Police confirm the Buffalo shooter was not affiliated with any organization. But when it comes to acting on violence, experts say perpetrators operate from shared ideas.
BUFFALO, NY — Almost immediately after the 18-year-old who shot 13 people and killed 10 was arrested, Buffalo authorities made it clear he was acting as what they call a “lone wolf.”
It came from Conklin, New York, nearly a four-hour drive, but a team of researchers say labeling this a lone wolf attack could be misleading.
“We consider that a lone wolf attacks someone who commits a crime without the organized support of an organization,” said an investigator who only asked to be called Michael. “But from an ideological perspective, this is not one person. This is a person echoing an ideology shared by dozens if not hundreds of people in the Western New York area.”
Police confirmed that the Buffalo shooter was not affiliated with any particular organization. But when it comes to acting on violence, experts say perpetrators operate from shared ideas, rather than shared affiliation.
“We have a lot of racists in our community. Many of them do very unpleasant things to people. But to reach the level of white supremacist, you are willing to take steps to change the demographics of your community using violence,” Michael said.
A growing theory called stochastic terrorism suggests that shared thoughts can be just as dangerous as an organized network.
“It’s the idea that once you put out enough ideology, once you put out enough rhetoric, it’s only a matter of time before someone does something,” said another member of the research team who asked us not to use his name.
Experts point to the manifesto where the Buffalo killer praised other mass shooters as proof that these ideas planted in the wrong mind grow.
“All mass shooters follow a similar path to this violence,” said Jaclyn Schildkraut, a national expert on mass shootings. “Then they begin to fantasize about violent and exacting means against these types of grievances.”
There is no evidence that any local extremist group encouraged this act, but their response is being closely watched.
“We are monitoring local people as closely as we can to see how they react and if their implicit desires to be violent start coming true,” said Heidi I. Jones, a local lawyer and researcher. “Are they starting to make plans?”
The question remains, what do these local organizations that veer into extremism believe, and how closely are they aligned with the killer’s manifesto?
“They think that in the city, people are basically stealing resources. And they have always been afraid of people who receive government assistance,” said Michael. “They have always been afraid of people who are in the protected classes. And they take advantage of that because their concept of an ideal society is one that is run by white people who are independently successful.”
“Underneath is really the genocidal thinking that those people shouldn’t exist and that only privileged white males should have power,” Jones added.
Investigators have been able to track publicly posted responses to the mass shooting and are flagging any content that might suggest action. Right now, all you’re seeing is conspiracy theories gaining traction.
“The most common response has been that this is what they call a ‘false flag operation.’ That (the shooter) was tricked into doing this or somehow convinced or trapped by the federal government, by the FBI, that this is all part of a larger ploy to take people’s guns away,” said the investigator who requested the investigation. anonymity. .
The main concern of experts, authorities and researchers is the chance of another similar event in the near future.
“This type of terrorism is very, very common. And it’s commonly repeated because it gains sensation and then people can repeat it. These are becoming regular, routine events because they’re successful,” Michael said.
11Alive reporter Madison Carter asks, “What makes them ‘successful’?
“For the people who are committing these crimes, their ideology revolves around eliminating a particular group of people. So anything that kills or injures a large number of people will accomplish their goals,” says Michael.
Reference-www.wgrz.com