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German Mass Murderers and Their Proximal Warning Behaviors

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German Mass Murderers and Their Proximal Warning Behaviors Journal of Threat Assessment and Management © 2019 American Psychological Association 2019, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1–22 2169-4842/19/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tam0000122 German Mass Murderers and Their Proximal Warning Behaviors Mirko Allwinn and Jens Hoffmann J. Reid Meloy Institute Psychology and Threat Management, University of California, San Diego Darmstadt, Germany The main objective of this study was to analyze mass murder cases committed by adults from a threat assessment perspective, and to identify risk factors and proximal warning behaviors. Therefore, court records of 33 German mass murderers between 2000 and 2012 were systematically evaluated. One major focus was the comparison between psychotic and nonpsychotic offenders. Significant differences were found between the 2 groups regarding their choice of weapons, planning behavior, personal crises, per- sonality aspects, and warning behaviors. Nonpsychotic subjects were significantly more likely to evidence pathway warning behavior and directly threaten their targets before the attack when compared with the psychotic subjects. Effect sizes were medium to large. All offenders showed multiple proximal warning behaviors prior to their attacks. Findings are interpreted in light of previous studies and for the purpose of enhancing threat assessment protocols of such persons of concern. Public Significance Statement The study reveals the presence of warning signs in a representative sample of adult German mass murderers and relates the results to the research from the United States. A predisposition to commit an act of deadly violence was noticeable months, years, or even decades in advance in most of the cases, but the specific intent became apparent relatively late in the pathway toward violence, usually within days or weeks before the killings. The work of threat assessment professionals is supported by the study and opportunities for preventing severe violence are identified. Keywords: mass murder, threat assessment, threat management, warning behaviors, psychosis Research studies of adult mass murder from a Following the attack on Columbine High behavioral threat assessment perspective are School in 1999, researchers began to analyze rare (Meloy et al., 2004). In contrast, there is a the latter phenomenon with greater sensitivity plethora of such studies of school shootings. than before (Meloy, Hempel, Mohandie, Shiva, & Gray, 2001; Newman, Fox, Harding, Mehta, & Roth, 2004; O’Toole, 2000). The Safe School This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Initiative in the U.S. (National Threat Assess- Editor’s Note. Laura Guy served as the action editor for ment Center, 2018; Vossekuil, Fein, Reddy, Bo- this article.—LSG rum, & Modzeleski, 2002), for example, found that most school shootings were planned in ad- Mirko Allwinn and Jens Hoffmann, Institute Psychology vance, and most adolescent shooters communi- and Threat Management, Darmstadt, Germany; J. Reid Meloy, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, cated their intention to third parties, a warning San Diego. behavior called leakage (Meloy & O’Toole, Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- 2011; O’Toole, 2000). Although leakage was dressed to Jens Hoffmann, Institute Psychology and Threat Management, 64222 Darmstadt, Germany. E-mail: Jens usually a false positive, it was often the entry [email protected] point in a case for threat assessors, and formed 1 2 ALLWINN, HOFFMANN, AND MELOY the scientific rationale over the next decade for The advent of the wide public use of the national safer school programs, such as the “Say Internet in the 1990s, and the acceleration of Something” effort sponsored by parents and social media use a decade later, have left their supporters of victims killed at Sandy Hook El- own mark on mass murder: almost instanta- ementary School in 2012 (www.sandyhook- neous knowledge of such events worldwide, promise.org; Sandy Hook Promise, 2015). Ger- leading to the common misperception that they many also saw its share of school shootings, are more frequent than they are; the appearance such as the ones in Erfurt in 2002 or in Win- of a time-limited contagion effect which is in- nenden in 2009. Germany has the dubious dis- dependent of geographical limitations (Story, tinction of being second only to the United Youssef, Luthans, Barbuto, & Bovaird, 2013); States in actual numbers of school shootings the easily achieved desire on the part of future worldwide since the turn of the century. Re- perpetrators to learn from those who have pre- searchers in Germany have likewise studied the ceded them (Meloy et al., 2015), while at the phenomenon through the analysis of primary same time wanting to attain greater infamy case files (e.g., Böckler, Seeger, & Heitmeyer, through an increased body count or innovative behaviors; the very recent use of visual media to 2010; Böckler, Seeger, Sitzer, & Heitmeyer, capture the event and broadcast it soon after or 2012; Hoffmann, Roshdi, & Robertz, 2009; even instantaneously during the shooting via Meloy, Hoffmann, Roshdi, & Guldimann, live-steaming, or as it is unfolding; and a real 2014; Roth, Böckler, Stetten, & Zick, 2015). increase in the rate of threats as well as deeds Adult mass murder studies have also seen an (Coleman, 2004; Helfgott, 2015; Kostinsky, evolution over the past 20 years, from relatively Bixler, & Kettl, 2001). Mass murderers are us- small sample and case studies (Hempel, Meloy, ing their lethal attack seemingly more often as a & Richards, 1999; Meloy, 1997; Mullen, 2004) communicative act, addressing an online- to larger sample studies (Adler, 2000; Lankford, audience to spread their violent thoughts and 2015; Stone, 2015; Peter & Bogerts, 2012), to acts into the world (Meloy & Genzman, 2016). studies comparing ideological and nonideologi- Suicide, or in some cases, “suicide by cop” can cal mass killers (Gill, Horgan, & Deckert, 2014; be part of the alleged script. Suicide by cop Gill, Silver, Horgan, Corner, & Bouhana, 2016; ultimately means being killed by law enforce- Lankford, 2013;). Some single case studies with ment. The offender provokes the police (Dewey a particular focus on threat assessment were et al., 2013; Knoll, 2012; Mohandie, Meloy, & also completed (Hoffmann & Allwinn, 2016; Collins, 2009;). Meloy, Habermeyer, & Guldimann, 2015). More similarities than differences are found Prevalence in Germany and the U.S. across various samples of adult mass murderers. Some school shootings and mass killings by Rampage killings are typically defined in the adults in a public space can also be described by U.S. as the intended murder of three or more the superordinate terms “amok” or “rampage.” victims within one event and one general loca- For example, the concept of amok, originating tion, although definitions have varied (Blair & in southeastern Asia, appears to be independent Schweit, 2014; Dietz, 1986). The current active of time (Hoffmann & Allwinn, 2016; Wester- shooter studies from the FBI focus on “an indi- meyer, 1982), culture (Adler, 2015; Hempel, vidual actively engaged in killing or attempting This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. Levine, Meloy, & Westermeyer, 2000), and to kill people in a confined and populated area,” This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. geographical regions (Hempel et al., 1999). On rather than just counting the number of dead the other hand, cultural aspects (Adler, 2015) victims. This definition is comparable with Ger- and cultural scripts (Helfgott, 2015; Kiilakoski man research studies from Adler (2015), & Oksanen, 2011; Newman et al., 2004; Sumi- wherein research findings suggest that about ala & Tikka, 2011) can shape specific details of 5.67 rampage killings happen in Germany every rampage shootings (Douglas & Olshaker, 1999; year. In the decade between 2001 and 2010, 63 Helfgott, 2015), including the perpetrator’s ap- rampage killings occurred. The prevalence rate pearance and his chosen modus operandi (Helf- for males who commit mass murder in the Ger- gott, 2015; Meloy & Mohandie, 2001; Surette, man population was therefore 1:6,800,000 per 2002, 2016). year, an extraordinarily infrequent event which GERMAN MASS MURDERERS AND THEIR WARNING BEHAVIORS 3 statistically precludes prediction (Adler, 2015). Rampage shootings by adults were mostly These shootings in Germany produced 94 planned (Gill et al., 2017; Hoffmann & Dölitz- deaths and over 291 injuries. sch, 2015) and the perpetrators often seem to be In the U.S., rampage killings in public spaces preoccupied with weapons (Hempel et al., happen more than once a month. Researchers 1999; Stone, 2015). Many mass murderers con- identified 200 active shooter events between sume drugs or alcohol before their attack (Gill 2000 and 2015 with a rate of 12.5 per year et al., 2017). In early samples of adult mass (Blair & Schweit, 2014; Schweit, 2016). The murderers, the occurrence of psychotic mental numbers did not include school shootings, gang illnesses was much more frequent when com- violence, domestic violence such as familicides, pared with adolescent mass murderers (Meloy or drug related incidents. The shootings in the et al., 2004). Frequency of psychosis in adult U.S. produced 1,274 casualties including the mass
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