but only killed 9. Given the weapons, ammo, knowledge of the school layout and emnergency responder lag, he could have easily killed 30 or more. Typically, these guys go in with a desire for a the largest body count possible and even a hope of setting some kind of record. So why the limited number of casualities then? I think it’s the same deal with a lot of mass shooters. After the initial adrenaline rush, they crash mentally and emotionally. To a degree, they may even experience repulsion at the carnage. Playing the massacre out in your head and actually doing it are two different things. Victims don’t just fall over and died like on a video game. They moan, gurgle, convulse and bleed profusely. Instead of mindlessly continuing the carnage, they start questioing themselves. In Harper-Mercer’s case, he starting talking with potential victims rather than just shooting them. We see this a lot in mass shootings, particualrly with younger perps. In the Columbine Massacre, Harris and Klebold could have easily quadrupled their body count, and in fact, had planned on killing hundreds going in. Instead, after killing 7 or 8 they stopped shooting people and started shooting inanimate objects. They also took to verbally assauting the remaining students in the library rather than shooting them, much like Harper-Mercer. The fun had worn off.
Now, that’s not always the case. Adam Lanza and the guy at Va Tech were on auto pilot and would have kept killing had it not been for LE response, but these guys were a lot more mentally disturbed than Harper-Mercer or the Columbine kids.
Just some random observations.
