger than themselves. The question is who finds them first and what world they are handed when they arrive.
resources:
- Confidential Parents Helpline for Shanti: 1-844-49-Shaanti parents4peace.org
- ADL Center on Extremism: adl.org
- K-12 School Shooting Database: k12ssdb.org
- If you or someone you know is in crisis: Call or text 988
