There is no profile.
Most perps shared a crucial experience: 98% had suffered a loss or failure they perceived as serious---such as getting fired, blowing a test, getting dumped. This trauma may set anger in motion:
81% confided their intentions,
50%+ shared with at least two others.
Danger skyrockets when threats are direct and specific, identify a motive, and indicate work performed to carry it out.
Melodramatic outbursts do not increase the risk.
FBI’s
compiled list of warning signs, include symptoms of both psychopathy and
depression:
- Manipulation
- Intolerance
- Superiority
- Narcissism
- Alienation
- Rigidity
- Lethargy
- Dehumanization
of others
- Externalizing
blame
FBI added one final caution: individual matching most of its
warning signs was more likely to be suffering from depression or mental illness
than planning an attack. Most matching
the criteria needed help, not incarceration.
