Is it wrong to politicize mass shootings by white men?

[Legion Troll]

 

[Legion Troll]

Anders Behring Breivik is a far-right terrorist.

On 22 July 2011, he killed eight people by setting off a bomb, then shot 69 kids at summer camp. In August 2012, he was convicted of mass murder, causing a fatal explosion, and terrorism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik

 

[Legion Troll]

John Russell "Rusty" Houser methodically shot 11 people in a Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater using a handgun he legally purchased from an Alabama pawn shop.

He had a history of anti-government and far-right views, including those on race, gender, and the future of the U.S.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Lafayette_shooting

 

[Legion Troll]

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold committed the Columbine High School massacre.

The pair killed 13 people and injured 24 others, three of whom were injured as they escaped the attack.

The two then committed suicide in the library, where they had killed 10 of their victims.

Because Harris and Klebold were both underage at the time, Robyn Anderson, an old friend of Klebold's, made a straw purchase of two shotguns and Hi-Point carbine for the pair.

A journal found in Harris's bedroom contained almost every detail that the boys planned to follow.

In journal entries, the pair often wrote about events such as the Oklahoma City bombing, including blurbs and notes on how they wished to "outdo" this event, focusing especially on what Timothy McVeigh did. They mentioned how they would like to leave a lasting impression on the world with this kind of violence.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dylan_Klebold#Acquiring_arms

 

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Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members using his mother's Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, after he shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home with a .22-caliber Savage MK II-F bolt action rifle.

As first responders arrived at the scene, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

A large quantity of unused ammunition was recovered inside the school along with three semi-automatic firearms found with Lanza: a .223-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, a 10mm Glock 20SF handgun, and a 9mm SIG Sauer P226 handgun. Outside the Sandy Hook school, an Izhmash Saiga-12 shotgun was found in the car Lanza had driven.

Under Connecticut law, Lanza was old enough to carry a long gun, such as a rifle or shotgun.

Lanza extensively researched earlier mass shootings, including the 2011 Norway attacks and the 2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting at a one-room school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania.

Police found that Lanza had downloaded videos relating to the Columbine High School massacre, other shootings and two videos of suicide by gunshot.

Lanza had created a 7-by-4-foot sized spreadsheet listing around 500 mass murderers and the weapons they used, which was considered to have taken years of work and to have been used by Lanza as a "score sheet".

Items found at Lanza's home included three samurai swords, a newspaper article about the Northern Illinois University shooting, and a National Rifle Association certificate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting

 

[Legion Troll]

Andrew Engeldinger, an employee of Accent Signage Systems, was called to the office of operations director John Souter.

Before going to the executive offices, Engeldinger first went to his car, apparently to retrieve a Glock 19 9mm handgun.

When he was informed by Souter that he was losing his job, Engeldinger responded with "Oh, really?" and took out the handgun from his holster.

Gunshots severely wounded Souter and fatally wounded manager Rami Cooks.

Engeldinger then left Souter's office, shooting and killing company founder Reuven Rahamim, who was stepping out of his office, which was next to Souter's.

He then left the executive offices and entered a sign-display area, killing Jacob Beneke.

Engeldinger then moved on to the loading dock area, where he shot and killed a second employee, Ronald Edberg.

He also killed Keith Basinski, a UPS driver who was on a delivery, as he was seated in his truck.

Engeldinger then entered the production floor and continued firing, fatally wounding production manager Eric Rivers and grazing another employee.

Engeldinger died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a warehouse in the workplace's basement.

A search of his home uncovered packaging for 10,000 rounds, indicating that he was heavily armed and had practiced shooting quite a bit.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Minneapolis_workplace_shooting

 

[Legion Troll]

Noah Harpham killed three people in a Colorado Springs shooting rampage.

He shot a bicyclist first, and then killed two women.

He was then chased by responding officers and gunned down in a shootout.

Harpham was open carrying.

Harpham, worried that his father had joined a Satanic cult — posted a semi-coherent blog post and a YouTube video discussing his fears — and also announced on Twitter that he had joined Chaturbate, an online forum that advertises itself as devoted to “the act of masturbating while chatting online.”

Harpham was also active on Twitter, linking out to his blog post in the days and hours before the shooting. His profile picture is a photo of libertarian economist Murray Rothbard, along with the words “anti state, free-market.”

On the dating site eHarmony, Harpham described himself as a Christian.




http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29059452/colorado-springs-police-confronted-shot-gunman-minutes

 

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Dylann Storm Roof faces nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder for an attack that killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.

Roof, a white supremacist, started firing on a group gathered at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after first praying with them.

He fled authorities before being arrested in North Carolina. Roof was arrested during a traffic stop, after a citizen called to report a suspicious car.

Roof's gun was a recent birthday gift from his father.

In racially motivated crimes in the U.S., African Americans are targeted more than all other groups combined, according to the most recent FBI statistics.



http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-church-shooting-updates-htmlstory.html

 

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Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara, before committing suicide.

The attack began when 22-year-old Rodger stabbed three men to death in his apartment.

Afterward, he drove to a sorority house and shot three female students outside, killing two.

He drove to a nearby deli and shot to death a male student who was inside.

He began to speed through Isla Vista, shooting and wounding several pedestrians and striking several others with his car.

Rodger exchanged gunfire with police twice during the attack, receiving a non-fatal gunshot to the hip.

The rampage ended when his car crashed into a parked vehicle and came to a stop.

Police found him dead in the car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Before driving to the sorority house, Rodger uploaded a video to YouTube, titled "Elliot Rodger's Retribution", in which he outlined details of his upcoming attack and his motives.

He said he wanted to punish women for rejecting him and to punish sexually active men for living a more enjoyable life than his.

After uploading the video, Rodger e-mailed a lengthy autobiographical manuscript to approximately a dozen acquaintances and family members.

The document, which he titled "My Twisted World", was made available on the Internet and became widely known as his "manifesto".

In it, he described his childhood, family conflicts, frustration over not being able to find a girlfriend, his hatred of women, his contempt for racial minorities and interracial couples, and his plans for what he described as "retribution".

Rodger had saved $5,000 of pocket money, which was given to him by his parents and grandmothers, in order to purchase weapons.

Gun law experts have said that there was nothing that prevented him from making legal gun purchases.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Isla_Vista_killings

 

[Legion Troll]

Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people at a Sikh temple and wounded four others.

Page committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after he was shot in the stomach by a responding police officer.

Page was an American white supremacist and Army veteran. Apart from the shooter, all of the dead were members of the Sikh faith.

Page had ties to white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.

He was armed with a Springfield XD(M) 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol. Page had legally purchased the gun in Wisconsin.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Sikh_temple_shooting

 

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James Holmes was convicted on 24 counts of murder and 140 counts of attempted murder for the shooting that killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

Holmes booby-trapped his apartment with explosives before the shooting, which were defused one day later by a bomb squad.

One of Holmes' psychiatrists suspected, prior to the shooting, that Holmes suffered from a mental illness and could be dangerous.

A month before the shooting, Dr. Lynne Fenton reported to the campus police that he had made homicidal statements.

Holmes purchased a Glock 22 pistol at a Gander Mountain shop in Aurora.

Six days later, he bought a Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun at a Bass Pro Shops in Denver.

On June 7, he purchased a high-powered rifle.

All the weapons were bought legally and background checks were performed.

In the four months prior to the shooting, Holmes also bought 3,000 rounds of ammunition for the pistols, 3,000 rounds for the M&P15, and 350 shells for the shotgun over the Internet.

On July 2, he placed an order for a Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest, two magazine holders, and a knife at an online retailer.

Police arrested Holmes without resistance while he was standing next to his car behind the Century 16 theater, moments after the shooting.

Holmes had sneaked out an exit door, propped it open, and returned with weapons and other gear, setting off several gas or smoke canisters and then opening fire on the theater audience, killing 12 and wounding 70.

He attended Penasquitos Lutheran Church with his family, according to the church's pastor.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Holmes_%28mass_murderer%29

 

[Legion Troll]

Scott Dekraai walked into a crowded hair salon where his former wife worked and opened fire.

Dekraai was armed with a 9mm Springfield, a .45-caliber Heckler & Koch, and a .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 29, and reloaded at least once during the attack, which lasted two minutes.

Six people were declared dead at the scene, and three survivors were taken to a hospital where two of them later died of their wounds.

Dekraai was arrested without incident after being stopped while driving a white pickup truck about one half-mile from the scene of the crime.

Dekraai was wearing body armor at the time of his arrest.

After an incident involving his stepfather, a restraining order was filed against him, barring him from possessing firearms.

The order had expired at the time of the shooting. Court documents filed diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder. A court hearing had taken place on the day before the shooting.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Seal_Beach_shooting

 

[Legion Troll]

Stephen Kazmierczak, a former student at Northern Illinois University, opened fire on students in a lecture hall before turning the gun on himself.

Kazmierczak entered a large auditorium-style lecture hall in Cole Hall with 150 to 200 students, where an oceanography class was in session.

The door Kazmierczak used led directly to the stage in front of the classroom; it was there he stood and fired into the crowd of students with a Remington 870 shotgun and three handguns, a 9mm Glock, a 9mm Sig Sauer, and a .380 Hi-Point.

The shotgun was smuggled in using a guitar case and the handguns were concealed under his coat.

A total of 24 people were shot, six of whom died.

Police later collected 48 shell casings and 6 shotgun shells.

He was treated temporarily for mental illness at the Elk Grove Village Thresholds-Mary Hill House psychiatric center before enlisting in the United States Army, and was discharged before completing basic training for lying on his application about his mental illness.

http://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kazmierczak.htm

 

[Legion Troll]

Jared Loughner shot and severely injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed 6 people, including Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Roll, as well as a 9-year-old bystander, Christina-Taylor Green.

Loughner had expressed a longstanding dislike for Gabrielle Giffords. Loughner had often said that women should not hold positions of power.

Loughner shot and injured 13 other people, and one man was injured while subduing him.

Loughner was "anti-government."

The U.S. Army confirmed that Loughner had been rejected as "unqualified" for service.

Records show that Loughner was registered as an Independent.

While a student at Pima Community College, Loughner had five contacts with college police for classroom and library disruptions.

Some of his teachers complained to the administration about his disruptions and bizarre behavior, as they thought it a sign of mental illness and feared what he might do.

College police discovered a YouTube video shot by Loughner, in which his spoken commentary stated that the college was illegal according to the United States Constitution.

The college decided to suspend Loughner. The college told Loughner that if he wanted to return, he needed to resolve his code of conduct violations and obtain a mental health clearance.

Loughner had two previous offenses: he was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia and he was charged after defacing a street sign. The police report noted that he drew what he said were Christian symbols.

A police report noted that he had previously been caught making graffiti associated with Christian anti-abortion groups.

Loughner's political positions were a hallmark of the far right and the militia movement.

He was a member of the message board Above Top Secret, which discusses conspiracy theories.

Messages by Loughner indicated a distrust for and dislike of the government.

It manifested itself in various ways – for instance, in the belief that the government used the control of language and grammar to brainwash people, the notion that the government was creating "infinite currency" without the backing of gold and silver, and the assertion that NASA was faking spaceflights.

Loughner purchased the 9mm Glock pistol used in the shooting from a Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson.

Loughner went to a Walmart store near the Foothills Mall to purchase ammunition, but left that store and completed his purchase at Walmart on North Cortaro Road.

He was stopped by Arizona Game and Fish Department officer Alen Edward Forney at 7:34 a.m. for running a red light, but once the officer determined there were no outstanding warrants for Loughner, he was allowed to proceed to his destination with a warning to drive carefully.

Loughner was charged in federal court with one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress, two counts of murder of a federal employee (Giffords' aide and Judge Roll), and two counts of attempting to murder a federal employee, based on his injury of two of Giffords' aides.

He was convicted and sentenced in federal court.

Surviving victims and family members said that they are "completely satisfied with the federal prosecution", that "justice has been served", and that the federal sentence is "suitably severe."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Lee_Loughner

 

[Legion Troll]

Robert Hawkins killed nine people (including himself) and wounded four, two of them critically.

Hawkins entered the south entrance of the Von Maur department store. After walking a short distance, he paused for a second, then turned around and left.

Returning six minutes later through the same entrance, he proceeded directly to the elevator at his immediate right, this time with a Century WASR-10 (a commercial copy of the AKM (7.62x39mm) semi-automatic rifle) stolen from his stepfather's house, along with two 30-round magazines taped together, concealed in a sweatshirt.

Hawkins stepped out of the elevator on the third floor and opened fire.

He killed eight people and wounded four others over the course of six minutes, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head near the customer service desk.

He fired more than 30 rounds, striking 12 people.

Six were killed instantly, one died before reaching the hospital, and another died 45 minutes after reaching the ER of another hospital.

Omaha Police arrived about six minutes after receiving the first 911 call.

Hawkins' mother gave the Sheriff's Department his suicide note, which read: "I just want to take a few pieces of shit with me... just think tho, I'm gonna be fuckin' famous."






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westroads_Mall_shooting

 

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Charles Roberts entered the one-room West Nickel Mines School with a Springfield XD 9×19mm handgun, a Browning 12 gauge shotgun, a Ruger .30-06 bolt-action rifle, about 600 rounds of ammunition, cans of black powder, a stun gun, two knives, and a box containing a hammer, hacksaw, pliers, wire, screws, bolts and tape.

He used 2×6 and 2×4 boards with eye bolts and flex ties to barricade the school doors before binding the arms and legs of the hostages.

Among the items he brought to the school was a tube of KY Jelly, which investigators surmised he might have intended to use as a sexual lubricant

He ordered the hostages to line up against the chalkboard and released the 15 male students present, along with a pregnant woman and three parents with infants.

The remaining 10 female students he kept inside the schoolhouse.

The school teacher contacted the police upon escaping.

The first police officers arrived about nine minutes later and attempted (unsuccessfully) to communicate with Roberts using the PA system in their cars.

Roberts called 911 and told the dispatchers that if police did not get off the "property", he would kill the hostages.

Police had to break in through the windows when shots were heard.

The gunman apparently killed himself along with five school girls.

Three of the girls died at the scene, with two more dying the next morning from related injuries.

Five girls were in the hospital in critical condition.

The girls were shot execution style in the head.

The ages of the victims ranged from 6 to 13.

Roberts fired at least 13 rounds from his pistol and at least three rounds from his shotgun.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Carl_Roberts