Pennsylvania is traditionally known for its vast farmlands and historical cities -- not for its recent title of leading the country in murder-suicide incidents.

The Violence Policy Center (VPC), which is a gun control advocacy foundation, defines a murder-suicide as someone murdering an intended victim(s) before ending his or her own life.

According to VPC research, Pennsylvania had the most murder-suicides in the first half of 2005.

Texas also ranks first, matching Pennsylvania's 18 incidents in six months.

Aimee Newth, VPC publications coordinator, said in an e-mail message to The Daily Collegian that the recent Amish schoolhouse shooting followed many of the common murder-suicide trends, including a male offender, child victims and the use of a firearm.

Newth said there were 264 national murder-suicides, averaging more than 10 every week.

Mary Anne Knapp, clinical social worker and staff therapist for the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), said that the university has a standard procedure that it follows in murder-suicide incidents and in similar situations.

She said a lot of the therapy that CAPS offers for students in such situations consists of both group and individual talk sessions that slowly help those individuals "get control back."

Knapp said that the university commonly uses "postvention" meetings with crisis intervention to help students that are involved in situations such as car accidents and sexual assaults.

She added that less common acts of violence are also handled in a similar fashion.

Knapp said that typical training for residence assistants, faculty and staff creates an awareness of possible signs of violent situations, such as murder-suicides.

Signs include out-of-control anger, references toward harming others or confusing fiction with reality, such as thinking a dorm neighbor is the devil or an FBI agent.

Knapp said one of the most common campus situations that result in these behaviors is break-ups.

"When people have a break up they often risk acting out anger, depending on their personality and the nature of the relationship," she said.

Knapp added that the murder-suicide in the Amish schoolhouse might have been prevented if someone had picked up on any signs of violence Roberts had.

"If someone had been able to talk to the guy they would have tried to actively intervene to prevent the situation," she said.

Knapp said although there have been no actual murder-suicide incidents on campus, it is not a foreign concept.

"We hope we never have to deal with this, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility," she said. "At some point we might have to."

She added that CAPS works with all university units, such as RAs and police, in traumatic cases.

University Police Assistant Director Clifford Lutz said that police also have a standard procedure that it follows in certain traumatic situations.

He added that details of that protocol could not be released.

Lutz also said that the university has never experienced a murder-suicide on campus.

The only incident that police have encountered that came close was the HUB-Robeson Center shooting, Lutz said.

Ten years ago, State College resident Jillian Robbins shot and killed one Penn State student and then injured another after opening fire with a high-power military rifle on campus at the HUB-Robeson Center lawn.

Lutz said that although Robbins was interrupted before she could hurt anyone else, police suspect that she intended to commit suicide or have the police kill her.