slanda
Verified Victim's Advocate
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2012
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Can anyone from the US explain gun laws/access to guns in the state of Idaho. IMO the fact the perp(s) used a knife instead of a gun, in a country where guns are widely accessible, is interesting. A gun with a silencer (even an improvised one) would be less gruesome, quicker, and easier to commit four murders.
It potentially suggests the perp(s) have a fascination with violence and gore and possibly that they were younger than the legal age to own a gun, so instead opted for a large knife, which I assume is much easier to get your hands on. Either way I think this looks like an act of opportunity IMO, but likely someone who is or was familiar with the area as a student long ago, possibly regularly looks through dorm windows, a peeping tom of sorts, broken into homes before and had escalating behaviour.
Note: The reason I say perp(s) is because there may have been more than one involved, with one taking each floor and then leaving together, as others have pointed out four victims in such a short space of time is a lot and as there was no known sexual motive, which would typically be committed alone with the victim. There is also the incel angle, which has a loose sexual motive of wanting to kill pretty girls and possibly men who are associated with them.
1. Guns are traceable for the most part and can be used specifically in signature forensics a lot easier than a knife. So, if LE ever found the gun that was used: you’ll find the killer as well. Also, silencers aren’t like in the movies: they’re still rather loud and don’t muffle all the noise.
2. The act of killing with a gun is way less gruesome and way less personal than overpowering someone and plunging a knife in
their chest and watching the life leave their eyes through exsanguination.
3. Because it’s literally just as easy to obtain a gun as it is a knife, this must speak to the psychological profile of someone who decides to kill 4 other people in that manner: It’s obviously not just about wanting to kill— (that can be managed several other ways that are less personal and less messy; i.e. Guns, a house fire, etc…) it’s the manner in which this person did it and that’s also probably why the FBI and the Behavioral Units have been called because of the brutality of the crimes and the nature of the murders.
4. I’m assuming the Medical Examiner will also be able to ascertain if there was more than one killer by the signature of the knife wounds— if all of them are mostly consistent: it’s probably just one killer. I think it’s also just one perpetrator because it takes a special kind of killer to murder this way and finding a buddy to do it with you creates many more possibilities of problems.
5. I agree that it was probably random and IMO, I think it’s a Thrill Killer which is a serial killer subtype also as evidenced by the FBI on scene. These types of killers can obtain sexual gratification just by the act of killing, so there still could be a sexual component to the crimes, just not in the normal sphere of most killers.