Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is investigating whether antidepressants can be linked to homicidal ideation after a mass shooting in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
While appearing on Fox & Friends<\/a> Thursday morning, Kennedy was asked whether he planned to examine the drugs used by the shooter, who authorities identified as transgender. Host Brian Kilmeade appeared<\/a> anxious for Kennedy to link the shooter\u2019s medical transition to the deadly incident which killed two children.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor] drugs, and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence. You know, many of them have black box warnings that warn of suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation,\u201d Kennedy replied<\/a>.<\/p>\n As head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has suggested that the people who take antidepressants\u2014some 11 percent of the population\u2014are more likely to become school shooters. In January, Kennedy said<\/a> that the National Institutes of Health needed to study SSRIs and video games as potential causes of increased gun violence, dismissing actual guns as a potential cause.<\/p>\n