Did anti-depressants trigger shooting?

As seen in the Chicago Tribune's Health Blog:

Investigators believe that Cho Seung Hui, the Virginia Tech murderer, had been taking anti-depressant medication at some point before the shootings, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Perhaps it's just a terrible coincidence, but Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and Kip Kinkel, the 15-year-old Oregon youth who killed his parents before opening fire on his classmates, were also taking drugs for depression.

It's not yet clear what, if anything, Cho was on.

But anti-depressants are a leading suspect because they've been shown to pose a suicide risk for children; the drugs come with a federal “black box” warning. And a recent federal analysis of clinical trials showed for the first time that it can also trigger suicidal behavior among patients older than 18.

But are the drugs, which can trigger mania, psychosis, paranoid reactions and abnormal thinking, to blame? Or are they simply unable to stop people like Cho from a rampage?

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, executive director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness, was a consultant to 19-year-old Columbine victim Mark Taylor, who filed a lawsuit against Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., which manufactured Luvox (Fluvoxamine), the drug prescribed to shooter Eric Harris.

Tracy, the author of “Prozac: Panacea or Pandora?” (Cassia Publications, $23.95) has said:

“The Columbine killers’ brains were awash in serotonin, the chemical which causes violence and aggression and triggers a sleep-walking disorder in which a person literally acts out their worst nightmare,” wrote Christopher Bollyn in the weekly magazine, American Free Press.

[...]

Cho, Harris and Klebold are all dead. Only Kip Kinkel--now 25--is still alive to help shed light on whether the drugs acted as an accomplice.