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Yochelson Lecture: "Lone-Actor Terrorism in the Age of the Internet"

April 21, 2023
  • 00:05Yeah, just click. Got it.
  • 00:08I'm honored to even have been asked to
  • 00:10come and I appreciate so, so kindly.
  • 00:13I've been received here throughout the week.
  • 00:16It's been a great pleasure and
  • 00:18I've learned a lot as well.
  • 00:20Hopefully this will go as well.
  • 00:27I have no real disclosures to make.
  • 00:30I did participate in editing this
  • 00:32book on loan act of terrorism,
  • 00:35but I get no financial rewards for that.
  • 00:39Many of the the much of the material,
  • 00:42if not all of it, is adapted from
  • 00:45this loan act of terrorism. So.
  • 00:52Lone actor terrorism has been around
  • 00:54for quite some time. We'll see that
  • 01:01it's it's even has some identified
  • 01:04instances in the 19th century.
  • 01:07We say lone actor terrorism rather
  • 01:10than lone wolf because lone actor
  • 01:13has less agulatory content to it than
  • 01:17describing somebody as a lone wolf,
  • 01:19which might be considered to be crazy now.
  • 01:22And generally speaking,
  • 01:24we define it as using violence to achieve a
  • 01:29political goal or some other activity that
  • 01:33would maybe in induce fear in the community.
  • 01:37And as you say, the lone actor terrorist
  • 01:40is an individual who does this.
  • 01:42There are certainly many, many examples
  • 01:45of groups that have done it the.
  • 01:51You know, some people would argue
  • 01:53that workplace violence is not low
  • 01:55and after terrorism because the goal
  • 01:57is not to instill fear in the public,
  • 02:00it is to instill fear in the people
  • 02:02who are out there.
  • 02:03So what we're going to be thinking
  • 02:06about today are mostly occasions
  • 02:09where there has been some attempt to
  • 02:12influence the feelings or thoughts
  • 02:15of the public and you know.
  • 02:19We say that the motivational is often
  • 02:23multifactorial and people might get
  • 02:25into some of these activities that
  • 02:27we're going to talk about later
  • 02:29because of a personal loss.
  • 02:31They then identify their loss with
  • 02:35some larger unity activity which gives
  • 02:38them a sense of righteous indignation,
  • 02:40and the two are combined and may lead them
  • 02:44to do actions that are lone acted terrorist.
  • 02:48Mental illness is sometimes involved,
  • 02:51but as I look through most of the
  • 02:54famous lone actor terrorism states,
  • 02:56it's a it's usually a minor factor.
  • 03:00If it's there,
  • 03:01very rarely is it a major factor.
  • 03:04Recent research has tended to say
  • 03:07that perhaps people on the autism
  • 03:09spectrum might be overrepresented
  • 03:11among the lone actor terrorists.
  • 03:14And that's something that I think
  • 03:17is being researched very actively.
  • 03:20And as we get to prevention,
  • 03:22we might talk a little bit more about that.
  • 03:26An example of lone act of terrorism
  • 03:30was the major who felt that people who
  • 03:35followed Islam were being discriminated
  • 03:38against and he took a gun and began
  • 03:41shooting on the Fort Wood campus.
  • 03:44And then we'll talk a little bit more
  • 03:45about the Isle of this California case,
  • 03:47I think, later on.
  • 03:50Interestingly, the United States does
  • 03:52not have a particular statute that is
  • 03:57defined to punish domestic terrorism.
  • 04:01The acts can be punished,
  • 04:03but the terrorist part of it is
  • 04:06not an enhancement or subject
  • 04:08to a separate sentence, but.
  • 04:12Different states do have
  • 04:14statutes that apply to terrorism,
  • 04:17and some of the common things that
  • 04:20you'll find in those statutes are that
  • 04:23it has to be to intimidate or coerce
  • 04:26some civilian population or the government,
  • 04:30And it therefore it's outward
  • 04:32directed in that way in order to
  • 04:35change things as they see it and
  • 04:38of course in the United States.
  • 04:45So here's a a little history of how
  • 04:50far back some of these things go.
  • 04:54The the 1870s Russian activity was to
  • 05:00bring down the czar if at all possible,
  • 05:04and you can see that that was carried
  • 05:07forward in a number of assassinations
  • 05:10and bombings. As time went on.
  • 05:12So we tend to think of this as
  • 05:15a post 9/11 type of situation.
  • 05:18But you can see that there are
  • 05:22quite a few things that you might
  • 05:24consider to be a lone after terrorism
  • 05:28in some of these other venues.
  • 05:31You know, not all of them but like.
  • 05:34We don't really know what the
  • 05:36agenda of the shooter at Texas Tech,
  • 05:38Virginia Tech was,
  • 05:40but it it certainly produced a great fear.
  • 05:46And what's happening now is that
  • 05:49we perceive a great increase in
  • 05:52terrorist activities within.
  • 05:54The United States and we'll see a couple
  • 05:57of charts that actually kind of belie that.
  • 06:01But terrorism has really increased in ISIL
  • 06:05affiliate groups in Subsaharan Africa.
  • 06:08And we see concern and actual terrorism
  • 06:12in the the far right type both in
  • 06:15Western Europe and the United States,
  • 06:18like I said most.
  • 06:20Of the impact is with blown and not
  • 06:23lone actor but groups and but we see a
  • 06:27growing impact of lone actor terrorism
  • 06:30particularly in the far right cases so.
  • 06:34From the point of view of psychiatry,
  • 06:38a lone actor terrorist is 13 times more
  • 06:41likely to have a mental illness than
  • 06:43some of the people who are involved
  • 06:46in Group based terrorist activities.
  • 06:49Some of you may have been at my
  • 06:52talk on distinguishing between.
  • 06:54Delusion and an overvalued idea.
  • 06:58Many of the people who are involved in
  • 07:01the group activities have overvalued
  • 07:03ideas but no mental illness.
  • 07:05And even if they have a mental illness,
  • 07:08it's probably not the cause of
  • 07:11their involvement
  • 07:15as far as far right
  • 07:17terrorism in the West we had.
  • 07:21A growth of this as you can see one
  • 07:24in 2010 and 49 and 2019 and this has
  • 07:29been sort of a a grab bag of various
  • 07:35groups that have been targeted.
  • 07:38Various reasons why people
  • 07:40have been targeted and
  • 07:44they say religiously motivated
  • 07:46terrorism has been decreasing
  • 07:47in the United States.
  • 07:49But if you look at.
  • 07:50The reference it's from 2020
  • 07:53and the the data preceded that.
  • 07:57If you look at the listings of
  • 08:00the Southern Poverty Law Center,
  • 08:02you'll see that religiously
  • 08:05motivated terrorism is quite
  • 08:07steady in the United States,
  • 08:09particularly antisemitic terrorism.
  • 08:13The.
  • 08:1853 attacks in 2019, many were
  • 08:23lone actor terrorists and we,
  • 08:28like I said, we're beginning
  • 08:29to be ultra sensitive to this.
  • 08:33So this kind of illustrates
  • 08:35what I was talking about.
  • 08:37You could see that this very
  • 08:39faint blue line up here is the
  • 08:42Europe and North America and you
  • 08:44could see that it has gone up.
  • 08:47But everything else has gone up
  • 08:49in the same time frame as well
  • 08:51and has gone up with more deaths.
  • 08:56And you can see that in different
  • 08:59regions of the world there's a
  • 09:01different way of approaching terrorism.
  • 09:04In North America we see a lot of
  • 09:07bombings and explosions and armed
  • 09:10assaults and in and you see that.
  • 09:13Bombings and explosions are much
  • 09:16greater in some of the other areas.
  • 09:19This Gray thing is facility
  • 09:22and infrastructure attack.
  • 09:23And perhaps one of the reasons why
  • 09:26this is higher is that we have a
  • 09:29more developed infrastructure here
  • 09:30in the North America and there
  • 09:33are many more stadiums or museums
  • 09:36or then facilities like that that
  • 09:40can be affected by an attack.
  • 09:43And you'll see that the deaths in other
  • 09:48places often reflect some of that.
  • 09:51So we have 167 incidents in
  • 09:55the United States out of 332,
  • 09:59and we have 113 deaths out
  • 10:04of 286 around the world.
  • 10:08And you can see that there are
  • 10:10some surprising places like Norway.
  • 10:12Yeah, where Revik went on a
  • 10:15rampage and was killing people.
  • 10:20That's interesting,
  • 10:21because at his trial there was one
  • 10:23set of psychiatrists who said that it
  • 10:26was the product of a mental illness
  • 10:28and another set that said it was not.
  • 10:31And it was the psychiatrist who said it
  • 10:35was not who was adopted by the poor.
  • 10:40New Zealand is also a very famous
  • 10:43attack and it it led to one of the
  • 10:47conventions that we we try not to
  • 10:50put things on the Internet or on
  • 10:53the news that would tend to glorify
  • 10:56the incident or the perpetrator.
  • 10:59So
  • 11:01there's no dissemination of one of their
  • 11:05of their manifesto here, for example.
  • 11:10Here we see the incidents of the far
  • 11:13right terrorist incidents in the West
  • 11:16and it has been going up and down and
  • 11:19then we have this peak after 2015. And
  • 11:23these tend to be ones that have
  • 11:26characterized and acted out by lone actor,
  • 11:28terrorist who may not be specifically
  • 11:31affiliated with a far right organization.
  • 11:35They may have had contact
  • 11:37with some of those people.
  • 11:38They may have been inspired
  • 11:40by some far right attacks,
  • 11:41they may have read the propaganda online,
  • 11:44but they tend not to be part
  • 11:46of a militaristic structure.
  • 11:50And in 2020 much of the extremism was
  • 11:57racially or ethnically motivated, 40%.
  • 12:01But we can see that's dropped
  • 12:03in half by the end of 2022.
  • 12:06And what we see is more civil unrest,
  • 12:09more of that far right type
  • 12:11that we've been talking about.
  • 12:16The perpetrators in this area
  • 12:21tend almost always to be male.
  • 12:23In this analysis done by the National
  • 12:26Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime,
  • 12:29all of the offenders were male.
  • 12:32The youngest was 15 and the oldest was 88.
  • 12:35And about the average age of the time
  • 12:38of the attack was 37 or so years.
  • 12:41The perpetrators were from every
  • 12:44ethnic group, primarily white,
  • 12:47but also others.
  • 12:50Most of the perpetrators were alone,
  • 12:53never married or divorced or separated.
  • 12:56A third of them had children,
  • 12:58which is an interesting factor that
  • 13:01one might want to do more research on.
  • 13:04And they tended to be fairly
  • 13:06well educated people.
  • 13:10So
  • 13:14if you think about how has the
  • 13:17Internet influenced these things,
  • 13:2076% of offenders since 2012 have
  • 13:23used the Internet for research.
  • 13:25On their attack plans or developing
  • 13:28their facility like a bomb to be
  • 13:31able to use that out in the public.
  • 13:34If you go online you can find many
  • 13:38ways of putting together a weapon.
  • 13:43They're using now 3D printing machines
  • 13:46to make plastic parts of a weapon that
  • 13:50can be smuggled on an airplane perhaps.
  • 13:53And the governments are trying
  • 13:55to crack down on this,
  • 13:57but obviously if it's done in secret,
  • 14:00it's very hard for them to know.
  • 14:03Then we often see people with extremist
  • 14:08views publishing their manifestos online.
  • 14:12Now, not everybody who publishes
  • 14:13goes on to be an active terrorist,
  • 14:16but it can inspire other people.
  • 14:19And often times we'll we'll see an example
  • 14:23later of someone with a manifesto online.
  • 14:27In cells are a very interesting group.
  • 14:29They're men, although there's recently
  • 14:33been some female incest in cell groups.
  • 14:37There are men generally who believe that the
  • 14:40world is ruled by beautiful blonde people,
  • 14:44and they are excluded from having any.
  • 14:48Relationships with the beautiful
  • 14:50woman by these people,
  • 14:52they often refer to as chads.
  • 14:54And so they feel they're completely
  • 14:57locked out of being involved
  • 14:59in a sexual relationship.
  • 15:00And that's why they're called
  • 15:03involuntary celibates.
  • 15:04And they have websites and
  • 15:09chapters that meet.
  • 15:11They discuss some of the theories behind it.
  • 15:14They're mutually supportive.
  • 15:16So they're,
  • 15:17you know,
  • 15:17you have a bunch of people who
  • 15:19have this maladaptive idea and
  • 15:20they get together and they support
  • 15:22each other's maladaptive ideas.
  • 15:24Now,
  • 15:24not every in cell becomes a terrorist either,
  • 15:27but we have had a couple of very,
  • 15:29very significant attacks from
  • 15:32this population.
  • 15:36And here we have a little cartoon that
  • 15:39says that he learned to build the
  • 15:42better mousetrap from the Internet.
  • 15:45And there's the stuff that you and I
  • 15:47probably find on the Internet quite easily.
  • 15:50But there's also these deep web
  • 15:53and dark web and dark net sites
  • 15:57where these things are exchanged.
  • 16:01But you have to have special passwords
  • 16:04to get into contact with some people,
  • 16:08and it's not necessarily something
  • 16:11that you can.
  • 16:13Do like today and get in there tomorrow.
  • 16:16You have to really work your way
  • 16:18into it and gain people's trust.
  • 16:21And instead of using Google they
  • 16:24use the thing called for or some
  • 16:26other type of private browser.
  • 16:30The Internet is also useful
  • 16:33for logistics and planning.
  • 16:37You know, they go online,
  • 16:38they look for things like traffic
  • 16:41patterns and blueprints and maps
  • 16:43that tell them the vulnerable
  • 16:45places to place the bomb timetables
  • 16:47for when the most number of
  • 16:49people are going to be there.
  • 16:51And they even do pick starting
  • 16:54actually to fund their operations.
  • 16:59In the case of Charlottesville,
  • 17:01which was not alone after terrorist,
  • 17:02it was an organized event.
  • 17:05Maybe not even intended to
  • 17:07be terrorists as it began,
  • 17:10it developed using Facebook
  • 17:12and Messenger apps and it was
  • 17:15promoted widely on 4 Chan,
  • 17:19which has had has a long history
  • 17:24and then communicated among
  • 17:26each other using social media.
  • 17:33So we have social needs and reinforcements.
  • 17:37See, we have this young man sitting in the
  • 17:40chair is all charged up and ready to go.
  • 17:42But he doesn't have an identity.
  • 17:44It doesn't. He feels isolated.
  • 17:46And this is the kind of person who can
  • 17:50easily be seduced into either ISIS type
  • 17:53of activity in cell type of activity.
  • 17:57And using their connections becomes as real
  • 18:01to them as real life would be to you and me.
  • 18:05And they gradually develop an attention,
  • 18:11maybe even an addiction type of
  • 18:14relationship with many of the
  • 18:17groups that they are associated with
  • 18:23and some. People have, you know,
  • 18:28their own particular type of political
  • 18:32beliefs, which is perfectly fine.
  • 18:35Subgroups of that may become overly
  • 18:38involved in some of the misinformation
  • 18:41in particular that gets carried about.
  • 18:44And then the next step is to become
  • 18:47more and more activated in the area.
  • 18:50It's seems like some of the algorithms
  • 18:52on some of these social media.
  • 18:55Follow what you look up on Google
  • 18:58and we'll feed you more information
  • 19:01that makes it look like the world is
  • 19:04beginning to think like you think.
  • 19:06And that's what this Overton window is about.
  • 19:09And it's beginning to create an
  • 19:13atmosphere where people have mutually
  • 19:16supported anti-Semitic ideas,
  • 19:18for example,
  • 19:18to the point where they think
  • 19:21that it's universally endorsed.
  • 19:28The, you know, Internet and
  • 19:32social media applications can
  • 19:36also get people to get together.
  • 19:39You know, so that's 11 area
  • 19:42where you can form a mob.
  • 19:45And again, that's not particularly
  • 19:46what we're looking at,
  • 19:47but some people may be involved
  • 19:49in this and then go off on their
  • 19:51own as a lone actor, terrorist.
  • 19:54Pizzagate is something that was
  • 19:58involved in the elections between
  • 20:01Hillary Clinton and President Trump.
  • 20:05Pizza Gate was that there was
  • 20:07a peace parlor in Washington,
  • 20:09DC that in the basement was
  • 20:12involved in abortions, child abuse,
  • 20:15sexual child abuse and the
  • 20:18distribution of ***********.
  • 20:19And somebody who was involved
  • 20:22in this misinformation actually
  • 20:24went there and shot people.
  • 20:27So that's one example of how.
  • 20:32Something that's a bizarre story can
  • 20:35end up having a lone act of terrorist
  • 20:40action leakage. Now,
  • 20:45most people who are engaged in these
  • 20:50types of activities have tells or signs
  • 20:55that they're building up to something.
  • 20:57And it leaks out, so to speak.
  • 20:59So they may not say in their e-mail to mom
  • 21:02I'm going to go out and shoot someone,
  • 21:05but they may begin to increase in
  • 21:08intensity the explication of their anger
  • 21:11toward particular groups or people
  • 21:13and add that can build up over time.
  • 21:17And it's 1 sign that you need
  • 21:19to be careful and maybe consider
  • 21:22some of these things that.
  • 21:24Have been communicated to see if there's
  • 21:27a larger danger that could be avoided.
  • 21:32Often times people who are lone active
  • 21:35terrorists actually post material
  • 21:38on YouTube or some other way that.
  • 21:42Tells the the world why
  • 21:45they're doing this right now.
  • 21:47And of course if you just pick
  • 21:50it up in the the moment that
  • 21:53the attack is happening,
  • 21:55it's not going to be much to help avert it.
  • 21:58But not everybody is that well
  • 22:00organized and they may be able
  • 22:02to see some of these things.
  • 22:12The recent trends of loan act of terrorism,
  • 22:15as the FBI Director has testified repeatedly,
  • 22:20is right wing extremism.
  • 22:21It's somewhat worse than the
  • 22:24United in Western Europe,
  • 22:25even than it might be in the United States.
  • 22:28But this group of whites premises account
  • 22:34for most of what we see right now. The.
  • 22:42Antigovernment sovereign citizens
  • 22:44also account for a large share of
  • 22:48perpetrators in the sense that they
  • 22:51create in people the belief that the
  • 22:54government really doesn't exist,
  • 22:55that you are the government yourself
  • 22:58and usually they're not the source
  • 23:02of individual lone act of terrorists,
  • 23:05but tend to go out in groups
  • 23:07and get involved in.
  • 23:09Recently got involved in
  • 23:11shootings in New Hampshire.
  • 23:14The the person who did the attack
  • 23:19in New Zealand had somehow used the
  • 23:22Internet to live stream his activities,
  • 23:26making himself more famous.
  • 23:32So how do we prepare ourselves
  • 23:37well? In doing an evaluation of
  • 23:41someone who we've been asked to see
  • 23:44because the family might be worried
  • 23:46about the where they're going,
  • 23:48some of the areas that we might
  • 23:51want to take a look at is how
  • 23:54actually do they use their computer?
  • 23:58Do they do searches?
  • 23:59What kinds of searches are
  • 24:01they most interested in?
  • 24:02How What ones are they most successful at?
  • 24:06I? Back in the early days would
  • 24:10often ask people do you play a multi
  • 24:14person game and if So what kind of
  • 24:16identity do you have and why did
  • 24:19you pick that kind of identity?
  • 24:21It often gives you an interest in
  • 24:24how they can see themselves as
  • 24:26a more active person than they
  • 24:28are and and maybe it reflects
  • 24:31an underlying desire to be more
  • 24:33active in a violent sort of way.
  • 24:40You might have to get someone
  • 24:42to do a real forensic search
  • 24:45of the person's Internet life,
  • 24:48but asking the evaluating is often a
  • 24:52way to just even form a bond with them.
  • 24:57Then we can see that do they use?
  • 25:00Virtual private networks or Tor or
  • 25:03other things that might indicate
  • 25:07that they're keeping things secret.
  • 25:10And if they are keeping things secret,
  • 25:12what what are they doing?
  • 25:15Why are they doing it?
  • 25:17You know, are they able to share
  • 25:19it with people and not have that
  • 25:22sharing be accounted the, you know,
  • 25:26the digital calendars that have records
  • 25:29of the anniversaries of different attacks?
  • 25:32Are often very important to the lone
  • 25:35actor terrorist because they might
  • 25:38want to do something that would make
  • 25:43up for a terrible event in the past.
  • 25:47So the they they're very interested
  • 25:51in things like even the perpetrators
  • 25:54birthday to celebrate what he did and so.
  • 26:02The the idea that someone has online
  • 26:06friends but not friends in real life
  • 26:10is an important consideration and you
  • 26:14need to find out perhaps the healthiness
  • 26:18of their online friend relationship.
  • 26:21So you can see that there are a lot of
  • 26:24ways that people who use the Internet
  • 26:28can just can have some ways of.
  • 26:31Evaluating them and getting an idea
  • 26:33what their daily life is like,
  • 26:36what their interests are.
  • 26:38And these are pieces of information
  • 26:41that let you know that maybe they need
  • 26:45a more detailed violence assessment.
  • 26:50I'm not sure why my some of my slides
  • 26:55didn't play here, but the first.
  • 26:59Video that I had for you was a
  • 27:03news clipping from 1966 with the
  • 27:07Texas Tower terrorist and it's it's
  • 27:12essentially the one that we all
  • 27:14remember as the beginning of of of
  • 27:16this type of event in our lifetime.
  • 27:19And what happened was that this
  • 27:22Marine who was a student there
  • 27:25got dressed up as a janitor.
  • 27:29Brought a a bucket which included his
  • 27:33rifle into the building and took the
  • 27:35the elevator up and from the elevator
  • 27:40killed a large number of people and
  • 27:43wounded and also a large number of people.
  • 27:45I think it was fourteen people
  • 27:47killed and 38 wounded and the
  • 27:52you know everybody thought he was bad.
  • 27:55At his autopsy, it was discovered
  • 27:58that he had a a tumor in the brain
  • 28:01that was pressing on his amygdala.
  • 28:04And so it's a reminder that
  • 28:07it's not just the ordinary manic
  • 28:12disorder or psychotic schizophrenic
  • 28:15disorder that may push someone,
  • 28:18it may also be a neurologic disorder and.
  • 28:22You know that had he lived it
  • 28:27it it wouldn't have been known.
  • 28:29This was like way before everybody
  • 28:32had a CAT scan or an MRI machine.
  • 28:35So he he would have gotten sicker
  • 28:39before they discovered it.
  • 28:41And the other video that I was
  • 28:43going to show you was the video of
  • 28:46a an in cell in Santa Barbara, CA.
  • 28:49And he filmed himself just as he
  • 28:53was about to go on the attack.
  • 28:56But before he went on the attack,
  • 28:58his mother was very concerned about
  • 29:01what she was seeing him post on Facebook
  • 29:04and ordinary websites like that,
  • 29:06you know, leakage.
  • 29:08So she called the police and the police came.
  • 29:13And reviewed everything.
  • 29:14Talked to the boy,
  • 29:15he said he wasn't going to do anything.
  • 29:18And they left.
  • 29:19And it was within a few weeks
  • 29:21that this event happened.
  • 29:23But what happened over those weeks
  • 29:25was that the intensity of his
  • 29:27posting change became more intense,
  • 29:29more angry,
  • 29:31And the mother got a look at it while
  • 29:34he was on his way to do the shooting.
  • 29:36And she again called the police
  • 29:39and called the father and they.
  • 29:42Rushed down and while they were on their
  • 29:44way from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara,
  • 29:47they heard on the radio shots fired
  • 29:50and he killed mostly blonde women who
  • 29:56he felt offended him represented those
  • 29:59who offended him because they they
  • 30:03were unwilling to date people like him.
  • 30:07And I wish I had the the video
  • 30:10to show you because.
  • 30:12I'm. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think
  • 30:13I might be able to run it from here.
  • 30:15If you'd like me to try,
  • 30:16Sure. Give it a try so far.
  • 30:18OK, let's see if this works.
  • 30:22So
  • 30:32here's the Texas tower.
  • 30:33One you want me to?
  • 30:34Yes, that would be great.
  • 30:36OK, let's see if this works.
  • 30:38At first I thought this was
  • 30:39Charlottesville, but it was
  • 30:41attention back to the 60s with
  • 30:43protests against the NOR in Vietnam.
  • 30:47It was a summer of the.
  • 30:51Fire in some American cities as
  • 30:54riots spread across the country
  • 30:56and that summer, on August 1st,
  • 30:58all Austin area residents are
  • 31:00wanting to stay away from the
  • 31:02University of Texas campus area.
  • 31:04The local educational TV station on
  • 31:06the campus rolled a camera outside
  • 31:09the studio to capture what was likely
  • 31:11the first ever live broadcast of
  • 31:14a sniper committing mass murder.
  • 31:18Charles Whitman was an architecture
  • 31:20student in a former Marine who had
  • 31:22disguised himself as a janitor,
  • 31:24hit his weapons in a trunk,
  • 31:26then rolled them on a Dolly to an elevator
  • 31:29that took him to the top of the tower.
  • 31:31There he began firing at people
  • 31:34on campus and along the drag
  • 31:36from 230 feet above the ground.
  • 31:3814 people on and near the
  • 31:41campus died and 32 were wounded.
  • 31:45Journalist Forest priest was a
  • 31:47college student at the time.
  • 31:48A bullet barely missed him but struck
  • 31:50and killed the person standing near him.
  • 31:53I think I've got some survivors built
  • 31:55about the fact that a gentleman stand
  • 31:57at 4 feet to my right was 38 years old,
  • 31:59has six children and a wife to support,
  • 32:01and he got killed instead of made.
  • 32:04The sniper was obviously going left to
  • 32:06right N on the drag picking out targets.
  • 32:09So he was the first one in line
  • 32:12to be targeted,
  • 32:13even as the shooting continued.
  • 32:15Some rush to the aid of others,
  • 32:17risking their own lives.
  • 32:19I ran out and pulled a young
  • 32:22lady off the mall,
  • 32:26a pregnant lady I grabbed.
  • 32:28I grabbed the lady by the ankles and my
  • 32:31my buddy that I was with James Love,
  • 32:33I grabbed her by the.
  • 32:34The rest and we can draw.
  • 32:36It's been said by some that Austin
  • 32:39and in some ways America lost its
  • 32:41innocence of that hot August day.
  • 32:44And for those who were there,
  • 32:45no doubt a summer day never to be forgotten,
  • 32:49Bob Buckaloo gave you knew.
  • 32:53So that's the Texas tower one, and I
  • 32:58think the other video was under leakage.
  • 33:02Give me a SEC.
  • 33:13Tomorrow is the day Day of Retribution.
  • 33:18The day in which I will have my revenge
  • 33:21against humanity, against all of you.
  • 33:25This chilling video shows Elliott Rodger,
  • 33:27the 22 year old Santa Barbara College student
  • 33:31the police say killed 6 and injured 13.
  • 33:34In Friday's mass shooting and stabbing
  • 33:36spree this Day of Retribution of Plan,
  • 33:39Roger outlined in a 137 page manifesto
  • 33:42obtained by seeing an affiliate KEYT.
  • 33:45Roger wrote all of those beautiful girls I've
  • 33:48desired so much of my life but can never
  • 33:51have because they despised and loathed me.
  • 33:54I will destroy a family friend,
  • 33:56Simon Astaire says.
  • 33:57Roger sent his diatribe, called My
  • 34:00Twisted World to a couple dozen people,
  • 34:02including his mother and father,
  • 34:04not long before terrorizing the UC
  • 34:07Santa Barbara campus. He wrote.
  • 34:08I will kill them all and make them suffer,
  • 34:11just as they have made me suffer.
  • 34:12It is only fair.
  • 34:14Roger's mother, Litchin,
  • 34:15discovered the terrifying threat
  • 34:17in her e-mail at 9:17 that evening.
  • 34:20She then discovered her son's last YouTube
  • 34:23video titled Retribution Slaughter.
  • 34:26Every single spoiled stuck
  • 34:29up blind I see inside there.
  • 34:33Lichen then called Rogers father and 911,
  • 34:36the parents frantically racing
  • 34:38to Santa Barbara from LA,
  • 34:40both parents en route, when they heard
  • 34:43the news that they were too late.
  • 34:50One occupant, a male wearing a white shirt,
  • 34:53On Sunday, the ATF and County Sheriff's
  • 34:55Office watched the mother's home.
  • 34:57Astaire says Roger's parents now
  • 34:59feel a pivotal moment was missed.
  • 35:02Last month, 6 police officers conducted
  • 35:04a wellbeing check on Roger in April
  • 35:07after his mother discovered other
  • 35:09videos he posted online documenting
  • 35:11his quote loneliness and misery.
  • 35:13But the officers say they found
  • 35:16nothing alarming during their check.
  • 35:17In his manifesto,
  • 35:18Roger expresses his devastating fear
  • 35:21that police discovered his plan.
  • 35:23I would have been thrown in jail,
  • 35:25denied of the chance to exact
  • 35:27revenge on my enemies.
  • 35:28I can't imagine a hell darker than that,
  • 35:30he wrote a Stair says Roger have
  • 35:33been visiting therapists on and
  • 35:34off since he was eight and in
  • 35:36high school practically daily.
  • 35:38Right before his killing spree,
  • 35:40Roger was seeing 2 therapists.
  • 35:42The stair describing him as
  • 35:44reserved to a daunting degree.
  • 35:46But the stair also says the 22
  • 35:47year old didn't appear to have
  • 35:50violent tendencies and never
  • 35:51expressed any fascination.
  • 35:52And guns,
  • 35:59thank you very much for
  • 36:00doing that. Smart. The
  • 36:07what struck me about that young man is that.
  • 36:12He he obviously fell into an in cell sort
  • 36:17of mindset because he was being rejected,
  • 36:22but he wasn't being rejected
  • 36:24for his looks probably.
  • 36:26He was probably being rejected
  • 36:28for his odd behaviors.
  • 36:30So you can see that people with mental
  • 36:34illness might fall into this category
  • 36:37even though they're not the type
  • 36:39that would be technically you know.
  • 36:42Having an appearance that would reject women.
  • 36:45The other is that, as I mentioned,
  • 36:49people who have trouble forming
  • 36:51bonds with other people are more
  • 36:54likely to fall into this morass.
  • 36:56And people on the autism spectrum tend to
  • 37:00have that as one of their characteristics.
  • 37:03So, you know, maybe he was getting therapy,
  • 37:07but it wasn't the right kind
  • 37:09of therapy to help him.
  • 37:11And with that,
  • 37:12I'll I'll stop and thank you
  • 37:14for your attention and see if
  • 37:17there are any questions.