The Psychology of a Madman

Today we heard of a shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. that appears to be the work of a single gunman, whom authorities believe to be a man in his late 80s by the name of James Von Brunn. If this is the suspect in custody, he is actually a World War II veteran and vocal member of the Holy Western Empire, which at this point, seems to be a white supremacy group.

It is sad to see people resorting to violence to settle their differences. And we have to be aware that we still need to be vigilant in our efforts to protect ourselves - despite the feeling of some Americans that security measures in this country have become too intrusive. It's important to support our men and women in uniform, who at both the local and national levels, do a terrific job of keeping our country safe.

What this man did was an act of terrorism - domestic terrorism.

But the big question is_ What's the psychological profile of this shooter? If you look at some of the psychological profiles of past shooters, they are all different in their own way. However, there always seem to be some common themes.

Most of these people are angry at someone or a group of people, and share a psychotic belief that their misfortunes are predicated on the actions of those they hate.

Usually they are loners - they feel rejected by others or by society as a whole.

For some, substance abuse and depression are common themes, but even knowing these common themes, it is almost impossible to differentiate between who will just withdraw from society and who has the potential to snap and hurt innocent people.

I pray for those hurt in this tragedy and hope that we are able to create systems that could perhaps better identify high-risk people and prevent future tragedies from occurring.