While it may be fashionable to take up the case of little Bry and little Kam, and paint them as poor little kids who's porridge was forever dished up cold, they were killers. A chosen path. It is tempting to call it a planned path, but it is also reasonable to assume it was all a bit serendipitous on their part, not so on their victims. But , they chose this avenue of thrill seeking and they did not waver from that choice, nor from that path. They nailed their colours to the mast and sailed that boat to the beach.
They didn't stop at one killing. They went on. Perhaps they would have gone on killing except for a lack of ammo. But one killing wasn't enough, not for B and K.
At no time , as far as is known, did they seek help, or attempt to surrender or demonstrate any remorse. Their own deaths were part of the death wish , and , obviously, a wish that they granted to others , without consultation, and maybe, just maybe, one of those boys met the same fate as their previous victims, shot unexpectedly. It isn't improbable.
Their lives were not that hard..... they were not sent out to work to feed the family at 7, baking bricks in a kiln, or steering buffalo thru rice paddies, or spending their early years in a bunker in a war zone!.
They manufactured a sad story for themselves , how Kam managed to do this is still a mystery, but Bry had a crop of stories, re he parents that must have been terrifically handy in the architectural 'Bry' story that was intended to explain it all.
Hardly.
Yes, they chose to commit murders. Yes, they chose to not turn themselves in. Yes, if they had turned themselves in, they should have been punished to the full extent of the law. Yes, what they did was totally evil and not excusable. No matter what happened to them, it didn't give them a free pass to kill people.
No, they were not "born to kill" irrespective of environmental factors, as you said earlier. Any researcher in psychology or neurology can tell you that genetics are only part of the story, and environment is a huge part. People who are exposed to violence and trauma, come from family dysfunction, are socially alienated long-term, suffer from long-standing untreated mental illness, etc. are more likely to turn to violence. There is a
huge body of evidence supporting this. I have presented a lot of sources supporting this and you haven't presented
any supporting your hypothesis.
We already are aware of a lot of environmental factors that negatively affected Bryer's development. You may not think these kinds of environmental factors
should affect someone, that everyone should just be stronger than that, but in actuality, according to research, they
do. In fact, having a violent and unstable family unit could arguably be worse traumatically speaking than living in poverty in Uganda or whatever extremely high bar you consider to be an "acceptable" level of trauma. According to tons and tons of research on the subject, these things negatively affect people. We have less information on Kam but I'm totally convinced that something must have happened to him too (JMO). Most killers aren't these Ted Bundy kind of sociopaths. It might be easier to think of them that way, to kind of separate them from the rest of the population, but it's simply not true.
No, this was not pre-destined to happen from birth. Studies show that most violence, especially among young people, can be prevented if the warning signs are recognized. There were many very blatant signs that were not taken seriously. I will always believe this could have been prevented, and in fact it probably could have been prevented fairly easily, with just one or two factors changed. I doubt anyone will ever be able to convince me otherwise.
Overall, according to the evidence, your perspective of "well, they were just destined to kill, oh well, can't do anything about that" will accomplish absolutely nothing in actually reducing the problem of violence in our society. And research has shown there ARE things we can do that can make the difference between someone being a killer or not.
I already posted this but I'll post it again...and yes, this is about mass shooters, but honestly a lot of the stuff here applies to all types of violence, again according to research (you can look it up yourself).
Op-Ed: We have studied every mass shooting since 1966. Here's what we've learned about the shooters
First, the
vast majority of mass shooters in our study experienced
early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age. The nature of their exposure included parental suicide, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and/or severe bullying.
The trauma was often a precursor to mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, thought disorders or suicidality.
Second, practically every mass shooter we studied had reached an identifiable crisis point in the weeks or months leading up to the shooting. They often had become angry and despondent because of a specific grievance. For
workplace shooters, a change in job status was frequently the trigger. For shooters in other contexts, relationship rejection or loss often played a role.
Such crises were, in many cases, communicated to others through a marked change in behavior, an expression of suicidal thoughts or plans, or specific threats of violence.
[...]
We also need to, as a society, be more proactive.
Most mass public shooters are suicidal, and their crises are often well known to others before the shooting occurs. The vast majority of mass shooters leak their plans ahead of time. People who see or sense something is wrong, however, may not always say something to someone owing to the absence of clear reporting protocols or fear of overreaction and unduly labeling a person as a potential threat. Proactive violence prevention starts with schools, colleges, churches and employers initiating conversations about mental health and establishing systems for identifying individuals in crisis, reporting concerns and reaching out — not with punitive measures but with
resources and long-term intervention. Everyone should be trained to recognize the signs of a crisis.
Proactivity needs to extend also to the traumas in early life that are common to so many mass shooters.
Those early exposures to violence need addressing when they happen with ready access to social services and high-quality, affordable mental health treatment in the community. School counselors and social workers, employee wellness programs, projects that teach resilience and social emotional learning, and policies and practices that decrease the stigma around mental illness will not just help prevent mass shootings, but will also help promote the social and emotional success of all Americans.
But, really, if you have some studies supporting your hypothesis, now is the time to post them.
Lol. I never heard it was a common path or roadway. Here's where I heard the muddy field thing:
