An old rental scam is targeting new victims at the Jersey Shore. NBC10's Ted Greenberg has the details.

New technology from a Delaware-based company aims to prevent natural disasters and terrorist attacks. NBC10's Tim Furlong has the details.

Mary Lee just can't stay away from the Jersey Shore. The 16-foot, 3,456-pound great white shark surfaced in the water off Ventnor City, New Jersey Tuesday, according to the nonprofit shark-tracking group OCEARCH.

It's the latest appearance for Mary Lee who surfaced near Atlantic City's coastline on May 31 and near Cape May, New Jersey and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware over the Memorial Day Weekend.

Researchers have been monitoring the shark’s movements after tagging her off Cape Cod back on September 17, 2012. Since then she’s made several trips to New Jersey.

Mary Lee isn't the only shark in our region. Cisco -- weighing around 362 pounds and measuring 8-feet, 7-inches -- appeared on May 26 at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, slightly closer to Lewes, Delaware, than Cape May.

OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischer says the group's mission is to gain data about the great white shark population in hopes of protecting fish in the ocean. He says people shouldn’t fear a shark being in local waters. Instead, they should celebrate it because of what a shark means to the ocean ecosystem.

"People should be terrified of an ocean that's not full of sharks. They keep everything in balance," Fischer said. "So, if we want to make sure that our great-grandchildren can eat fish sandwiches, we need lots of big sharks."

You can track the movements of Mary Lee and Cisco by clicking here or by downloading the Global Shark Tracker app for your iPhone or Android. You can also follow Mary Lee and Cisco on Twitter.

A pregnant woman was struck by a stray bullet in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia Tuesday night.

The woman, who is 7-months pregnant, was walking out of her home on the 3800 block of Archer Street around 10 p.m. when an unidentified gunman opened fire. The woman was struck in the leg. She was taken to the hospital where she is in stable condition.

Police say the woman was an innocent bystander in the shooting. No arrests have been made.

If you have any information on the shooting, please call Philadelphia Police.

Here are the 10 things you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.

TODAY'S TOP STORY 

Preventing Suicide: Breaking the Silence Digital Documentary: Suicide is considered a whispered word. But those who have attempted it — and their friends and relatives — are sharing their stories to heal and help others in crisis. Watch our full-length special report. This NBC10 digital documentary is one of many video, written and interactive pieces that we have put together about this topic.

• WATCH THE DIGITAL DOC
  

YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

A chilly (for this time of year) start to your Wednesday under mostly cloudy skies. Highs are expected to hit the mid-60s. Highs should warm into the 70s Thursday ahead of much warmer temps this weekend.  Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

Escapee Captured: A three-day manhunt for an escaped prisoner ended Tuesday. Police captured Daniel Selby Jr. in Warrington, county radio police said. No one was injured during the apprehension. 

• MORE ON THE CAPTURE
  

AROUND THE WORLD

DEA Issues New Guideline for First Responders Dealing With Dangerous Fentynal Drug: The Drug Enforcement Agency released a new set of guidelines Tuesday to help first responders know how to handle the deadly drug fentanyl in the battle against the national opioid epidemic, NBC News reported. "Assume the worst," DEA acting chief Chuck Rosenberg says in a video accompanying the guideline. "Don't touch this stuff or the wrappings that it comes in without the proper personal protective equipment."

• MORE ON THE GUIDELINE
  

Mike Schmidt Apologizes for Remarks Regarding Odubel Herrera: Phillies hall of famer Mike Schmidt released a statement late Tuesday afternoon after a firestorm resulted from his assertion that a language barrier precludes Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera from being a franchise cornerstone. The remarks came Tuesday morning on 94WIP's morning show. Asked by host Angelo Cataldi whether Herrera could be a player a team can build around, Schmidt not only detailed the center fielder's on-field strengths and weaknesses but cited the language barrier that could hinder his relationship with teammates. Herrera is Venezuelan and his first language is Spanish. He uses an interpreter when speaking with the media.

• MORE ON THE APOLOGY
  

SPORTS SPOT

Phillies Winning Streak Continues: Aaron Nola went 8 strong innings in the Phillies 3-1 win over the Braves.  Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

See more Top News Photos here.

THROUGH IGER'S EYES

@dear_philadelphia captured this photo gorgeous flowers.

Have an awesome Instagram photo you'd like to share? Tag it with #NBC10Buzz.

TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO

Philly comic Kevin Hart talks about Bill Cosby trial: Click here to watch. 

Mom Seeks Friends: New Tinderesque App ‘Peanut’ Matches Mamas: Peanut, a new app created by mom Michelle Kennedy, looks to solve that by providing a platform where moms can meet other moms in their area. Moms sign up, build a profile, select up to three categories to describe themselves ("wine time," "bookworm," "single mama," and "spiritual gangsta" are some of the options), and then find potential matches. Learn more.

That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out. 

A new app on the tech scene allows for new moms from different walks of life to connect with each other nearby in a Tinderesque fashion, reported NBC News. 

Peanut, a new app created by mom Michelle Kennedy, looks to solve that by providing a platform where moms can meet other moms in their area.

Moms sign up, build a profile, select up to three categories to describe themselves ("wine time," "bookworm," "single mama," and "spiritual gangsta" are some of the options), and then find potential matches.

"When I became a mom and was looking to [socialize], everything felt very old school. All of a sudden online forums were my only option," Kennedy told NBC News. "I thought, 'I am not the only woman of my generation who has a child and wants to use a cool, sleek, modern product to meet other moms.'"

Kennedy has previously worked at Bumble and Badoo.

The Drug Enforcement Agency released a new set of guidelines Tuesday to help first responders know how to handle the deadly drug fentanyl in the battle against the national opioid epidemic, NBC News reported.

"Assume the worst," DEA acting chief Chuck Rosenberg says in a video accompanying the guideline. "Don't touch this stuff or the wrappings that it comes in without the proper personal protective equipment."

Rosenberg said the guideline, produced with help from police officers in Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Georgia, should be required reading for first responders

The DEA recently moved to declare the designer drug Acryl fentanyl a controlled substance and make it illegal to buy online.

Illinois-based Sears will close an additional 72 stores, on top of the 180 previously announced to close this year, according to a new report.

Business Insider reports the list was shared internally Tuesday and includes 16 Sears stores, 49 Kmarts and seven Sears Auto Centers.

Most of the stores will close in September, according to the report.

Sears did not immediately respond to NBC 5's request for comment.

Here’s the full list, according to Business Insider:

Sears

• Chico, CA, store 2048

• Dalton, GA, store 2615

• Biloxi, MS, store 2256

• Asheboro, NC, store 2645

• Minot, ND, store 2152

• Vineland, NJ, store 2374

• Columbus, OH, store 1150

• Elyria, OH, store 1310

• Columbus, OH, store 1370

• Franklin, OH, store 2940

• Midwest City, OK, store 1261

• Richmond, VA, store 1445

• Columbia, SC, store 1525

• Texarkana, TX, store 2567

• Sherman, TX, store 2627

• St. George, UT, store 2220

Kmart

• Dothan, AL, store 3082

• Muscle Shoals, AL, store 7045

• Little Rock, AR, store 3120

• Bullhead City (Riviera), AZ, store 3375

• Blythe, CA, store 3881

• Sacramento, CA, store 4117

• Manteca, CA, store 4862

• Sacramento, CA, store 4117

• Manteca, CA, store 4862

• Fort Oglethorpe, GA, store 3083

• Calhoun, GA, store 9625

• Iowa City, IA, store 4315

• Marshalltown, IA, store 7583

• Mishawaka, IN, store 4152

• Newburyport, MA, store 9147

• Elkton, MD, store 9524

• Traverse City, MI, store 3009

• West Branch, MI, store 3864

• Cheboygan, MI, store 9245

• Mantua, NJ, store 3060

• Manahawkin, NJ, store 3641

• Las Cruces, NM, store 3682

• Alamogordo, NM, store 9119

• Las Vegas, NV, store 3680

• Henderson, NV, store 3857

• Sparks, NV, store 4151

• Liverpool, NY, store 3352

• Malone, NY, store 3943

• Cortland, NY, store 7134

• Watertown, NY, store 7432

• Wooster, OH, store 4875

• Streetsboro, OH, store 9676

• Tulsa, OK, store 4473

• Roseburg, OR, store 7580

• Butler, PA, store 4771

• Belle Vernon, PA, store 7120

• Indiana, PA, store 7217

• Summerville, SC, store 3606

• Seneca, SC, store 9320

• Madison, TN, store 4093

• Johnson City, TN, store 7353

• El Paso, TX, store 3491

• El Paso, TX, store 7347

• Virginia Beach, VA, store 3560

• Virginia Beach, VA, store 3801

• West Allis, WI, store 3618

• La Crosse, WI, store 4089

• Medford, WI, store 7656

• Lewisburg, WV, store 7582

• Sheridan, WY, store 9074

• Spanish Fork, UT, store 7425

Sears Auto Center

• Elyria, OH, store 6060

• Midwest City, OK, store 6509

• Columbia, SC, store 6013

• Texarkana, TX, store 6739

• Sherman, TX, store 6929

• St. George, UT, store 2653

• Richmond, VA, store 7505

Nearly a month after a former "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star and her millionaire boyfriend were victimized in a brutal weekend home invasion that left both traumatized and with facial injuries, sources familiar with the probe tell NBC 4 New York investigators don't appear much closer to making an arrest. 

The investigation into the May 13 attack on Dina Manzo, 46, and David Cantin, 37, in Holmdel remains active and ongoing, the sources said.

The couple had walked into their home that Saturday night to find two masked robbers already inside, according to sources and law enforcement officials. 

The attackers rushed toward them, beating the man with a baseball bat and punching the woman, sources said. The couple was then bound together in the home. The robbers went through the house and stole cash and jewelry before fleeing, prosecutors said. Both victims were treated for facial injures, but were otherwise expected to be physically OK, officials said. 

"Dina and David are obviously shaken up from the traumatic and violent home invasion and robbery," the pair's attorney Andrew Brettler said in a statement shortly after the attack. "No one should ever have to go through what they did. They are grateful to law enforcement and the other emergency responders and appreciate everyone’s concern and well-wishes."

It wasn't the first home invasion at the home; the previous owners were also targeted. Neighbors said they were concerned they too could become victims.

Bravo hasn't commented on the investigation. Manzo appeared on the first two seasons of the reality TV show before leaving the series.

She returned for the sixth season in 2014, then left again. Prior to that she tried to launch her own series about party planning called "Dina's Party" on HGTV; it was canceled after two seasons. Manzo remains close with former co-star Teresa Giudice and is the godmother of her daughter. 

Cantin, a New Jersey native, blazed new trails in the car dealership industry with his financial and business acumen and became co-owner of one of the largest dealerships in the world. He was diagnosed with leukemia several years ago and directed philanthropic energies toward battling pediatric cancer.

Anyone with information on the home invasion is asked to contact Detective Eric Hernando of the Holmdel Township Police Department at (732) 946-2820 or Detective Wayne Raynor of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office at (800) 533-7443.

A beloved retired Hoboken priest and his sister died after their vehicle was rear-ended by a pickup in Freehold Township, authorities said. 

The Rev. Michael Guglielmelli, 81, who served the St. Francis Church for nearly three decades, and 87-year-old Dolores Guglielmelli were at a red light in a minivan with three others Sunday when the vehicle was hit by an unidentified 19-year-old driver, officials said. 

The priest and his sister died at a hospital. The other occupants remain hospitalized, except for the 55-year-old driver, who was treated and released. 

The 19-year-old driver was treated for a minor injury. 

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Michael Guglielmelli grew up blocks from the St. Francis Church he served for so long, according to NJ.com. The website reports he retired as pastor in 2012 at the age of 76 -- and the city named a street corner in honor of him. 

"At this time we ask for prayers for the Guglielmelli and Gallina families and for the entire St. Francis Community," Fr. Christopher Panlilio, who replaced Guglielmelli, said in a statement mourning his death. "Fr. Michael served our Parish and the City of Hoboken with love and compassion. He taught us the meaning of caring for those who are less fortunate and how to care for one another in the true spirit of St. Francis."

New Jersey-based Star Snacks Co. announced it is voluntarily recalling two lots of Southern Grove Cashew Halves and Pieces with Sea Salt due to the possibility of the presence of glass pieces.

The recall was made after the company received consumer reports of glass found in the product. To date, there have not been any reported injuries. The potentially impacted product has been removed from store shelves, according to the recall.

Southern Grove Cashew Halves and Pieces with Sea Salt, Net Weight 8.0 oz.

UPC code: 041498179366

Code: Best by date 11/27/18 & 11/28/18.

No other product is affected by this voluntary recall.

Anyone who has purchased the product in question are urged not to consume it and may return the it to their local ALDI store for a refund or dispose of the item. Anyone with questions can call Star Snacks at 201-882-4593.

Video of a heated fight between a New Jersey councilman in Wayne and a worker about campaign signs shows how ugly the dispute got. At one point, the councilman uses vulgar language, and the argument goes on for 10 minutes before the campaign worker's daughter calls police. The mayor is now calling on the councilman to resign. Jen Maxfield reports.

The left two lanes of a busy bridge connecting Delaware and South Jersey reopened Wednesday afternoon after a construction fire closed it for hours.

The blaze broke out below the Delaware Memorial Bridge around 10 a.m. after welding sparks ignited construction materials closing both spans of the bridge over the Delaware River, Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesman James Salmon said.

Motorists experienced significant delays as traffic backed up past the toll plaza onto the New Jersey Turnpike and onto Interstate 295.

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The New Jersey-bound (northbound) span reopened around 10:45 a.m. while the left two lanes of the Delaware-bound span reopened around 3 p.m. The right two lanes of the Delaware span remain closed.

The New Jersey Turnpike diverted all southbound traffic off the turnpike at Exit 4 during the closure.

"I feel for the individuals in the traffic situation... it's not something we want to cause," Salmon said. "This is an accident."

As SkyForce10 hovered overhead you could see thick smoke coming from under the bridge on the Delaware side of the roadway.

The fire was under control by 10:50 a.m. but engineers inspected the bridge to make sure it was safe for travel.

"They want to make sure that it's absolutely, positively safe for individuals to travel across the bridge," Salmon said. "We're taking a conservative approach to this and making sure that the structural integrity of the bridge is intact."

No injuries were reported.

When Dese'Rae Stage interviews survivors of suicide attempts for a website she created, she asks herself a question news reporters may not always consider: How much did it hurt?

A survivor herself, she wants to be sure that readers of her website "Live Through This" come away with a real picture of suicide — no romance, no facile explanations and no inducements for others to kill themselves. Stage, 33, is encouraging people to survive.

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"Because what we see on TV is, 'Oh I'm just going to take a nap forever and it's going to be peaceful,' and that's not the reality," she said. "And I'm like, 'Tell me what the reality looks like.'"

Mental health professionals have for decades warned that media can drive suicides, with studies pinpointing what kind of coverage can be deadly and journalists urged to follow reporting guidelines. But the influence that newspapers and television newscasts had in the past is being eclipsed by Facebook, YouTube and other popular sites. The enormous reach of social media has left mental health professionals even more worried about copycat suicides — or contagion, as it is called — and determined to confront the online world.

Most troubling today: young people live streaming their suicides.

The phenomenon of imitating well publicized suicides is sometimes called the "Werther effect," named for Goethe's 1774 novel, "The Sorrows of Young Werther," which was banned in some European cities after it was published over fears it triggered an increase in deaths. "My friends….thought that they must transform poetry into reality, imitate a novel like this in real life and, in any case, shoot themselves," Goethe himself wrote about the cases.

"They were found dead with the book," said Madelyn Gould, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

SUICIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY
More than 50 studies worldwide have shown that some types of news coverage can increase the likelihood of suicide for vulnerable people. That coverage includes explicit descriptions of the method, graphic headlines or images and repeated reports that glamorize a death, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says.

Young people appear to be particularly susceptible, according to some studies, with one finding that 15- to 19-year-olds exposed to a suicide had a relative risk two to four times higher than others. And celebrity suicides can be especially deadly. Marilyn Monroe's reportedly caused the suicide rate in the United States to jump 12 percent.

A Netflix series, "13 Reasons Why," is the most recent show to be criticized by mental health professionals who worry that it glorifies the suicide of a teenager who had been sexually assaulted and bullied. It tells her story through audio tapes in which she blames specific people for her death.

The National Association of School Psychologists warned in a statement: "Its powerful storytelling may lead impressionable viewers to romanticize the choices made by the characters and/or develop revenge fantasies."

Netflix added another "viewer warning card" to the show.

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Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those 10 to 35, a toll that has been rising each year since 2007. Gould and others cannot be certain that social media is contributing to the increase. New studies must first measure any effect. But Gould noted social media's influence, its large audience for sensational content and the danger that it could change norms about what is acceptable.

"Is there a possibility given the characteristics of some of the social media reports?" she asked. "Yes, it's certainly consistent that it might."

Researchers who have begun looking at the links between social media and suicide have already found that among middle school children, victims of cyber-bullying were almost two times as likely to attempt suicide than those who have not.

REPORTING GUIDELINES
Guidelines for reporting on suicides were drawn up after prevention specialists and public health officials held a national workshop in 1989 to help news reporters and others avoid sparking additional deaths. Now revised, they come with a list of do's and don'ts and suggestions for what information to avoid and what to include. Some studies show a decrease in suicides after guidelines are implemented.

The website reportingonsuicide.org recommends against sensational headlines, prominent placement, photographs or videos of the place or manner of death or grieving friends and memorials. Do not describe a suicide as inexplicable or without warning. Do not refer to epidemics of suicides or skyrocketing numbers. Do not disclose what is in a suicide note. And do not refer to a suicide as "successful" or "unsuccessful."

Journalists are urged instead to present information about the death in a non-sensational way and to report on suicide as a public health issue. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 90 percent of people who died by suicide had shown signs of mental disorders or engaged in substance abuse. Most people exhibit early warning signs. Include those signs and information about what to do.

Most suicide cases involve a fairly short window of decision-making and action, so you want to "avoid giving people an easy and impulsive answer," said Bruce Shapiro, the executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

"If you are establishing barriers, whether physical or informational, you're going to save lives," he said.

New research by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler of the Medical University of Vienna and others suggests that the opposite effect could be true as well: that articles about survival and treatment can reduce the number of suicides. It too has a name drawn from the arts, the Papageno effect, for the character in Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute," who after losing his love, plans to kill himself but is dissuaded by three boys.

"The possible role of media reports in preventing suicide may make it worthwhile for journalists of both traditional and online news platforms to follow media guidelines on the reporting of suicide," Niederkrotenthaler wrote in a 2010 study.

The guidelines sometimes are not heeded. Stage, an advocate, speaker and photographer whose website features profiles of suicide survivors, says she has been interviewed multiple times, and in all cases reporters wanted to know how she had tried to kill herself. Her efforts to dissuade them from including what she thought were too many details failed, she said.

"I don't think the perspective on method is going to change," she said. "I think we're just reporting on this and that is a piece of the story. I think it becomes about how it's reported on."

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If someone Stage is interviewing for her website tells her that he or she overdosed on pills, for example, she will include that information, but ask about the pain.

"Letting people know how painful it is is just going to change perspectives and that could maybe help," she said.

Stage remains convinced guidelines can save lives, and recently worked with Ohio's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to develop a set for its website. Journalists can change perspectives, she said.

"Social media makes it more difficult because obviously we're all rubberneckers, and we want the clicks, and so we look for the clicks in those headlines and in the details and the methods," she said. "And that's what people share, so how do we neutralize it?"

'PEOPLE WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT'
The guidelines can present a dilemma to journalists, used to ferreting out information and presenting it in as dramatic way as possible. Deciding how to cover suicides is an ethically challenging issue that vexes every newsroom, from the smallest local newspaper to national news organizations, said Shapiro with Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism.

"We don't like it when well intentioned health specialists tell us what we should do," he said. "We want to make our own choices as a profession."

Daniel J. Reidenberg, who wrote the guidelines on reportingonsuicide.org, said that a drawback of earlier versions was the source: exclusively mental health, suicide prevention experts, scientists and researchers. He turned to reporters, editors and news directors for the current version.

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Today, social media can easily circumvent traditional media reporting. A news article that might have remained local can now quickly go viral and be seen worldwide. 
Message boards and forums can spread information about how to die by suicide. Unregulated online pharmacies outside of the United States can provide the means.

In recognition of social media's new role, Reidenberg has added a separate website for bloggers, bloggingonsuicide.org, that recommends checking comments regularly, taking action against rude or derogatory comments, avoiding arguments in the comments section and paying attention to suicide threats.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA CAN DO TO HELP
For mental health professionals such as Gould, the focus now is as much on sites like Facebook and YouTube.

When a 12-year-old from Georgia livestreamed her suicide on an app called Live.me, it was shared on YouTube and Facebook. YouTube took the video down but it remained on Facebook for nearly two weeks, even after police officials asked it be removed, according to The Washington Post.

Then in January, a 14-year-old South Florida girl in foster care killed herself on Facebook Live. 

In a statement, Facebook, which has more than 1.8 billion users, said that it was saddened by such deaths and that it was working with organizations around the world to provide help for people in distress.

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"Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users and we have systems in place to ensure that time sensitive content is dealt with quickly," it said.

If someone violates its standards, it wants to interrupt streams as quickly as possible and it will notify law enforcement of a threat that requires an emergency response, it said.

Facebook promoted new suicide prevention tools in March, including making it easier to get help during a Facebook Live video and also via Messenger. Anyone who wants will be able to connect on Messenger with such organizations as the Crisis Text Line and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Facebook also plans to use artificial intelligence to identify suicidal posts.

And it announced it would hire 3,000 more people to help police harmful posts, among them livestreamed suicides.

"These reviewers will also help us get better at removing things we don't allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation," Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. 

For all the potential dangers on social media, Reidenberg and others argue its advantages outweigh its risks. Google has changed its algorithm so that the first site brought up by a search for "suicide" is one offering help, he noted. Young people looking for help can find it online — on Facebook and other sites, in chat rooms and on the Crisis Text Line by typing 741741.

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Liz Mitchell, a 39-year-old teacher's aide in Illinois, said the Crisis Text Line allowed her to reach out for help without alerting her family, whom she did not confide in. She found the counselors to be open and willing to listen, understanding, she said.

"That was super helpful," said Mitchell, who said she had tried to kill herself five times, the last in 2014.

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Her first hospitalization occurred when she was 11. When she was last hospitalized, she started taking antidepressants. Now after years of struggling-she is doing well and has gotten the help she needed, she said.

"That was the turning point," she said.

"Social media is a wonderful thing," Reidenberg said. "The advancements have helped save people's lives. It doesn't mean that it's not without its challenges but it is where people are interacting and it's where they're spending their lives today."

That was true for Ashley Shoemaker, a 29-year-old who works overnight in the freight department of a grocery store in Portland, Oregon.

She said an online friend became worried after she signed off with a sad post one night and persisted until he was able to reach her at 2 a.m.

"He kept me on the phone for eight hours," she said.

Shoemaker had called a suicide hotline once before. But for Shoemaker and her contemporaries, social media has become the place to seek help, where anonymity can better allow them to admit to feeling suicidal.

"When you're that far down, and you feel that hopeless and sad that you want to die, the last you want to do is hurt the people around you," said Shoemaker, who said she has depression. "You already feel like a big enough burden. To have to look a parent in the eye and say 'I want to die,' no good parent is going to react well to that. They're going to freak."

On social media, she said, "You feel safer reaching out."

The School District of Philadelphia celebrated college-bound students with a free concert Wednesday.

The district teamed with CF Charities and other local community groups for the 3rd Annual #ReachHigherPhilly College Signing Day at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philly.

“The purpose of this event is to honor the Senior High School Class of 2017 from local public, charter, and parochial schools who are pursuing a post-secondary education and to celebrate the next chapter in their lives as college students,” organizers said.

The concert featured dancers, singers and rapper Wale.

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"I fell screaming. It changed everything."

Kelly Bowie was 22 when her father killed himself. The week before, he had stormed out of the house with a gun and disappeared to his favorite bar. She chased after him assuming the worst. He shooed her away. He told her everything would be fine.

Walter Rodgers went by the nicknames Wally or Gator. He was the quintessential tough guy — drank heavily, experimented with drugs and occasionally rode a motorcycle. He delighted in joking with friends that he always carried a picture of his "pride and joy," not a photo of his family but the dish detergent.

Nevertheless, Bowie convinced herself she was daddy’s little girl. That changed after Rodgers killed himself.

"How could he do that to us? He knows what it’s like to be left behind. He went through it," she said.

Bowie never thought her father would die by suicide. He was orphaned at 17 when his own father killed himself, just one year after his mom died from cancer. That Rodgers would follow in his dad’s footsteps hadn’t occurred to Bowie despite years of warning signs.

More than one million people attempt suicide every year — just shy of Philadelphia’s total population. In 2015 alone, 44,193 people took their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Pennsylvania, nearly three times as many people die by suicide every year as by homicide.

That number is only going up and experts don’t know why.

"In the past 25 years we have seen an increase in suicide rates that is very hard to explain," said Dr. Maria Oquendo, president of the American Psychiatric Association and chair of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

One of the leading authorities on suicide, she believes a deep examination of the topic is overdue.

"Really, we need to understand what leads people to behave in this way."

More than 20 years after her father's death, Bowie wonders what drove him to suicide. Anger and confusion over his death led to years of depression and, perhaps ironically, thoughts of killing herself. With a family history of mental illness, Bowie spiraled downward.

"Driving off the road seemed like the next logical step," she said.

Like her father, Bowie struggles with depression. Therapy has helped her make amends with his memory but she still marvels that one day soon she will be older than he was when he died. An ankle tattoo both memorializes him and serves as a reminder of what not to do.

Perhaps her biggest disappointment, however, is that Rodgers could not walk Bowie down the aisle on her wedding day. Instead, she attached a small photo of him to her bouquet and threaded his wedding band onto an ankle bracelet. She keeps these and other heirlooms hanging in her kitchen.

In 1988, crisis intervention expert Dr. Earl A. Grollman described suicide as "a whispered word, inappropriate for polite company."

"Suicide is a taboo subject that stigmatizes not only the victim, but the survivors as well," Grollman wrote in his seminal work, Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Postvention.

The notion was not new or even groundbreaking at the time. Suicide had largely been considered a private matter to be handled quietly by loved ones behind closed doors. Survivors say the silence is deafening and alienating. Experts say the stigma does nothing to save lives.

HISTORY OF SUICIDE

Recorded instances of suicide date back to antiquity. Perhaps the most famous case was that of Athenian philosopher Socrates. He was found guilty of corrupting young people with his impious attitudes towards gods of the time. Socrates was given a choice: renounce his heretical beliefs or drink a deadly dose of hemlock. He chose the latter.

When Socrates was alive, scholars considered suicide a symptom of mania or melancholia, two conditions traced to a "malfunction" in the human body. Women, children and the senile were most at risk, the ancients believed. They treated depression with mandrake root, a toxic member of the nightshade family that induces sleep when ingested in small quantities.

Suicide was largely seen as cowardly, except in the cases of soldiers or leaders who had fallen out of grace. In those instances, killing oneself with a sword was considered an honorable alternative to living life in chains or in disgrace.

Religion has largely shaped how Americans regard suicide. Honor does not weigh into the equation, but sin does. The Judeo-Christian tradition condemned the act throughout much of history, teaching that only God can give and take life. Catholics who die by suicide cannot receive absolution. In the Jewish tradition, someone who died at their own hands could not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Both major religions have somewhat softened on the issue. According to the Catholic Digest, "pity, not condemnation, is the view" of that particular religion.

Still, stigma persists. Society views depression as an emotional malfunction rather than a psychiatric disorder. We continue to say someone "committed" suicide as if an actual crime had occurred, something advocates want changed.

This misconception remains pervasive and helps to explain why the nation’s first suicide prevention center didn’t open in the United States until 1958. Three years later, the United Kingdom decriminalized so-called "self murder." Yet many states on this side of the pond continued to penalize families of people who killed themselves by seizing assets. This practice occurred not only in the United States, but throughout Europe, as well.

Untangling the legality of suicide is tricky. Few states have overt language deeming suicide legal or illegal. Pennsylvania, for instance, only addresses suicide in the case of involuntary emergency examination and treatment for minors. According to state law, people between the ages of 14 and 17 can be forced into treatment if they have threatened suicide or left a suicide note. Pennsylvania law does not mention adult suicide, however. Neither does Delaware nor New Jersey.

While no federal law prohibits suicide, six jurisdictions — D.C., California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — have decriminalized physician-assisted suicide. For many people, death with dignity is easier to comprehend. The idea of dying honorably and maintaining one’s self-respect dates back to antiquity. But to die as a result of perceived weakness is seen as a failure.

The judgemental way society talks about suicide has contributed to a chilling silence among people affected by it. Rather than seek help, many remain quiet.

"There are millions of people right now who are wishing they were dead," said Susan Stefan, a legal expert of disability law and author of Rational Suicide, Irrational Laws.

"In our society, they are not allowed to talk about it even though talking about it might be the most helpful thing they could do."

One of the most prevalent myths is the contagion theory — that talking about suicide can lead to someone attempting suicide. Experts say the opposite can be true when the topic is handled carefully. They recommend not lingering on the method, something many in the behavioral health community lament about the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why. Several episodes carry graphic content prompting show producers to include trigger warnings before the most difficult-to-watch scenes. But in a world of binge-watching, some say the show isn’t going far enough to protect viewers.

Suicide was again thrust into popular culture when musician Chris Cornell killed himself in May. Sordid details of his drug use and final moments became Internet fodder for weeks following his death. But instead of using his suicide as a catalyst to discuss mental health, Cornell's struggle was turned into a circus.

That circus is not unique to celebrities. Hospitals and first responders sometimes add to the stress and chaos of a suicide attempt. In her book, Stefan argues that hospitalization can act as a deterrent to suicidal people getting the help they need. In one scenario, a person thinking about dying might remain quiet for fear of being committed to a hospital or institution. In the reverse scenario, medical professionals might hesitate to treat a suicidal person for fear of being sued if something goes wrong. Either way, the patient loses.

When photographer Dese’Rae Stage attempted to kill herself, a small army of first responders descended on her house. The all-male contingent wouldn’t allow her to change in private or put on a bra. At the hospital, she sat in the corner for hours before being evaluated.

"I felt like a dunce," she said.

Rather than seek help there, Stage checked herself out of the hospital. The humiliation was too great. She was told to contact the hospital in two days but was given an improbable phone number: (000) 000-0000.

Countless similar tales of impatience and disregard have prompted some mental health officials to reconsider the industry’s approach towards suicide.

"Suicide, like drunken driving, is a public health problem," said David Miller, former president of the American Association of Suicidology. "In order to reduce it, we need to address it."

Because suicide was perceived as a crime for generations, punitive measures were frequently taken against those who attempted. Forced hospitalizations were common prior to the 1980s. A patient could be institutionalized for anything ranging from dissociative identity disorder — previously called multiple personality disorder — to drug addiction. It was a convenient, if not entirely humane, way to stash away difficult patients with disorders doctors didn’t fully understand.

After former President Ronald Reagan took office, jails and prisons replaced hospitals and institutions for these patients. Federal funding for mental health care decreased by 30 percent in 1981 when the Budget Reconciliation Act repealed former President Jimmy Carter’s community health legislation. That number dipped by another 11 percent in 1985. People who could not afford to pay for extended or private treatment flooded the streets and the subsequent homeless crisis continues to plague many urban centers to this day.

Fast forward to the Great Recession of 2008 when states again cut $4.35 billion from public mental health program spending. The number of hospital beds reserved for people with mental disorders plummeted by nearly 97 percent from 1955 to 2016, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center. Philadelphia is one of few American cities that maintains enough hospital beds for people with mental health needs.

The pendulum is slowly swinging in a different direction as more experts take a public health approach, which includes screening patients and spreading awareness. Rather than associating suicide with a specific event — the loss of a job or relationship, for instance — medical professionals are looking at the bigger picture. This could include a family history of depression, substance abuse, bullying and undiagnosed mental health conditions.

"Suicide almost never happens without some kind of psychiatric condition," Oquendo said, adding that a recent spike in suicide rates could be related to an increase in diagnosing mental disorders.

Today in the U.S. one in four people suffer from mental illness with depression expected to be the leading disorder by 2030, according to Oquendo. Still, suicidal people are frequently judged as weak or sensitive, as though they can’t tell the difference between a bad day and a bad life.

Dr. Tami Benton, psychiatrist-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, estimates that at least 50 percent of people who die by suicide have an undiagnosed mental health disorder. Oquendo puts that number closer to 90 percent. The disparity comes from differing assesssments of underreported suicides: some families don’t want to admit how their loved one died while others simply never knew their loved one had a mental disorder.

Bowie’s dad, for instance, was never treated for depression, yet years of drinking and a family history of suicide put him at high risk. While there is no genetic marker associated with suicide, underlying mental health disorders can be passed down through generations and, in extreme cases, lead to suicide. This is why breaking the silence is so important.

"Just like you tell your kids that breast cancer runs in the family, if suicide runs in the family, we have to talk about it," said Oquendo, who is researching the genetic link between suicide and behavioral health.

Suicide in High School...or Earlier

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 34, according to the CDC. When adolescents attempt suicide the likelihood they will attempt it again later in life increases exponentially, according to Benton.

Experts point to heightened pressure at school and ruthless cyberbullying as possible reasons why a teen would consider ending their life. Because abstract thinking and long-term coping skills develop as they mature, young people "catastrophize those things and become more anxious," Benton said.

"At times, 11-year-olds and 12-year-olds say … 'If I don’t get straight A’s in seventh grade, I’m not going to get into AP courses in ninth grade … and I’m not going to get into a good college. If I don’t get into a good college, I’m going to be homeless,'" she said.

Even those external pressures don’t entirely explain why someone like Kiersten Killian, now 15, would have made her first suicide attempt when she was just 9 years old.

These days, the Lancaster County teen is a dedicated big sister and high school cheerleader. But at around 8 years old she started to kick doors closed and rip up notes. She said mean things to her mom. One Christmas Eve, Killian lunged for a kitchen knife.

"It’s hard to comprehend that a child would even know what suicide is," her mother, Ashley McDonnell, said. "I struggled immensely with that — not knowing how to help her, not knowing what to do because when I contacted a doctor or a hospital they told me that basically I was crazy."

Medical professionals blamed Killian’s hormones and McDonnell’s divorce. Stuck, McDonnell enrolled her daughter in 12 hours of weekly therapy. It seemed to help at first, but Killian’s depression was never far behind. On several occasions she opened the door to her mother’s moving car in an attempt to jump out.

"It got to the point where I didn’t want to bring her in the car because I was afraid she would … try to get out while I was driving 60 miles per hour," McDonnell said.

Killian fixated on a less lethal and more discreet method of self-harm: cutting. When McDonnell took her to the hospital, she was once again turned away and advised to try more therapy despite not being able to afford it.

Then came the second attempt.

After an argument with McDonnell’s husband, Killian swallowed pills. Forty-five minutes passed before the gravity of what she had done set in. Scared, she confessed to her mother and was rushed to the hospital in time to be saved.

Even now, Killian’s fragility lingers just below the surface. McDonnell removed her bedroom door until recently. Only Killian’s best friends know why she missed school for more than two months.

"They were very surprised because they always said I was so happy in school. I never looked sad, always smiling, always telling jokes, always friendly. They said they never thought that it would happen [to me]."

Many attempt survivors later say they regretted the attempt — not just months or years later, but immediately after. Experts point to the impulsive nature of suicide as one reason why, in prevention strategies, the method matters.

Approximately 50 percent of all suicides are completed with a firearm, and roughly 80 percent of those are by men. Women are more likely to attempt suicide but less likely to die because they use other means: cutting and overdosing, in particular. The one exception is women in the military. Familiarity with firearms increases their likelihood of using a firearm to kill themselves.

Bowie’s father used a gun. That night he disappeared after an explosive fight with her mom. She found him drunk at a bar. He was uninterested in seeing her.

"I don’t want you here," he told her.

One week later, he turned that gun on himself.

People who use firearms have a 90 percent completion rate compared to people who use other methods, according to the CDC. The lethal nature of guns has prompted experts to develop innovative approaches to "means reduction." The concept is simple — prevent suicides by reducing access to a firearm while in crisis.

"That can be very counterintuitive to people," said Cathy Barber, director of Harvard’s Means Matter initiative. "They will say someone can always find other means. But most people are not staying acutely suicidal for long."

Moving From Grief to Action

"I want to welcome everybody to Life Resurrected."

That’s how suicide prevention advocate Cathy Siciliano greeted a group of parents, partners and relatives to a Huntingdon Valley Catholic church on a cold Thursday night in February. "This is a survivor of suicide loss support group. This is a safe environment."

The dozen or so people sitting under fluorescent lights and huddled around the table are familiar with each other and with the grief they are about to share. One woman lost her sibling 20 years ago. A couple lost their son and a nephew in the span of three years. Another woman sits next to the girlfriend of her late son — he killed himself just four weeks before they found their way to this meeting.

There is nothing anyone here can say to bring back what was lost, but Siciliano hopes that sharing can lessen the pain. Members of the group recount their personal tragedy every time they meet. Survivors don’t shrink away from breaking their silence.

"It’s the most complicated grief you can go through," Siciliano said to the group’s newest member. "There is anger, sadness, confusion. No one can possibly understand that."

Like those gathered inside the rectory, Siciliano likes talking about the son she lost. Anthony was 26 years old, a volunteer firefighter who was hoping to land a job with the Philadelphia Fire Department. He once described himself as Icarus wanting to change the world, but worried about flying too close to the sun.

The two spoke every morning at 6:30 while Siciliano drove to work. It was their ritual that went uninterrupted until the Sunday before Thanksgiving. On that particular day Anthony had a sinus infection and cut the call short. "I’m going to take my medicine and lay down," he told her.

When she didn’t hear from him the next morning, Siciliano sent her husband to check on Anthony. He found his son lifeless and alone in his bedroom.

Siciliano still doesn’t understand what prompted her son to kill himself. He was diagnosed with ADHD years earlier but didn’t take medication because of unwanted side effects. His toxicology report came back clean, and neither she nor her husband had noticed any major change in his attitude or behavior in the days leading up to his death.

The Huntingdon Valley school teacher tortured herself trying to remember every detail of their interactions: What had she missed? There was one small sign. Usually an entertainer, Anthony spent a family gathering barricaded in the garage texting a girl he dated for a short while. Now Siciliano wonders what they were texting about.

"He was like the Pied Piper with his cousins, yet he was removed from us that day," she said. "It was so subtle of indications that something was different about him, but no red flags."

Siciliano always assumed mental health disorders came with obvious symptoms. She never suspected that mere quietness or aloofness could signal something as final as suicide.

It’s a familiar refrain for parents whose children have died by suicide. While some kids might have a well documented history of depression or suicidal behavior, countless more go undiagnosed. Benton, CHOP’s foremost expert on adolescent suicide, estimates that up to 90 percent of families she has treated noticed a change in their loved ones just before their death.

Parents frequently shy away from having frank conversations with their children about suicide and mental health. They fear planting an idea. Schools avoid mental health screening for similar reasons. But experts point to the power of human relationships as one of the most powerful deterrents to suicide.

At Drexel University’s Center for Family Intervention Science, just steps away from 30th Street Station, the approach is rooted in the idea that parents have an instinctual desire to protect their children even when they don’t understand what a young person might be experiencing or feeling. Therapists treat families struggling with depression, sexual identity and trauma, as well as parents who assume teens are merely acting out for attention.

"It can be very dangerous for a parent to not take certain signs seriously," Dr. Guy Diamond, the center’s director, said. "We try to repair that relationship before it’s too late."

CHOP also believes in early intervention. Benton’s team spreads suicide awareness to places where people gather but don’t necessarily talk about mental health: community groups, recreation centers and churches. The goal is to educate people about the warning signs of suicide and encourage people to intercede if they notice a friend or relative is struggling. Frequently, asking a person directly if they are contemplating suicide can lead to a bigger conversation and, hopefully, treatment.

Breaking the Silence

The risk of speaking out is great. Siciliano’s closest friends and relatives advised her to never share the manner of Anthony’s death, but she felt as though keeping his struggle a shameful secret wronged his memory.

This kind of stigma prevented La Salle University senior Amanda Johncola from speaking out about her multiple suicide attempts.

Until now.

Quiet and delicate, she didn’t understand the sudden sinking feeling of depression that descended on her when she was 8 years old. It was like a fog, heavy and involuntary.

Her parents didn’t get it either. She was bullied at school and suffered from severe anxiety and later body dysmorphia. Everything felt wrong until she got to college, where she hid her pain by drinking. Eventually, typical college partying gave way to frequent blackouts and then sexual assault.

At first, Johncola didn’t think it was rape because she couldn’t remember what happened. She went to a party and the next morning woke up in a stranger’s bed.

"I told myself these things happen," she said. "But then I started having flashbacks."

Those flashbacks, coupled with years of clinical depression, led to a suicide attempt. It wasn’t her first and it wouldn’t be her last. In high school, she cut herself and played the choking game in hopes of dying. By college she had graduated to more lethal means.

The university gave her a lifesaving ultimatum: visit a crisis center or enroll in intensive therapy. The latter has proven fruitful. Her therapists are kind and accepting. Her new friends buoy her when she feels low. She now sees depression as a clinical issue that can be treated rather than a life sentence.

The 21-year-old has yet to confide in her parents about the attempts. She worries they will blame themselves. She worries what her siblings will think. She worries that her already distant relationship with her family will only grow more fraught.

Yet, the promise of letting go and leaving the pain behind is more urgent than any fear of retaliation. She has learned to take things as they come.

"You can't let your story stop — you have to keep pushing forward," Johncola said. "You don’t know what your life’s purpose is until you reach out and find it. Killing yourself isn’t a purpose."

Each suicide directly impacts six people, according to experts, with 129 more also touched by the loss. If suicide has historically been a whispered word, its effects are more aptly described as an earthquake with multiple, often recurring, aftershocks.

The pain of a mother is not the same as the grief of a daughter or the ongoing struggle of an attempt survivor. Each experience is different and unique, yet the voices all have something in common: the urgent need to speak out.

It’s not a radical concept, but it does demand a radical rethinking of how society perceives mental illness. If those who have survived suicide’s touch are not afraid to speak out, then we should not be afraid to hear them. Suicide will remain a whispered word until we say it aloud.

If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741.

NBC10's Vai Sikahema sits with Chad Lewis, former Eagle, and Brian Santiago about Villanova University's Sports at the Service of Humanity conference on the heels of Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia in September of 2015.

Police on the Main Line shut down a popular Tex-Mex chain restaurant Wednesday after an undercover drug sting.

Radnor Township police kept the Chipotle at 323 Lancaster Avenue in Wayne, Pennsylvania under surveillance, after learning that employees at the restaurant sold drugs, police Superintendent William Colarulo said.

Over time, undercover narcotics officers purchased marijuana from Chipotle employees, Colarulo said.

On Wednesday around noon, police arrested four people after the undercover officers purchased marijuana from a worker in the parking area of the strip mall eatery. Two face felony charges while two others face misdemeanor charges, police said.

Investigators then found half a pound of pot in one of the suspect’s cars, Colarulo said. A police K-9 also found drug traces in a restaurant restroom. Police later towed the car.

Police closed the Chipotle until the health department could make sure the eatery is meeting public health standards, investigators said.

This is the fourth Radnor Township establishment to be shut down due drug sales in the past few years, Colarulo said. A McDonald’s employee was caught selling crack, a Seasons Pizza was caught selling marijuana and two Estia Taverna bartenders were caught selling cocaine. 

Colarulo stressed police have zero tolerance for drug sales at businesses.