Mass Shootings

[Written within a few hours of the shooting in Virginia Beach, VA, today, May 31, 2019. Undoubtedly, there will be many details forthcoming once the investigation–including witness accounts and evidence gathered–moves forward to resolution.

This writing is not meant to be a report on the facts. In fact, the facts are eerily similar to the facts in the other mass shootings in the U.S. From thirty thousand feet, this set of facts fits a “template” of these shootings.

Above, the concept of a case like this moving toward “resolution” is really a bit of a misnomer. Because a true resolution (despite all the scientific and other direct evidence collected by law enforcement) can never be reached until a motive is understood. For only the understanding of the shooter’s motive can bring some level of clarity to allow for an identification of the real issue that needs to be attacked so that resolution of that issue can bring about prevention as opposed to …]

Mass shootings are defined as four or more homicides during a single episode/incident. [Note: some shooting killing counters include the same number of injuries (4) as a result of a shooting during a single episode/incident.]

In Virginia Beach, VA, today, eleven souls were taken (although it was later reported that twelve died).

Six other humans were injured, hospitalized, and will be forgotten as the days go by. The alleged shooter was killed by police responding to the incident.

Thoughts and prayers offered. Nine hundred comments to first account (written shortly after the shooting) in a Washington Post article on line within sixty minutes of incident. And that’s just the WaPo article!

No weapon type identified yet, but National Rifle Association blamed straight away as if the organization pulled the trigger those many times. Trump blamed. Calls for ban on assault type guns [despite not knowing whether an “assault” type weapon was used (although it was later reported that a semi-automatic rifle and pistol were found at the scene)]. Pleas for the banning of all guns hit certain television cable channels while “Breaking News” flashes red on plasma screens. FaceBook posts posted. Twitter tweets tweeted … staunch (and even not-so-staunch) Second Amendment supporters decide to go buy more guns tomorrow (before the faux “soon-to-be” ban on guns serves a precursor to a militia going house to house to forfeit guns to the government).

Nothing to see here. Move along. Let’s get back to talking Trump.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. today, a forty-year old “longtime” public utility employee entered “Building # 2” (where he worked) at the Virginia Beach, VA, Municipal Center Complex. He started shooting immediately and went from floor to floor (there were three floors) of the structure shooting people.

The mass shooting ended after a standoff between the gunman and the police took place in the building; the shooter was dead on scene.

What is going on?

From the media we know that the number of mass shootings is on the rise: (i) hate crime shootings from members–or those professing to be–of a “white nationalist” related group; (ii) workplace violence from disgruntled employees as well as domestic-related shootings that cause collateral killings at the workplace; (iii) school shootings from students or others with some connection to the schools; and, (iv) public place shootings at movie theaters, concerts, etc.

Before going forward, I think it is useful to review the differences between and among the killers who take multiple victims. As noted above, a “mass shooting” is one that includes four or more people killed in a singular incident. (See examples above.) The category of mass shooting is distinct from serial killers and spree killers.

“Serial killers” are not limited to gun killings of course, but the definition of a serial killer is a person who kills more than one victim in more than one location over various time periods. Generally, a serial killer stalks and targets a particular type of victim. The time between killings is punctuated by a “cooling off” period. Those cooling off periods may be days, weeks, months, and even years. Many serial killers are fairly common names like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Casey, the “BTK killer” … and many more.

On the other hand, a “spree killer” is someone who kills more than one victim in more than one location in a very short period of time. Two examples of spree killers are Andrew Cunanan who murdered five people over a two and one-half months from Southern California to Chicago to Miami where he gunned down the world famous clothing designer Gianni Versace, and the “D.C. Sniper” who killed ten people over twenty-three days.

Serial killers and spree killers are similar in that the victims are of a particular type–at least in the minds (and, sometimes, fantasies) of the killers. Victimology, the study of the victims, is where law enforcement begins to investigate the killings–and in the cases of Bundy and Cunanan, warn potential future victims. The victims have certain characteristics which are not always obvious to the general public. Hair color, lifestyle, and sex are but a few of the myriad of characteristics that law enforcement uses to work backwards to see who may have the motive, opportunity, and means to commit the homicides.

Victims in mass shootings are, for the most part, random. They may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time when a mass shooter embarks on his killings. Victims do not have any similar characteristics with each other except they were all in the same place at the time the shootings take place.

What do we do?

[TO BE CONTINUED]

Robert S. Donaldson from The Bakery