Active Killer Emotions & Motivations

This is not an article on the recent Las Vegas shooting tragedy, but rather a piece that looks at the motivations and emotions that different killers have exhibited, as drivers behind their mass murders. This is not to justify their killings, or show sympathy towards them, but rather to try and understand what drives an individual to not just have the desire to kill on mass, but why it seems necessary for them to do so. Whilst I am sure that in both the fantasy and planning/preparation stages, a potential killer has doubts that they must overcome, by the time they come to execute their plan they will have convinced themselves that what they are about to do, has to be done. It would be wrong to try and search for a “rational motive” in any mass killing/active shooter incident, because there never is one, however to the killer there is always a logic (and inevitability) behind their actions, and to them, what they are engaging in makes absolute sense – and above everything else, has to happen.

Killing is born out of fantasy, and the need and justification to kill is fed by fantasy. Eventually, the fantasy will grow to become something all-consuming, and the killer will enter an alternate reality, where they can only make sense of what is going on in the/their world, by looking at things through the lens of the fantasy. Every action and behavior any person, group, government or entity makes, will be understood as it pertains to the fantasy; a fantasy that leads the individual to one inevitable conclusion, that they must kill others.

Feelings are the conscious interpretation of emotions, and are what fantasies are based on e.g. a feeling/sense of injustice, may lead to a desire for retribution and punishment, that develops into a fantasy that involves killing others. Fantasies will feed and reinforce feelings and vice versa. In many cases, it may look like a shooter has just snapped, but in reality, they will have had their dark thoughts and fantasies for a relatively long time. Some of these feelings/emotions that past killers have had include: entitlement, injustice, bullying, isolation, anger/hatred and/or a desire to be recognized as a significant individual i.e. fame and notoriety. Rarely will just one feeling/emotion be at play, and it is more likely that an active killer, will have a shifting and complex cocktail of many.   

Many active shooters/killers have a sense of entitlement, as to how they should be seen, how they should be treated, etc., and kill, because they are not recognized by their group or community, as they feel they should be. In 2014, Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and injured 14, before killing himself. Before he went on his rampage, he uploaded a video to Youtube, where he explained and justified his motive. He explained that he wanted to punish women for rejecting him (one of the targets of his shooting was a sorority house), and punish men for being sexually active – he envied those who had active sex lives, when he himself didn’t. Throughout the video, he demonstrates a sense of entitlement, explaining that women were wrong to reject him in favor of others; and that because of this, women are sluts and whores who need to be punished. There is a sense/feeling (though it has no empirical backing), that one of the reasons school shootings are on the rise, is because successive generations are becoming more and more entitled, believing that they deserve to be treated in a particular way – and when this doesn’t happen, they become frustrated and feel a need to punish those who haven’t treated them as they felt they should have been.

Bullying takes many forms, and doesn’t have to involve physical contact. In 1989, Joseph T. Wesbecker went on a killing spree at the Standard Gravure printing works in Kentucky. Wesbecker had started out with the nickname, “Little Doughboy”, but it was later changed to “Rocky”, after he was beaten up in a bar by a woman he’d been hitting on. Wesbecker, wasn’t only ridiculed by his colleagues, he was also involved in a long, running battle with management, who refused to allow him not to work on a machine, which both his doctor and union, had stated was bad for his health – other employees had been excused from these duties on the same grounds. Wesbecker, felt that the whole world was against him; he’d divorced his wife earlier when he found that she’d been sleeping with his co-workers, and he was openly mocked both by them and his supervisors/management. Caleb Sharpe, when he opened fire on his classmates at Freeman High School (Washington), said he did so to “teach everyone a lesson” about bullying. People will turn to violence, when they believe there are no other alternatives to dealing with their situation. This doesn’t mean that they are right to do so, however to themselves this is justification. Both Wesbecker and Sharpe had been bullied for a long period of time, and both came to the same conclusion about how to resolve their situation, and punish those they saw as responsible for it.

Individuals can become isolated for a number of reasons, including bullying, anti-social behaviors, and simply not being able to socially adapt to fit in with those around them. Once someone becomes isolated, they may start to feel that their “rules” of living are more important than those of society. If they feel that society has rejected them, they may feel that they are free to live by their own rules and standards. This is one of the features of the Columbine Shooting, where Eric Harris became enticed by the Nazi ideal of a Master Race, of which he saw himself part (entitlement). Already rejected and isolated, this allowed him to develop a number of dangerous views, ideas and opinions, that weren’t ever going to be challenged by those around him – because his community had effectively cut him off. Isolation can also be self-motivated, with an individual withdrawing from those around them because they don’t feel part of the group or community. Many people suffering from PTSD will withdraw, because they feel/believe that those around them don’t understand what is important and what is insignificant, and what matters and what doesn’t, etc. Feeling that they have no common ground, or shared experiences with anyone, they can withdraw and become isolated. On their own, they may start working to their own alternate reality.

The emotion that drives almost all instances of violence, is anger, and sometimes hatred. There are times when that hatred is directed at the community, as is the case with many school shootings (the school is the hub and focus of the community), and there are times when it is directed at a particular group. This might be an ethnic group, such as the 2015 Charleston Church shooting, that targeted African Americans. Dylan Roof hoped that his mass shooting would inspire other white supremacists and nationalists to start a race war. Both the Pulse Nightclub Shooting (Orlando, 2016) and the London Nail Bombings (London, 1989), specifically targeted those cities Gay communities, and were acts of hatred. The 2017 vehicular ramming in London, at the Finsbury Park Mosque, was an act of terrorism that specifically targeted Muslims. Not every target/location chosen has a relevance to a particular group or community – some are simply chosen because they offer the opportunity to kill the most people possible – but many are.

Perhaps the hardest motivation to understand, behind mass shootings, is the desire and need for notoriety; to be infamous. All of us want to be significant and relevant in some way, and want some form of recognition from others – even if that is just to be thought of as a good person or friend, etc. Human beings are social creatures and need to be connected to others in some way. When a mass shooting occurs, for a period of time, everybody knows the killer’s name, is interested in their life, their views, their beliefs, etc. Mass shootings are public events, that occur in front of an audience, and this is extremely important to understand – few, if any killers, given the choice, would prefer to not be in the news and talked about. Mass killers are competitive, each one wanting to kill more victims than those who went before them. They study and select their methods – and their targets – based on their ability to kill the most people possible (in the case of specific groups, where ethnicity, religious belief or sexual preference is the driver – it will be the largest number of victims within these groups based on opportunities presented). Active shooters want to be in the limelight, even if it is posthumously. To a certain extent, these killers are showmen, who want the attention of the world – and this is a large part of their motivation.

A mass killer may have all of these motivations, feelings and emotions present, to different degrees, and at certain times one may have more significance than the others. There will be many arguments about gun control in the coming months, some constructive, some reactionary, etc., however, attention should also be given to understanding why our society produces people with the need and desire to kill on mass, and how we can possibly recognize the warning signs of those who are starting to go down this path. Approximately four out of five mass shooters tell someone of their plans, and if we can understand the emotional and psychological makeup of someone who is serious about what they say, we may have the ability and opportunity – as has happened in many cases – to prevent future killers from executing their plans.