Several Dead In Southern California Shooting Spree

[sofa king]

7. Reprehensible, but why?

Of all crimes, treating humans as unimportant props in one's personal rampage must rank among the worst. I do not think I am the only person who somehow "knows" this with a strange certitude that might suggest a biological impulse.

I wonder if that is why such actions are so eerily entertaining in video games, yet emotionally damaging enough in real life to virtually guarantee the suicide of the spree killer, if given the chance.

The vast majority of humans seem to have an innate aversion to killing other humans, one that can be duped or temporarily overcome through drill and conditioning, or furious anger, but which cannot be easily forgotten or dealt with emotionally after the incident.

This makes me wonder whether spree killers require a certain set of circumstances and prior experiences which increase the likelihood of an outburst.

Is anyone keeping up with the literature on this? I'd like to know what psychologists and psychiatrists think about this behavior.