Brendan Cochrane

Prof. Jennifer Courtney

English 2010-Su-14
July 29, 2014

Rampage Killings: Commonplace in Todays Society?
Even though violent crime has declined in recent years, rampage killings
have drastically increased. What has changed? And why does it seem that teens, to
those in their early 20s, are the likely culprit of these mass killings? Are there
warning signs that we can look for in children? In the documentary, Mind of a
Rampage Killer, Nova attempts to shed light on the question of what drives a
person to commit such heinous crimes.
Questions like this enter the mind of every person when these tragedies
happen. I have even thought what I would do if my child grows and does something
like this. Nova begins with, Andy Williams, a normal, loving child with life long
emotional scars to speak of growing up. A short while after moving to California,
Andy brings a gun of his fathers to school and kills two classmates and injuring 13.
His father tells Nova that his son was never infatuated with violence, but always
light hearted and humorous.
Scientist have been trying for years to link these actions with DNA, or brain
deformities. But, having little to go on, (being that the rampage killers usually end
up dead caused by suicide, or by police) it has been a struggle to study the source.
Scientists have found some brain disorders that link the prefrontal cortex to the
amygdala. The amygdala is used whenever the brain senses a threat, it will go into
overdrive. If the threat is false, the prefrontal cortex will send a message to the
amygdala to calm down. In folks with violent tendencies, this message never gets to
them, thus the brain never calms down to normal range for a while.
It also seems that the motive behind these rampage killings is not the taking
of others lives necessarily, but ultimately the taking of their own life. In most cases
the shooters life has gotten to a point that their reality is no longer what is in front
of them, but more of a life that they will never be a part of, always playing a
background role. Therefore the only way to assure they are in peoples lives is to do
something so drastic that it will be remembered forever. And in their minds what
better way to do this than causing so much fear and panic before they leave this life
for good.
Doctors have been exploring the question of nature vs. nurture in these
arguments as well. It has shown in test that babies who are cared for and held by
their families more tend to grow up being calmer, and more productive adults.
Children develop, very early on, their stress responses to situations. The growing
brain in adolescents is constantly changing and venerable to stressful situations.
The family environment is a huge factor in how the social behavior will shape in
children.
This breakdown of the family is becoming more and more apparent in
society. The lack of the family unit is shaping children these days to grow up without
critical foundations necessary for normal social functioning. These children grow up
and yearn to become part of something in their teen years, and when it is not
something productive, they fall deeper into their social abnormalities. These social
abnormalities become depression in these teens, and depression lead to thoughts of
suicide and killings. It is a continuing study, but I feel the more we focus on getting
these children help in the earliest years possible, the more likely we are to stem this
ugly epidemic.
Overall I found the documentary intriguing, but gave very few definite
answers. I found after watching it that I had more questions about the subject than I
started with, which is not an entirely bad thing. It urges you to become more
interested in searching the topic. The Crime Museum website lists nine early signs of
a serial killer. Through classes that pertain to my work I have heard a few of them
repeated from various teachers in my trainings. They are: Poor family life, Arson or
violent fascination with fire, torturing small animals, and voyeurism.








Works Consulted
Mind of a Rampage Killer. By Miles O'Brien. Dir. Miles O'Brien. Nova. 2013.

9 Early Warning Sign of a Serial Killer. Crime Museum. National Museum of Crime
and Punishment. Aug 7. 2012. Web. Aug 5, 2014.
http://www.crimemuseum.org/blog/9-early-warning-signs-for-serial-killers-2