American ＂bloody weekend＂ gunmen： the ＂lone wolf＂ who is not lonely and the hatred spread by the internet

　　On Sunday, August 4, in El Paso, Texas, people gathered in front of a temporary memorial to the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting.

　　Last weekend, local time, in just 13 hours, a series of large-scale shootings occurred in the United States. At present, at least 29 people were killed, which shocked the whole United States, and the White House also flew at half mast.

　　The New York Times commented: "In a country that has been numb to gunmen shooting in schools, concerts and churches, mass shootings in Texas and Ohio (still) shocked the public."

　　Washington post believes that although the motives of these two shootings may not be the same, it shows that violence in the United States is spreading like a virus, and these lone wolf attackers are not alone.

　　Motivation: racism? Personal factors?

　　In these two shooting incidents, the meticulous preparation and callousness of the gunmen were shocking.

　　The surveillance screen shows that Patrick Crusius, the suspect in the shooting in El Paso, Texas, was wearing sound-proof earplugs and holding an AK-47 when shooting at a crowd in a Wal-Mart supermarket on August 3. The attack killed at least 20 people and injured 26 others.

　　Crusius is from the suburb of Dallas, which is 10 hours’ drive from the crime scene, and is not a native of El Paso. When he saw the police approaching him, Crusius surrendered voluntarily. The police also said that Crusius cooperated with the investigation, but did not express remorse.

　　Thirteen hours later, in the early morning of the 4th, in Dayton, Ohio, the suspect Connor Betts, wearing a mask, bulletproof vest and carrying a large-capacity magazine, opened fire intensively in a street full of nightclubs and bars in the downtown area within 30 seconds, killing nine people until he was killed by the police. And even his sister was among the dead.

　　Why the two men launched such an appalling attack has become the focus of attention. The current investigation of Crusius points to racism and hate crimes. The police believe that a four-page "manifesto" full of racist and white nationalist views on the Internet is probably written by Crusius. This "declaration" said that Latino immigrants are "invading" the United States, and "racial mixing" will destroy the United States.

　　El Paso is located near the border between the United States and Mexico, less than 20 kilometers away from the border between the two countries, with about 680,000 residents, 80% of whom are Latinos. Every day, tens of thousands of Mexican citizens legally enter the country to work or shop there. In February of this year, US President Trump came to El Paso to promote his idea of building a "border wall" between the United States and Mexico. One of the Democratic presidential candidates, Beto Auroch, is also from El Paso.

　　The Crusius massacre probably targeted Latino immigrants and Mexicans. In this shooting, seven Mexican citizens were killed and seven Mexican citizens were injured. Mexico’s foreign minister called the mass shooting in El Paso a "terrorist act" against Mexicans in the United States.

　　The first sentence of Crusius’s "Declaration" also expressed support for the gunman Tarant in the shooting of Christchurch Mosque in March this year. Before the killing, Tarant also published a "manifesto" on the Internet, promoting white supremacy, claiming that whites were being "replaced" by other races and expressing hatred for Muslims.

　　Just in April this year, Ernest, a 19-year-old man from California, made a shooting in a synagogue. He also published a "declaration" on the Internet that hated Jews and promoted white supremacy, and also expressed his respect for Tarant.

　　According to Reuters’s report, John Bash, a district attorney in western Texas, said on the 4th that the federal authorities had classified the case as "domestic terrorism".

　　Bash said that the prosecution is cooperating with relevant departments to conduct a thorough investigation of the shooting incident, and does not rule out federal charges against the suspect for hate crimes and gun-related charges, which may lead to the death penalty for the suspect.

　　However, the motives of the suspects in the Dayton shooting are still confusing. Excluding the gunman Bates himself who was killed by the police, six of the nine dead were black and three were white (including the gunman’s sister). It is not clear to the police whether the shooting was related to racism or whether the gunman killed his sister intentionally or unintentionally.

　　Police said Connor Bates arrived near the shooting bar in the same car with his sister Megan Bates, 22, and a friend that night, "but they separated at some point in the evening." According to middle school students who know brother and sister, they have never noticed anything strange or hostile about the relationship between brother and sister.

　　Gunman: Similar "Outsider" Life

　　Although there is no direct connection between the two shootings at present, and it is not certain that they have the same motive, the life trajectories and living conditions of the two suspects are more or less similar. Both of them are young white men, studying in community colleges, and their personalities are not welcomed by the mainstream of society, so they are "outsiders" in society.

　　According to the Los Angeles Times, in a deleted LinkedIn account, Crusius called himself aimless — — Except for some interest in software development. He works as a packer in a local supermarket. "Generally speaking, his work is terrible." "If it is not necessary, there is no motivation to do anything."

　　Previously, Crusius, 21, lived with her grandparents in Allen, a suburb of Dallas, and studied at nearby Colin Community College, but moved out of their home six weeks ago. His parents divorced in 2011, and his father claimed to be a long-term alcoholic and drug addict.

　　According to Washington post, people who know Crusius call him "strange" and "unpleasant" and have few friends. Crusius also used a social media account called "Outsider 609".

　　Crusius’s former neighbor said that Crusius liked to be a loner and was very arrogant, and made negative comments on his classmates who participated in sports or school bands.

　　In the "manifesto" which is believed to be published by Crusius on the Internet, the author also complained that the cost of obtaining a university degree is too high now, and students are in debt, but they can only find low-paying jobs.

　　Compared with Crusius, 24-year-old Bates’ experience seems to be more "bad". Bates is from Bellbrook, near Dayton, and graduated from the local public middle school in 2013. Sinclair Community College in Dayton confirmed that Bates studied psychology at the school, but did not enroll this summer. He used to work in a chain restaurant.

　　Two high school students of Bates told the Associated Press that Bates had repeatedly threatened other students, and also listed the "killing list" of boys he wanted to kill and the "rape list" of girls who wanted to sexually assault, so he was suspended from school, but he later returned to school to continue his studies. According to The New York Times, Bates was also accused of drunk driving.

　　Others who know Bates say that Bates often talks about violence and describes women in insulting language.

　　A neighbor and classmate of Bates thought that Bates was "a bit like an outcast".

　　However, the Belbrook police said that they did not know any violent history of Bates and had not contacted him before. The staff of a bar Bates frequented said Bates was usually friendly.

　　The "lone wolf" who is not alone in the Internet age.

　　In addition to these two appalling shootings, there were two shootings in Chicago, Illinois on August 4, causing nine injuries and no deaths, but the gunmen have not been arrested.

　　Washington post commented that no matter whether the suspects committed crimes for political or personal motives, these seemingly unrelated mass shootings actually had similarities, which proved that the "lone wolf attacker" in the United States was not alone.

　　At present, it is not clear what motive the gunman Bates in Dayton launched the attack and what kind of influence he had before. However, Washington post believes that Bates committed the crime more out of personal dissatisfaction than political factors. He belongs to the group of gunmen who learned to turn personal dissatisfaction into public attacks from the Internet, games, movies and TV programs.

　　Rosenstand, former US Deputy Secretary of Justice, said on the Internet on August 3, "Many murderers were instilled with hatred online ‘ Lone wolf ’ Loser. "

　　Crusius, the suspect in the shooting in El Paso, seems to be motivated by more political factors. His hatred for immigrants and foreigners is closely related to a series of previous "declarations" and shootings in white supremacy, but the previous attacks were aimed at Muslims and Jews, and this time it was aimed at Latinos. Many of these racist ideas are circulated in some anonymous online forums.

　　Washington post pointed out that the shooting in El Paso made people think whether these "lone wolf attackers" should be regarded as independent subjects or as part of a larger, ideology-driven movement.

　　J.M. Berger, an expert on terrorism, said, "Social media enables many people with similar ideologies to synchronize their behaviors." For example, he said, "If you know that others have committed acts of violence, you are more likely to resort to violence." He believes that social media provides a carrier for spreading "violent infectious diseases".

　　(The Paper trainee reporter Yan Songyang reporter Zhang Wuwei intern Shen Yuruo and Tan Chuyan also contributed to this article)