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Rampage School Shooters: A Typology

NCJ Number
226251
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2009 Pages: 79-86
Author(s)
Peter Langman
Date Published
January 2009
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined school shooters to develop a typology of three categories of rampage school shooters.
Abstract
The typology presented in this article highlights the importance of individual psychological factors, rather than social factors such as media violence, in understanding this population. Results revealed that three types of shooters could be identified by factors associated with trauma, psychosis, and psychopathy. Three features of each type were selected to demonstrate the within-type similarities and the between-type differences. Noteworthy, is that only 2 out of 10 shooters were psychopathic; though it might seem logical to think that mass murderers are psychopathic, most of the school shooters in this study were not psychopathic. In addition to their psychopathic personalities, the two shooters in this category came from families with long histories of legal firearms use, and both boys were obsessed with weapons. They also both recruited peers to support them in their attacks. Half of the shooters in this study had schizophrenia-spectrum disorders; this prevalence of psychosis has not been reported previously. Among psychotic shooters, the most common psychotic symptom was paranoia. In addition to their psychotic features, the shooters in this category had higher-functioning siblings, which left them feeling like failures within their families. The traumatized shooters shared two key factors that differentiated them from other traumatized children: they had father-figures who engaged in the illegal use of firearms, and all three traumatized shooters had peer support for the attacks. In each case, friends of the perpetrators were arrested for their roles in encouraging the shooters. Table and references