Julie GoldbergJul 15, 2024
I am reminded that we never found out the motive of the murderer who massacred 58 people in Las Vegas in 2017. Six years afterward, there was a suggestion that he might have been angry at the casino, but they still don't know for sure and will never know. Only in fiction do murderers always have a clear idea of who they want dead and why. When I think about local murders, the "motive" is usually that someone was drunk, high, or psychotic, and angry at a friend or relative.
Show threadJulie GoldbergJul 20, 2024

It looks like there wasn’t really a #motive in any way we understand that word for what #ThomasCrooks did. He seems to have had an impulse and a ready means to act on it.
If not for his easy access to a gun, he might have just gone to work last Saturday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/us/gunman-thomas-crooks-trump-shooting.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8k0.ktdd.AT7mTYKM4rAN&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

Who Is Thomas Crooks? From Honor Student to Gunman Who Tried to Kill Trump

Thomas Crooks was a brainy and quiet young man who built computers and won honors at school, impressing his teachers. Then he became a would-be assassin.

The New York Times
Show threadJulie Goldberg

The Washington Post reminds us that a motiveless shooting, while deeply unsettling, is more common than we think.
“…FBI officials who study mass shootings [say] that roughly 20% of the time, a gunman doesn’t want anyone to know their motive or reasons.”
…
“It’s very unsatisfying, psychologically, to say, ‘Stuff happens and we don’t know why.’”

https://wapo.st/3SftN94

Lack of motive in Trump attack frustrates public, but fits a pattern

Terrorism analysts say Trump’s would-be assassin is among a string of high-profile assailants with unknown or murky reasons for turning violent

The Washington Post
Jul 20, 2024 at 1:59pmWeb
Show threadPirateRoJul 20, 2024
@Julie it’s much easier when the shooter is dead and declared a “lone wolf”. You can’t deeply question or study him/her and the spheres of influence are safe to trigger someone else. It’s a repeating pattern.