FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 20, 2011 Contacts: Carolyn Spence CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group carolyn.spence@taylorandfrancis.com William J. Birnes WJB1944@earthlink.net
Could the Arizona shooting have been prevented? Striking similarities exist between Jared Loughner and the Virginia Tech shooter The tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 other innocent victims in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011 is only the latest in a long list of unimaginable shooting rampages by troubled individuals. In the aftermath of the catastrophe, questions have emerged as to whether, given Jared Loughner’s admittedly bizarre behavior in the weeks and months prior to the shooting, some intervention could have prevented the devastating loss of life and injuries that occurred on that day. Like many other crazed gunmen who reach the tipping point in a cascade of bullets, the warning signs were evident long before the final hour. Suicidal Mass Murderers: A Criminological Study of Why They Kill chronicles the infamous Virginia Tech shooting and asks the same questions that we are today asking about Loughner and what could have been done to prevent those deadly acts. The warning signs that Cho Seung-Hui was on the cusp of insanity were clear to many through his bizarre essays and violent classroom outbursts. Like Cho, Loughner engendered a fear in his classmates that one day he might do the unimaginable. John Liebert, M.D., a psychiatric expert on serial killings and mass murder and coauthor William J. Birnes, J.D., Ph.D. maintain that early awareness of aberrant behaviors followed by intervention can avert some of the tragedies that seem to be occurring time and time again on America’s campuses and street corners. Their compelling work discusses the pathophysiology of violent offenders and provides first hand empirical and experimental data on mass homicidal/suicidal offenders. It introduces and explains the concept of apocalyptic mass murder and demonstrates how the final words of the killer in the days before the shooting can signal the end is near. Detailing Cho’s descent into madness that culminated in the tragic Virginia Tech event, the book asks how we can: • • • •
Identify and red flag the potentially dangerous Intervene early in their lives to prevent violence Mitigate potential damage Sequester, even involuntarily, the violent mentally ill
We have much to learn from the Virginia Tech tragedy, and now the Tucson bloodbath teaches us the same lesson: that rarely, if ever, do acts of this nature occur without early indicators that serve to warn us that if we don’t take some sort of action, a catastrophe is imminent.
“ …these adult killers were showing clues early in their development that we in the education, corrections and mental health professions should have, and indeed could have, picked up. …This significant work should serve as a resource for those who are investigating these terrible occurrences, as well as for those who are interested in preventing such tragedies in the future.” —Saul Levine, M.D., Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego international expert on factors reducing the risk of adolescent violence
. . . . . “Tragedies become magnified by knowing that they were preventable … .” —E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., Founder, Treatment Advocacy Center
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