Mass Murder On School Campus Mercedes Estevez Mass

Mass Murder On School Campus Mercedes Estevez

Mass Murder is defined as an act in which a person kills more than three person at a time at a certain location. This should not be confused with Murder sprees, which are when mass murderers follow the pattern of serial killers by killing several people in one place at one time, and striking again somewhere different. Columbine Massacre Victims

Characteristics of Mass Murderers Jack Levin and James Alan Fox, authors of Mass Murder: America’s Growing Menace make the claim that mass murders are rarely crazy but more than anything are usually characterized by being sociopaths, if anything. A sociopath is a person who is asocial or antisocial. Mass Murderers tend to… • Be men in their late twenties to thirties • Be Caucasian School shootings, usually occur when students resent their classmates, and are considered social outcasts. • Target people in familiar environments (schools, work, etc) • End their lives at the end of their attack either by turning their firearms on themselves or suicide by police officer. • Leave behind information giving us insight into their motives

Charles Whitman was born in 1941 the son of a brutal and aggressive father. As a child he showed signs of being extremely intelligent, scoring 138 on an IQ test at the age of 6. He joined the marines, but after several incidents, including his threat to a fellow officer with a firearm, Whitman was honorably discharged. As early as 1964, Charles Whitman began to show symptoms of depression. Upon visiting the school physiatrist, it was said he showed no symptoms of psychosis, however he was prescribed medication.

M 1 Carbine; . 30 caliber. A lightweight semi-automatic firearm. Remington 700; a bolt action hunting rifle. Luger Pistol; semiautomatic, self loading pistol Charles Whitman like many mass murderers who attack campuses, planned his attack carefully; buying the weapons and materials, such as binoculars, that he would need, the day before. The fact that Whitman had a brain tumor has led to the rise of many theories that he might have possibly turned aggressive and violent because of his brain tumor.

On July 31 st, 1966 he killed both his mother and his wife, feeling that the world was too bad of a place for them to continue living in. The next day, he went up to the UT at the center of the campus square and open fired on the students below. Whitman killed 16 people and injured 31. He was killed by police 96 minutes later, and on request, when an autopsy was performed it was seen that he had a brain tumor in a part of his brain that could have affected his behavior.

Notes left behind by Whitman read: I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don't really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I can't recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mother's life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now. . . I am truly sorry. . . Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart. I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job. . . If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts. . . donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type.

Eric David Harris Eric Harris was born on April 9 th, 1981. Although myth claims Eric Harris was a loner, investigation into the matter seemed to prove otherwise. When both boys broke into a van, and were arrested he was put on anger management medication called Luvox. The drug is known to create adverse affects such as suicidal thoughts; the combination of this with his hatred for the world proved to be a lethal one. He was also known to draw swastikas, his writings indicated that he not only favored Nazism, but he supported Social Darwinism and genocide as well. Later upon reading his writings, psychologist Dr. Robert Hare, would diagnose him as being a psychopath.

Dylan Bennet Klebold was born on September 11, 1981. He was described by his friends as being shy and the victim of teasing and bullying. However, when he met Eric, he became mischievous, setting fire to dumpsters behind his job at a pizzeria called Blackjack Pizza, bringing pipe bombs to work as well as setting aerosol cans on fire to make flame throwers. It is said by his friends he was a follower and easily persuaded into doing things.

The Columbine Massacre was planned as much as a year before it actually happened. The boys both felt a hatred toward society, mirroring a time of unrest that gave birth to occurrences like WACO which the boys planned to overshadow. It is thought that the boys were trying to make a statement to the entire nation, however, it is unclear as to what that message was. The students killed 13 people and injured 25. Originally their plan was to set bombs off in the cafeteria and shoot all survivors. However, when the bombs failed to detonate they open fired on the students in the cafeteria.

Klebold left behind a notebook in which he wrote, on what is believed to be April 19 th, 1999, "About 26. 5 hours from now the judgment will begin. Difficult but not impossible, necessary, nervewracking & fun. What fun is life without a little death? It’s interesting, when i’m in my human form, knowing i’m going to die. Everything has a touch of triviality to it. " When Harris and Klebold received their year books in April of 1998 they left comments in each others books. Klebold wrote in Harris’s year book referring to the “holy April morning of NBK (Natural Born Killers”. They referred to the massacre a full year before they set the plan into action. Another entry said “killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January’s incident [getting arrested] will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons [another name for the cafeteria at Columbine]. ”.

Common themes in the writings of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold included not fitting in, not being unaccepted and a lack of selfesteem. They discussed their ideas on natural selections, and both believed they were superior. They also plotted against their fellow classmates who they believed had made them feel this way: jocks, girls who had rejected them, African Americans and Christians. Klebold’s last journal entry: Walk in, set bombs at 11: 09, for 11: 17 Leave Drive to Clemente Park. Gear up. Get back by 11: 15 Park cars, set car bombs for 11: 18 Get out, go to outside hill, wait When first bombs go off, attack. Have fun!

Harris’ Daily Planner: 5: 00 -Get up 6: 00 meet at Ks 7: 00 Go to Reb’s [Klebold’s] House 7: 15 he leaves to fill propane I leave to fill gass 8: 30 meet back at his house 9: 00 made d bag, set up car 9: 30 practice gearups Chill 10: 30 set up for things 11: go to school 11: 10 set up duffel bags 11: 12 wait near cars, gear up 11: 16 HAHAHA

Seung Hui Cho was born on January 18, 198, in Korea. As a child he was exceptionally smart despite the fact that his family had thought him mentally ill or mute because of the fact that he was quite anti-social. He begin to get teased for his accent, speech impediment and shyness. He had been building up anger since middle school. At Virginia Tech, he was removed from his poetry class for writing obscene and violent poetry, and photographing his female classmates’ legs underneath their chairs. He was known as the “question mark kid” as he never told anyone his name. He was also accused of stalking three separate females on three separate occasions. When he was finally admitted into a mental health agency, although it was stated he was mentally ill, he was released and treated as an outpatient. A loophole in state and federal law, allowed him to purchase firearms anyway. This loophole presented itself in a discrepancy in what mentally ill meant at a state and federal level.

Seung Hui Cho

The Shooting On April 16 th, 2007, Cho killed 32 people and wounded many more. At the end of the attack he committed suicide. At 7: 15 am he killed two students by the name of Emily Hilscher and Ryan Clark at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-ed dormitory. He then returned to his room to rearm and it is during this time that he is said to have mailed a package to NBC news, containing pictures, digital video and documents outlining his plan, which would spark controversy in the media. At around 9: 45 he then entered Norris Hall a building of classrooms where he shot 30 people. He then killed himself. The Virginia Tech Massacre is the deadliest campus shooting in modern history since Charles Whitman open fired in Texas.

Cho criticized debauchery (extreme indulgence in sensuality), rich kids, he also claimed that they had forced him to do what he had done. In his "manifesto" Cho mentioned the Columbine Killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as martyrs. The package he sent was called incoherent, and the wrongs which he claimed had been committed against him were never specified. "I didn’t have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. It’s not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters that you fucked, I did it for them… When the time came, I did it. I had to. . . You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today, but you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off. . . "

Other comments he made: “You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy’s life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people. ” “Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon on a cross? And left to bleed to death for your amusement? You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life. Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can? ”

What do these three incidents have in common? Each and everyone of these mass murderers were disillusioned with the world. From Whitman, who believed that the world was not fit for his family to live in; to Cho who believed that the society he lived in had compelled him to commit mass murder. Being a Psychopath, does not necessarily make you crazy. It is usually characterized by surprisingly rational, but violent thought. A Psychopath is characterized by having above average Cho, Harris and Klebold all felt they intelligence and superficial charm, they were outcasts. Feeling unaccepted by are usually compulsive liars, insincere, their classmates, they sought their and show no remorse or shame. They revenge. Their actions acted as tend to show antisocial behavior, and messages to the nation and to our have a lack of emotion, compassion or society. They all seemed to fit the feeling for fellow human beings. Anger pattern of psychopaths. and feelings of grandeur or superiority are also manifestations (Cho’s comparison between himself and Jesus Christ, etc).

Bibliography Mass Murder: America’s Growing Menace, Jack Levin and James Alan Fox, New York, Plenum Press 1985 -Fox, J. & Levin, J. (2001). Will to Kill. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. -Fox, J. & Levin, J. (2005). Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. -Green, G. (1990). Occupational Crime. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. -Holmes, R. & Holmes, S. (1992). Understanding Mass Murder. Federal Probation 56(1): 53 -61. -Owen, D. (2004). Criminal Minds: The Science and Psychology of Profiling. NY: Barnes & Noble Books. -Petherick, W. (2005). The Science of Criminal Profiling. NY: Barnes & Noble Books. -Jefferson County, Colorado, Sheriff's Office Report; http: //www. cnn. com/SPECIALS/2000/columbine. cd/frameset. exclude. html http: //www. cnn. com/SPECIALS/2000/columbine. cd/Pages/SUSPECTS_TEXT. htm -Gunman sent package to NBC News, Alex Johnson; http: //www. msnbc. msn. com/id/18195423 http: //www. slate. com/id/2099203/ -http: //visualpalate. typepad. com/photos/uncategorized/mourning. jpg