Often, too, there is what Meloy refers to as "leakage" - telling or hinting to others about plans to kill. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist and professor at the University of California, San Diego. The murderous sprees are rarely impulsive, the experts say, but prompted by a triggering event, like the breakup of a relationship, said J. "When I met him I knew there was something weird about him, there was something off," said Manolo Alvarez, 17, who shared a 10th grade history class with Cruz. Those are precisely the words numerous former schoolmates at Stoneman Douglas used to describe Cruz. Like Cruz, many have at least a few friends, though it's not unusual to hear them described as withdrawn or awkward.
Virtually all are male and most are young. But like Cruz many mass killers exhibit a common set of traits that include depression, troubled family backgrounds, a fascination with guns and violence and aspirations of becoming a soldier, said Peter Langman, a psychologist and author of two books on school shooters.
That's despite economic advantages and a single, widowed mother who, by available reports, was a devoted parent, if overwhelmed by her son's persistent and increasingly alarming behavioral problems.Ĭontrary to stereotypes, a history of mental illness does not create a mass shooter, experts say. Lynda Cruz, who apparently stayed at home to watch over her boys, died in November of a respiratory illness.īut a broad outline has emerged of a troubled life and personality that experts say snugly fits the profile of modern American mass murderers. His father, once a partner in a multimillion-dollar printing business in New York in the 1980s before moving to South Florida, died of a heart ailment at age 67 in 2004. Also unknown is when or how Nikolas Cruz's propensity for violence or his fascination with firearms began. Because adoption is confidential, it's not known where or when it took place, nor the circumstances surrounding it. Only the barest details are known: Cruz was adopted by Roger and Lynda Cruz, as was his younger brother, Zachary, now 18. Ten days after Cruz's rampage at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, much remains unclear about the confessed 19-year-old killer and the circumstances of his family life in the near-idyllic, affluent suburb where he was raised - recently rated as the safest city in Florida. Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
0 kommentar(er)
