Sandy Hook Promise, an organization devoted to protecting children from gun violence that was launched in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, has issued a powerful public service announcement urging people to look for warning signs of potential shooters. The flirtatious messages are sent back and forth until the end of the school year, leaving a dissuaded Evan without a chance to learn the identity of his secret crush. However, in a last-ditch effort to learn who the person is, he exchanges yearbook signatures with classmates — one of which recognizes his handwriting from the desk. While the two begin talking, however, an ominous figure emerges from the entrance of the building, taking out an assault rifle and cocks the gun as the screen fades to black. Viewers are then shown a shortened version of the same PSA: The message is that while viewers were distracted by Evan’s romance, they neglected the warning signs of a male student in the background who reads gun-enthusiast magazines, searches for gun videos on YouTube, and is bullied in the school’s halls. "While you were watching Evan, another student was showing signs of planning a shooting," the corresponding text reads. But no one noticed.” 
 
 The ad says, “Gun violence is preventable when you know the signs.” 
 
 “The PSA demonstrates how easy it is for one to overlook the signs of an at-risk individual demonstrating signs of violence, particularly gun violence, and that when one knows the signs, it can be prevented,” says a statement from Sandy Hook Promise.
– Meet Evan. He's a bored high school kid who starts defacing school property, er, doodling on a table in the library one day. Someone writes back. Messages are swapped as days pass, mystery and romance bloom. Evan wanders the halls, eyeing his classmates, wondering who his mystery penpal is, and as AdWeek puts it, "there ensues a back-and-forth that's pretty captivating. Perhaps too captivating." (To avoid spoilers, stop reading and watch the video.) The end result has been described as "jarring" (Kansas City Star), "chilling" (Mic), and "powerful" (People). While you and Evan are busy being captivated—especially as Evan meets his mystery penpal—one of Evan's classmates is lurking in the background providing warning signs that he's planning a shooting, which in fact interrupts that very meeting we've been waiting for. The ad comes courtesy of Sandy Hook Promise, run by family of the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. "When you don't know what to look for, or can't recognize what you are seeing, it can be easy to miss warning signs or dismiss them as unimportant," says Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, died in the massacre. The organization, which says 80% of shooters tell someone what they're planning, aims to shine a light on the need to watch for those signs. (In Utah, a teen's own parents disarmed him inside a school.)