Part of the motivation of spree killers is their belief that going on a murder spree will make them famous. The dirtbag murderer in NE made this quite clear. Other similar losers have bragged that their acts will "finally make people pay attention" to them or will show their alienated family, friends or coworkers what their imagined cruelty has done.
They see how the Columbine murderers and the Virginia Tech murderer and other similar detritus have not only had days and weeks of continuous media coverage, but that they have become cultural reference points.
Part of a spree killer's motivation is to do something which he believes will guarantee him the fame and attention that he has unfairly been deprived of.
If such scumbags saw that news organizations and cultural commentators ignore the murderers, give them no attention, do not broadcast their photos or videos, or disseminate their letters and manifestos, but simply cosnider them to be anonymous nobodies, most of the appeal that spree killing holds for the demented is gone.
Maybe, but I doubt that that these deviants are in touch with reality enough for it to matter.
You do have a point, though.
Michael Frazier
If such scumbags saw that news organizations and cultural commentators ignore the murderers, give them no attention, do not broadcast their photos or videos, or disseminate their letters and manifestos, but simply consider them to be anonymous nobodies, most of the appeal that spree killing holds for the demented is gone.
I think this perp being gunned down by a woman did a lot to deglamorize him. I suspect spree killers think suicide is the only "glorious" way out, and they don't seem to react well to adult women either.
I do agree that we need to stem our base curiosity about the details of this murderer's life. The Jeffco sheriff relented to public pressure and published one Columbine killer's diaries on-line. You'll find allusions to those diaries in the ranting manifesto of that Finnish school shooter.
Knowing these things proves me to be part of the problem, I suppose.