SHOOTERS SEND SIGNALS

Most mass shooters send signals of their intentions. Shooting rampages are rarely spur of the moment or impulse crimes. In most cases, there are signals of pending violence. The killers, or prospective killers, are intelligent and cunning. Their crimes are carefully planned and carried out.

The killers often write a manifesto decrying the evils of society, or detailing the injustices they imagine they have suffered. For many of these mass murders, their paranoia appears to know no bounds. Many want a moment of fame and glory, they are seeking to immortalize themselves through hideous crimes.

Researchers have found in a large number of school and mass murders there was the “Columbine effect.” Mother Jones reports it “analyzed 72 plots and attacks in 30 states where suspects and perpetrators claimed to have been inspired by Columbine. Law enforcement stopped 51 before anyone was harmed. Twenty-one plots evolved into attacks, with a total of 89 people killed, 126 injured, with nine of the perpetrators committing suicide.”

The magazine also reports “Individuals in 12 cases indicated their goal was to outdo the Columbine body count.”

CNN reported that in 2013, the FBI thwarted 148 mass shootings at high schools, up 33% from 2012. And even with the FBI’s success, the body count grows. (To be continued)