ASSESSMENTS

Mass Attacks and the Media: Dissuading Killers by Starving Them of Coverage

Aug 5, 2019 | 20:46 GMT

A memorial on Aug. 5, 2019, after a mass shooting the day before at the Cielo Vista Mall Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that left 21 people dead.

Flowers and signs are seen at a makeshift memorial after the shooting that left 21 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on August 5, 2019. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

(MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Mass attackers who do not expect to survive their attacks are content with the notion that their posthumous identities will live on.
  • We will continue to prioritize analyzing how these attacks unfold and how the attackers prepare for them in the interest of public safety; occasionally, shooter's identities will be relevant to that analysis, but typically, they will not.
  • Undermining one common key incentive of the would-be mass murderer — the desire for notoriety — could save lives.

Mass attackers who do not expect to survive their attacks are content with the notion that their posthumous identities will live on. As we have said, extreme narcissism plays a significant role in the mass attacker's mindset. Before his rampage, the Stoneman Douglas shooter said in a YouTube video: "With the power of my AR you will all know who I am ... You will all see. You will all know who (sic) my name is." Unfortunately for potential future victims, his words have proved true. Undermining one common key incentive of the would-be mass murderer -- the desire for notoriety -- could save lives....

Subscribe to view this article

Subscribe Now

Subscribe

Already have an account?