Will the gunman’s motivation remain a mystery?

by L.A. Times Posted 2012/12/12 20:05:26

829 votes
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	Yes	439 votes	53%
	No	390 votes	47%

A young masked man, bent on a mission of destruction and death, entered an Oregon mall and opened fire, turning the holiday shopping season into a chaotic horror that could have been much worse, police officials said Wednesday. Police identified the shooter as Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, who killed two people and seriously wounded a third before turning a weapon on himself and ending his life Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

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Jiorgia 2012/12/13 02:30:56

No

+7
The type of people that do this have no motive other than infamy.
My sympathies for the families of those killed, it is such a disgusting waste of life, and I wish a full recovery for the person who was wounded.
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TXredhead 2012/12/17 00:51:42 (edited)

No

His motivation was probably the same as all the other mass murders, anger from unresolved past hurt and feeling unloved. Perhaps a maligned character from bullying or other unaddressed issues that fester when swept under the rug and never dealt with. It is so important that all of parents, family members, friends and citizens realize that the tongue is such a powerful tool that can build someone up or destroy them eventually.

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charles nelson 2012/12/15 18:38:31

Yes

Don't you think its a mystery why people do things like that?

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MOMMA THOMAS 2012/12/14 21:27:47

No

HE WAS ANGRY, CRAZY, DUMB, FELT MENTALLY ABUSED, PHYSICALLY ABUSED, OR??????.

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ElisaGalvan 2012/12/14 20:10:39

No

the only motivation would be insanity... other than that... no.

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Vieuphoria 2012/12/14 19:37:43

Yes

It's merely because he could. Let people have guns, s'what they do.

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John Boy to Vieuphoria 2012/12/14 21:03:37

+1
If that was the case, most of America would be shot, loser. !!

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Vieuphoria to John Boy 2012/12/14 23:41:03

I don't know where to start with that comment. So I won't bother.

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John Boy to Vieuphoria 2012/12/15 00:05:55

+1
It just means because you are a gun owner, hardly suggests you are a murderer.

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Vieuphoria to John Boy 2012/12/15 00:14:51

Thank you, Captain Obvious :)

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John Boy to Vieuphoria 2012/12/15 00:28:18

+1
Your words not mine " that is what happens when you let people have guns " Are you sure that is obvious to you. ?

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Vieuphoria to John Boy 2012/12/15 00:38:14

Your interpretation is false i'm afraid. You've misunderstood.

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John Boy to Vieuphoria 2012/12/15 00:41:10 (edited)

My apologies then. ! Anyhow, terrible tragedy.

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addie 2012/12/14 17:15:38

No

If he is dead, I guess not, other than going by history and that these people want to be news.

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Pam 2012/12/14 16:26:17

No

Just don't blame this solely on guns. Even if guns were outlawed the criminals would get them some how. Just like Chicago the good people aren't allowed to carry guns but the criminals are.

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Professor Wizard 2012/12/14 15:17:48
JP 2012/12/14 15:16:21

No

He obviously is a discontent leftist mad at congress for not taxing the evil rich. Or maybe he felt the victims were racists who didn't vote for Obama and felt he was doing his part!

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CUDDLY BUT STILL CRABBY 2012/12/14 10:54:12

Yes

Just another example of how not really knowing about one's culture nor ethnic background can really screw with a person's perspective. We'll be seeing more of this in the future.

These are the End Times. Don't be surprised by what you see, hear or read about.

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art1ej 2012/12/14 04:30:23

Yes

WOW more people killed by guns they shouldn't have....

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Diddley Squat 2012/12/14 03:45:05

Yes

It probably will. People struggle to understand this stuff. But it never makes sense.

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Angus 2012/12/13 22:48:18

No

+1
If he turns out to be a liberal they will say that he had mental problems and didn't get the help he needed. If he was a Republican they'll say he was a hate mongering racist that was upset with Obama winning the election.

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Pam to Angus 2012/12/14 16:31:59

Just like James Holmes, I bet this was another setup for Obama to rid America of the second amendment! Every time there is a shooting everyone is going to blame guns! It's not the guns that are causing the problems. If we get rid of our gun rights than the criminals will be the ones in charge! Criminals will always be able to find guns but we won't! Remember even without guns crazy people can build bombs. I do agree if he was a republican they would say he as racist! Weird!

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GINGERBREAD 2012/12/13 21:43:55

No

How about this, THE SOB WAS HIGH ON METH

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USAF Vet 2012/12/13 21:37:31

Yes

+1
Conclusions about this person will be conjecture, hyperbole and spin; he's dead. Based upon what has been aired and printed, he was a nut job.

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hatter to USAF Vet 2012/12/14 06:21:32

+1
I got an opinion. He was a atheist.

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Erickzl to hatter 2012/12/14 11:54:55

He could also have been a religious zealot out to punish the unbelievers is another opinion.

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hatter to Erickzl 2012/12/14 13:36:29

+1
Everybody knows if you believe in god and commit suicide. Its a one way ticket to hell.

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John Boy to hatter 2012/12/14 21:05:32 (edited)

So true. !!! Kill yourself, it is still murder in gods eyes.

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L1 2012/12/13 20:14:39

No

+1
He was mentally unstable, but how much of his instability that was known beforehand remains to be seen...

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RezcrashGB 2012/12/13 19:48:43

No

No mystery , he was just a bloody nut-job .

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john.newell.771 2012/12/13 18:48:30

No

He was probably peeved about something.

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mm61675 2012/12/13 18:45:15

No

someone will talk about it at some point. some details will come out

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Kunschner 2012/12/13 18:39:39

No

+1
Don't mean to sound like a crazy, but the government has been programming people to do this so they can pass gun regulations. Even the dark knight shooter admitted he was programmed, and his story as a lone agency doesn't add up with the things he had in his apartment. The DC shooter changed his name to Mohammed a couple days previous to the shooting.

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zionosp... to Kunschner 2012/12/13 19:31:59

+2
Not crazy at all. Makes perfect sense to me.

Wait, what did you say?

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Kunschner to zionosp... 2012/12/13 22:22:05

Hard to tell if you're being sarcastic... No matter good fellow!

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TimothyBrianFoley 2012/12/13 17:35:43

Yes

+1
its already hard to figure out

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Kat 2012/12/13 17:02:29

Yes

+3
It was like he wanted to commit suicide by cop, then grew the balls to do it himself. Too bad he didn't before he left home. Only good thing was he was a bad shot.

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firelooker 2012/12/13 16:59:18

No

+2
Eventually the cop's will figure it out. I think some of these video games they have out now may be causing some of this so called random violence. Kid's don't realize there's a difference between what they play & reality. But just you watch the anti gunners will be crying for more gun control and banning rifles like this guy used. They call them assault weapons when in truth anything can be an assault weapon.

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SezMichael to firelooker 2012/12/13 17:34:33 (edited)

+3
Yes, anything can be a weapon but funny how we never hear of a dozen people being killed with a butter knife and stories that end with "before turning the baseball bat on himself". Just saying.

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firelooker to SezMichael 2012/12/13 17:48:45

+1
True that.

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volley15 to firelooker 2012/12/13 18:22:12

+1
Violent kids will be attracted to violent video games. Crime rates amount the youth have actually gone down since game sales have increased. It serves as a good outlet for anger and frustration in a way that harms no one, and believe me it works. There have been times where I just wanted to throw fists I was so stressed, frustrated, angry and upset as I tend to bottle up my problems, and sometimes killing pixelated things does the trick... which is probably why I love zombie games. No one actually get's hurts and it works all the negative emotions out of my system.

For a person who is already predisposed to violence, video games aren't going to be the thing that makes them actually act out IRL. They'll be committing those crimes even if they've never played a video game even once in their lives.

This website http://videogames.procon.org/ actually gives a good look at BOTH sides of the argument with links and references to studies, reports, crime record comparisons, ect. on both sides of the disagreement.

"Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period,...

Violent kids will be attracted to violent video games. Crime rates amount the youth have actually gone down since game sales have increased. It serves as a good outlet for anger and frustration in a way that harms no one, and believe me it works. There have been times where I just wanted to throw fists I was so stressed, frustrated, angry and upset as I tend to bottle up my problems, and sometimes killing pixelated things does the trick... which is probably why I love zombie games. No one actually get's hurts and it works all the negative emotions out of my system.

For a person who is already predisposed to violence, video games aren't going to be the thing that makes them actually act out IRL. They'll be committing those crimes even if they've never played a video game even once in their lives.

This website http://videogames.procon.org/ actually gives a good look at BOTH sides of the argument with links and references to studies, reports, crime record comparisons, ect. on both sides of the disagreement.

"Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled"
"In 2005, the US had 2,279 murders committed by teenagers (27.9 per million residents) compared to 73 in Japan (3.1 per million). Per capita video game sales were $5.20 in the US compared to $47 in Japan. This example illustrates that there is no correlation between violent behavior and playing video games."

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