A Glimmer of Solace

It’s nearly impossible to predict who and when a person turns into someone planning to execute people for a cause they feel necessary and noble. Even when authorities identify the person, most parents later claim, “My son or daughter would never do that.” Sometimes schoolmates say the shooter was this or that, and they believe their classmate was capable of such a crime.

A man with schizoaffective disorder who hears a repeated mantra that targets a specific ethnicity is capable of doing harm to himself and others.

On this day, it turned into a death sentence for an unsuspecting group of citizens going about their day.

The 21-year-old man in this true crime is the son of a therapist and a nurse. Law enforcement in the town where he lived had only interacted with the family once when the younger boy had run away from home—he returned to his home a short time later.

Perhaps the most dangerous of all who plan a mass shooting are the ones who’ve never been in trouble with the law. They aren’t on anyone’s radar.

Had the local law enforcement known of this young man, it probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome. He drove ten hours from home to execute a specific ethnicity because he thought he was doing his part to help a cause. One witness said he went aisle by aisle in the big-box store looking for specific people to shoot.

He spent months planning the attack, wrote a detailed manifesto, and posted it on the internet moments before he began shooting.

By the time he fled, he’d killed 23 people and injured 22. A short time later, he surrendered and confessed. They charged him with hate crimes and firearms violations.

Even with the schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, the jury found him competent to stand trial. Three years after the shooting, because the prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the table, he pleaded guilty to everything.

The court sentenced him to 90 consecutive life sentences. He agreed to pay millions to the victims. It’s doubtful they’ll see any money as he had few assets.

At the sentencing, the Interim Chief of Police said to the victim’s families,

“May this sentence offer a glimmer of solace and commence their journey towards healing.”

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, NPR - KQED, CBS News, AP

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Appeals or overturned verdicts may have occurred in criminal cases since I researched them. All information is provided on an as-is basis.