Mass Murderers:

Why They Kill

Roberto A. Sebastian Jr., MD

PLM Batch 1985
General Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School South Shore Program
Charles Steinberg Fellow in Psychiatry and the Law, University of Rochester
Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with Added
Qualification in Forensic Psychiatry
What is a Forensic Psychiatrist
 Forensic Psychiatrist
Liaisons between
psychiatry and the
Law
1. Competency
Evaluations (Civil,
Criminal)
2. Risks Assessments
(violence, suicide,
sex offender)
Teachers
Why Mass Murderer? Why not Serial
Killer

• Do not present a great challenge to law enforcement officials

• Do not produce the same terror and worry
• Restricted geographically
• Limited in data
• Do not have the same characteristics sexual and sadistic
characteristics as serial killers
Definitions

• Homicide- killing
of one human
being by another
• Murder- the
crime of
unlawfully killing
a person with
malice or
aforethought
 Spree Killing

• takes place
within a
given period
of time, such
as hours or
days with
some interval
between
killings
 Serial Murder

• String of victims
killed over one at a
time over a period
of weeks, months of
even years
Mass Murder

• limited to incidents that took

place within a 24-hour period
or single event (Aitken, 2009)

• Antisocial and non-state-

sponsored killing of multiple
victims during a single
epiosde at one or more
closely related locations
(Levin, 2009)
Historical
• Amok (Gaw and
Bernstein, 1992)
– Young ambitious
but poorly
educated
men,whose self
esteem has been
threatened
– Quiet and
withdrawn
– Typically
diagnosed with
schizophrenia
 Historical
• Bath School, 1927
– Andrew Kehoe from Michigan
– Killed his wife and 45 people by setting a bomb in
the school building
– “Criminals are made, not born”

• Charles Whitman, 1960

– Shooting from a tower at the University of Texas at
Austin
 Prevalence of Mass Murder
• Duwe, 2004
– 1900-1990- reviewed 909 mass killings
• First murder wave occurs in the 1920s-30s
– 66%- familicides
» 52% of mass murders from 1900-1975
– Agricultural depression
– 71% increase in divorce rates
 Prevalence of Mass Murder
• Post 1966, there is an increase mass public
shootings frequency
– 1900-1965 21 mass public shootings
– Since 1966 95 more
• 1997- juvenile mass shootings began
– 14 of the deadliest school attacks in the last 8
years occurs in 8 countries
• US (6), China (2), Canada (1), Japan (1), Yemen (1),
Finland (1), and Britain (1)
 It is not uncommon
1976-1999 FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports
497, 030 people murdered in the US
3,956 slain in incidents claiming 4 or more victims
599 mass killings involving 2,800 victims and 826
killers

Two incidents of mass murder per month and

claims 100 victims annually
 Myths
• Indiscriminate shooting of strangers in a public
place by a lone gunman
– Disgruntled employee who kills his boss and co-
workers after being fired
– Estranged father/husband who killed his entire family
and then killed himself
– Band of armed robbers, who slaughtered a roomful of
witnesses to their crimes
– Racist hatemonger who sprays a schoolyard of
immigrant children with gunfire
 Myths
• Although 50% of single-victim homicides occur
during an argument between the victim and
offender, it is rare for heated argument to
escalate into mass murder
• Offender characteristics
– Single victim offenders are mainly more often
black single men
– Mass murderers middle aged white men
 Mass Murder Patterns
• Location
• Victim Characteristics
• Motives
• Weapons
• End Results
 Location
• Palermo, 2007
– Frequently occurs in public places such as
restaurants, schools, post offices
• Hempel et. al., 1999
– 70% of mass murders occurred in workplace during
weekdays morning hours
• Fox and Levin, 2003
– Mass murderers do not cluster in large cities as do
single-victim crimes but rather in small towns and
rural settings
 Mass Murder Patterns
• Location
• Victim Characteristics
• Motives
• Weapons
• End Results
 Victim Characteristics

• Fox and Levin,

2003
– 40% of mass
murders were
committed against
family members
and acquintances
– Many victims are
young, white
females
 Mass Murder Patterns
• Location
• Victim Characteristics
• Motives
• Weapons
• End Results
Weapons
• Firearms are the weapons of
choice
• It is difficult to kill many
people with a knife or
physical force
• It is rare to have an
individual who is proficient
in the use of explosive
devices.
 Weapons

• Timothy Mc Veigh
• Oklahoma City Bombing
• 168 killed
 Factors contributing to Mass Murders

• Predisposers
• Precipitants (short-term and acute triggers)
• Facilitators
 Predisposers
• Childhood illnesses
• Accidents
• Child abuse
• Physical defects
• Isolation
• Poverty
• Low self esteem
 Precipitants
• Sudden losses (employment, death, divorce)

• Contagion Effects
– Media
– Novels
– Fanatics/Disciples
 Facilitators
• Increases the likelihood of violence
• Isolated from sources of emotional support
• Weapons
– Access
– Training
– lethality
 Typology of Mass Murder
• Revenge
• Power
• Loyalty
• Terror
• Profit
 Revenge
• Most common motivation for killers to mass
murder
• Seeks to get even with people he knows (wife
and all her children or the boss and all his
employees)
 Revenge
• “Murder by Proxy”
– Victims are chosen in which victims are chosen
because they are identified with primary targets
against whom revenge is sought
• Ronald Gene
Simmons of Dover, AK
massacred his entire
family including his
grandchildren in order
to avenge rejection by
his wife and an older
daughter with whom
he had an incestuous
relationship
 Revenge
• Some are motivated by grudge
against an entire category of
individuals typically defined by
race, ethnicity or gender who are
viewed as responsible for the
killer’s difficulties in life
– 1999- Marc Lepine, University of Montreal
– 14 female engineering students killed
– hatred against feminist
April 2000
Richard Bauhammer,
Pittsburgh

- killed five minority

Americans due to his
hatred towards
immigrants from 3rd
World Countries
 Revenge
• Killer’s paranoid view of the world

• George Hennard
– Hated humanity (targeted his neighborhood)
– 1991, rammed his truck through the glass window
of Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas and opened
fired on customers (23 killed)
 Revenge
• School Shootings
– Jonesboro, Arkansas 1998
• Andrew Golden (11) and Mitchell Johnson (13)
• Four students and one teacher killed; several wounded
• Golden’s girfriend broke up their relationship
 Revenge
• School Shooting
– Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, 1999
• Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Kliebold (17)
• Planned and prepared for several months
• Armed with explosives and guns
• Celebrated Hitler’s Birthday
• “Trench Coat Mafia”
• Targeted the most respect and popular members of the
student body
 Power

• Columbine
shooting

• “mission
oriented killer”
– Claims an
attempt to rid
the world of
filth and evil
 Power: Pseudocommando

Pseudocommando kills in public during daytime,

plans his offense well in advance and prepared with
weapons. He ha no escape planned and expects to
be killed during the incident.
O Seung Hui Cho

It was driven by strong feeling of anger and

resentment flowing from beliefs of being
persecuted.

It was argued revenge fantasies become the

last refuge for the mortally wounded self
esteem and ultimately enable him to commit
mass murder-suicide.
 Pseudocommando
Psychodynamics

• Persecution
– Klein’s concept of paranoid-schizoid position vs.
Depressive position
• Envy
– Is not about being envious over the Other’s
possession but the way the latter enjoys their
possession
• Nihilism
– In depressive position, a person develop as sense
of responsibility, guilt, and concern over the harm
 Envy
• “You have everything you wanted, Your
Mercedes…golden necklaces…trust
funds….vodka and cognac”

• “Oh the happiness I could have had mingling

among the hedonists, being counted as one of
you, if only you didn’t {expletive} the living
{expletive} out of me.”
 Power
• Unabomber
–Pseudomotivation: save humanity from
enslavement from technology
–Main motivation: control
–Desire to be published in national newspaper
–Threatening hoax at the LA Airport
–Obsessive library visits to read himself on the
news
 Power
• True Visionary killers
– Rare
– Hears the voice of God or devil instructing him to
kill
– Tends to be psychotic, delusional and disorganized
– Because his killings are impulsive, visionaries are
not capable of amassing a large victim number
– The Unabomber does not meet this criteria
 Loyalty
• Inspired to kill by a warped sense of love and
loyalty
• “suicide by proxy”
– Herminio Elizalde, 1990
– Mark Barton
• “I killed the children to exchange them five minutes of
pain for a lifetime of pain.”
• “I give you Matthew David Barton, my son, my buddy,
my life. Please take care of him.”
 Loyalty
• Multiple murders committed by cultists
reflects the desire of loyal disciples to be
obedient to their charismatic leader
• More than 80 Branch Davidians died in 1993 at
Waco, TX
 Profit
• Some murderers are committed for profit
• They are designed to eliminate victims and
witnesses to crimes
 Matamoros, Mexico 1989
• Wah Mee Club, Settle, WA
1983
– Three men crashed into the
club and robbed each
customers
– Methodically executed 13
victims by shooting them on
the head
Drug smugglers killed 15 people
Human sacrifice made to bring
immunity from bullets and
prosecution while bringing
2000 lbs of Marijuana across
the US-Mexico border
 Management
• School Violence

• Work Violence
Management: School Violence Early
Warning Signs

• Social Withdrawal
• Excessive feeling of isolation
• Excessive feelings of rejection
• Being victims of violence
• Feelings of being picked on and
persecuted
• Low school interest and poor
academic performance
 Early Warning Signs

• Uncontrolled anger
• Pattern of impulsive and chronic hitting, intimidation
and bullying
• Hx of discipline problems
• Past hx of violence and aggression
• Drug use and alcohol use
• Affiliation with gangs
 Imminent Warning Signs
• Serious physical fighting with peers and family
members
• Serious destruction of property
• Detailed threats of lethal violence
• Possession of firearms and other weapons
• Other self injurious behaviors or suicidal
threats
 Proactive intervention
• Share responsibility with the community
• Communicate with parents
• Develop skills and understanding of staff, students and families
• Make interventions ASAP
• Stress the confidential nature of referrals and educational records
• Use formal training to teach positive interaction skills
• Develop a written violence prevention policy
 Management
• School Violence

• Work Violence
 Management of Work
Violence
• Categories
– Random criminal violence where the
assault is carried out by a perpetrator
unknown to the victim
– Worker violence where the crime is carried
out by a perpetrator who works at the
same company
– Domestic violence, crime committed by a
perpetrator who is not an employee but a
family member or significant other
– Stalking
– Toxic work environment
 Management of Work
Violence
• Treat the underlying psychiatric comorbidities
(Axis I and II pathologies)
• Effective identification and prevention of
violence identifying potential perpetrators
• Develop a response team
– Access to work records (Disciplinary measures
taken; hx of previous threats, disability hx)
• Close interaction between the clinician and
the company
 What If a Specific Employee
Identified?
• Be attentive to and be emphatic to the
employee’s feelings and frustrations
• Management should be able to facilitate in
problem solving
• Always frame the meeting in a way to keep it
focused on what needs to be achieved
 What If termination of an employee has
been reached?
• Management should focus on the positive aspects
of the individual’s future
• Emphathize and assist in controlling the employee’s
emotions
• Avoid arguments over the merits of the termination
• Finality of the decision should be emphasize
• Offer resource persons to help the terminated
employee to overcome feelings of self doubt and
low self esteem