One of the most horrifying aspects of the recent spate of mass killings by angry young men is how they often telegraphed what they might do, but the warnings were either ignored or not taken seriously.
It’s as if they wore a sign on their chest proclaiming “Future Mass Killer,” but no one paid attention or worse enabled their grisly ambitions.
Robert E. Crimo III, the alleged shooter in Highland Park, Illinois, had threatened to kill himself and family members and had an obsession with knives. Yet his father decided it would be a good idea to help him acquire firearms as well.
Just as incredible is the seeming indifference with which the Uvalde, Texas, gunman’s obsession with violence and notoriety were met by those with whom he shared it on social media. Just days before Salvador Ramos slaughtered 19 children and two teachers at the elementary school where he reportedly had been bullied years before, he spoke of his plans to do something that would make him famous, according to a state investigative report. He wrote about wanting to kill himself, and he shared online videos of beheadings and violent sex. Even before that, he tried unsuccessfully, while he was still underage, to get two people to buy guns and bullets for him — something he did for himself without any problem after he turned 18. Teens who knew him began calling him a school shooter.
Yet, there is no evidence that any of the people who witnessed Ramos’ scary behavior or online postings notified authorities.
Most of the anger in Uvalde has been focused on the unfathomable hesitancy of police to confront Ramos while he was shooting up the school. He may never have had the opportunity to cause such innocent bloodshed, though, if those who could sense he was a danger had just said something. Shame on them.
