Shooting at CT Elementary School. WTF AMERICA?!

[Cain]

Possible, but unlikely.  Ames case studies for school shootings were ones where the students themselves were involved, which does not appear to be the case here.

True.

Was thinking "the cognitive dissonance suddenly strikes on a very personal level, and you realize that you've been screwed hard by your own dominant ideology" could have been a thing that happened to dad.

Possibly.

Ames makes the case that usually, such "random" shootings aren't at all random, either.  In school shootings by students and workplace shootings, people usually go for authority figures, supervisors, teachers etc who are seen as being complicit in the acts which have enraged the shooter, along with other tormentors.

Now, why would someone want to shoot kids?  My guess is percieved grudges against the parents of said kids.  I can think of a number of scenarios, an abusive parent reported by parents of kids at that school who had their kids taken from their custody...the parallel "I'll take their kids from them" is obvious.

Assuming we're using the right model to judge this case by, which is not immediately apparent.

[Elder Iptuous]

Suu,
my kiddo in kindergarten just had a project where he had to make a 3d model of some transportation.  He chose a bullet train.
so we did our research and he saw the Amtrack Acela Express and decided to make that one since it's here in the states.
(it's the bestest model any 5 year old evar made by themselves, no shit)

Have you had a chance to ride this train?  he'd love to hear the word from someone that's actually been on it.

[Elder Iptuous]

Cain, that's the only thing that makes sense to me.  it's sick to think about killing the kids to get back at the parents, but is more sensible than killing the kids as an end unto itself.  or even just notoriety seeking.

[Cain]

Yeah, it makes sense, based on the data we have.  But it's pretty incomplete at the moment, so I'm not saying for certain I think that was the way things went down.

For instance, spree killers are not a very well understood phenomenon, and this could have been the first stage of an intended spree killing.

It could even be a terrorist attack, or psychotic break.

All unlikely, but possible, until forthcoming evidence rules them out.

[Suu]

Suu,
my kiddo in kindergarten just had a project where he had to make a 3d model of some transportation.  He chose a bullet train.
so we did our research and he saw the Amtrack Acela Express and decided to make that one since it's here in the states.
(it's the bestest model any 5 year old evar made by themselves, no shit)

Have you had a chance to ride this train?  he'd love to hear the word from someone that's actually been on it.

I have! Expensive, but it made me feel like a fighter pilot. Zooooom!

[Sita]

I've seen mentioned that the shooter's mother was a teacher at the school and a dead body at the parents' home (presumably the father). So psychotic break seems likely.

[AFK]

It looks like a family squabble gone to hell.


NBC is reporting that the teacher of the classroom that was shot up was the gunman's mother.  And she is among the dead.


ETA, yeah what Sita said.

[Signora Pæsior]

It looks like a family squabble gone to hell.


NBC is reporting that the teacher of the classroom that was shot up was the gunman's mother.  And she is among the dead.

Was just coming here to post this.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/8084565/27-dead-in-Connecticut-school-shooting

[AFK]

The guy had a bulletproof vest on too, so I don't think it was random, looks definitely to be pre-meditated, though undoubtedly there have to be mental health issues at play.  It's just not something a "normal" person does.

[LMNO]

Cain, I really appreciate your rationality when it comes to stuff like this.  Everyone else around me is freaking the fuck out, but that ultimately doesn't really answer, or help, the situation.

[Elder Iptuous]

psychotic break seems more likely, if he went there to shoot his mother, and then went on to kill a bunch of random kids, no?

[Bu🤠ns]

This whole thing sucks fucking ass. 

Also I doubt the President's sincerity up there...I guess he's upset because it's NOT children in Pakistan?


Nm, this shit...i'm posting emotionally...pardon me, Internets.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

All people at my work want to talk about is the shooting. Except the one who wants to call the news station to correct their statistics and gloat because she knows more about this kind of thing than they do.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

With assault rifles.

FUCKING ASSAULT RIFLES.

WHY ARE PEOPLE ALLOWED TO HAVE THOSE?! PISTOLS, OKAY, SHOTGUNS, SURE...BUT ASSAULT RIFLES?! COME ON.

assault rifles are just rifles with a pistol grip.

Semantics. Kids are dead.

wait. so what's your position here?  it now sounds like you're saying that what was used is not the point, however in the previous post, you were indicating that if we only had the assault weapon ban in place, this would have been avoided.

Oh my god, shut your fucking pedantic head, now is not the time to play "make people feel stupid because they don't know about guns".

[Cain]

Idiots on Facebook are blaming Mass Effect for the shooting, because the brother of the alleged shooter liked the game on Facebook.

Now, I'm all for giving EA a good kicking, but that's for game design and employment issues, not their supposed inspiration of mass murder by proxy.

http://mashable.com/2012/12/14/mass-effect-facebook-shooting/