San Bernardino shooters fit profile of mass killers
No clear answers emerged Thursday about whether a mass shooting in California, allegedly perpetrated by a couple, was an act of terrorism or the outcome of a workplace grudge. But as John Cohen, former counterterrorism co-ordinator with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, now a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, tells Douglas Quan, law enforcement officials are seeing common threads — psychological and behavioural characteristics, as well as life experiences — in these killers.
Q What sort of profile is emerging?
A You have an individual who has a life experience that may involve a dysfunctional family environment. They may feel disconnected. If you look at Tamerlan Tsarnaev (the Boston Marathon bomber), he didn’t feel a strong connection with Chechnya, where his family was from, and he didn’t feel a connection with American culture. There may also be some underlying mental-health issues possibly or involvement in criminal activity. So, they grab on to some kind of grievance or ideological cause or organization; these people are looking for something to belong to. Finally, something occurs — a stressor or life event, it could be a workplace issue — that pushes the person over the line from extremist thought or grievance development to violent action.
Q Is it possible some attackers were just upset at the world and didn’t subscribe to any ideology?
A Yes. They view themselves the victim. That becomes what they hang on to and it becomes a validation for the act of violence. The Aurora, Colo., shooter was not a subscriber to extremist ideology, but he came to conclude that his graduate school treated him unfairly. The Santa Barbara, Calif., shooter came to view himself as victimized by women because he couldn’t get them to date him.
Q Does the San Bernardino couple in California fit these characteristics?
A We’re only beginning to learn the reality of their life situation. From reporting I’ve seen, it was very turbulent. Syed Rizwan Farook was a first-generation immigrant. I suspect you’ll find there were cultural identity issues, sense
of belonging issues.
Q Is it unusual this attack was carried out by a couple?
A I’m a little perplexed why people claim this is uncommon. It’s a similar dynamic with the Boston Marathon bombings. You had Tamerlan who brought in his brother, based on his close relationship. In the Paris shootings, the mastermind brought in his cousin. Increasingly, women are gravitating to these ideological causes and inspired by social media campaigns, such as those put out by the Islamic State.
Q Is there a contagion effect, with one mass shooting influencing the next?
A In Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, you have individuals studying past attacks, gleaning from them and emulating tactics. We know James Holmes, the Aurora shooter, studied the attacks of Anders Breivik in Norway and replicated to some degree his tactical approach.
Q What can we do to prevent these attacks?
A The more we understand these characteristics, the better we are at identifying them and using tools to assess the risk they pose, the more we may be able to prevent these attacks. I think we’ll see an increase in physical security around certain soft targets. I think we’ll probably look at requesting increased social media monitoring capabilities. On gun control, there are things we can do under existing law ... to expand our ability to prevent guns from being acquired by mentally ill people and bring more common sense to background checks. But I don’t think the political environment in the U.S. is one where we’ll see dramatic gun safety legislation.
I SUSPECT YOU’LL FIND THERE WERE CULTURAL IDENTITY ISSUES, SENSE OF BELONGING ISSUES. — JOHN COHEN, FORMER CO-ORDINATOR WITH U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY