The nation continues to seek answers about why a man would burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School and take the lives of many innocent children and adults.

Pat Hanberry with the Frederick County Mental Health Association, said it is impossible to completely prevent a situation like this from occurring.

"I think what is important for folks to know is that it's impossible to prevent everything. We're doing everything we can to prevent another terrorist attack. There are a lot of things we can do to reduce the possibility of that ever happening again but people can never, ever be totally guaranteed of their own safety," Hanberry said.

She said it is important not to jump to conclusions about how to prevent these attacks from happening again.

"That is the thing we have to guard against. For people to say anyone who has a mental illness shouldn't be allowed to have guns and anyone who is socially awkward shouldn't be allowed outside, but whatever it is we need to make sure we don't make these huge generalizations," Hanberry said.

The Frederick County Mental Health Association offers a program called Mental Health First Aide. This teaches people how to recognize when someone is emotionally distressed or has a mental illness and how to help them until professional help arrives.

If some of these people who had done some of these shootings or have been behind some of these shootings, people had recognized some of the signs and helped them get help, maybe we could have mitigated some of this," Hanberry said.

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress, call 211 for further information on how to help the individual.