So the question that needs to be asked is "why"? Why does he or anyone else think it is their right to steal the lives of people for no other reason than to make a name for himself. What about the clown who opened fire inside the movie theater and killed many innocent people? Did you know who he was? Of course not. Nobody did. Just like this guy at the Mall, nobody knew him either. Then there is Columbine and the murders at Virginia Tech. Who were these people?? Nobody knew and of course, with the exception of the shooter at the Aurora theater, the shooters are all dead. I'm quite sure our new found celebrity was familiar with the shooters in the similar incidents, and took note of how "famous" they became by their actions. Why else would he do this? If he wanted to die, why not just go out quietly? Why kill innocent people? By doing so, you are depriving families of their loved ones. Does that matter? Of course not, not to him. What damage he does to others is not near as important as his own glory and popularity. Popularity awarded to him by the media.
I understand that the media has the job to report the news. I get that. However, I put a lot of blame on the media for "how" they report the story. It reminds me of the 1982 song by Don Henley "Dirty Laundry" .
"I make my living off the Evening News
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry"
"We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam
in her eye
It's interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry".
Tragically, people kill themselves everyday. I've worked many suicide cases in my career and each one killed themselves for different reasons, if a reason was ever to be known. Most were so overwhelmed with personal problems such as finances, drug/alcohol addiction, marital problems or were just in need of attention, attention that they couldn't get. Would a suicide make the evening news or the front page of every newspaper? Of course not. Not unless it is the suicide of someone already famous, an actor, musician or sports star. If you're already famous, then it's big news if you decide to end it. Again, we love "dirty laundry". You can go out of this world as an unknown to the masses...or you can go out as a celebrity. Of course to be a celebrity requires that you do something extraordinary, something to get that attention that you crave so the media will pick up your story. Hence we have these incidents of multiple murders.
I'm in no way blaming the media on these deaths and I don't even blame the media for doing their job by reporting the news. I do, however, blame them for how they choose to report these stories. If I had my way, none of the television news and newspapers would ever show a photo of the shooter or even mention his name. Again, no photos, no name, nothing positive at all. By doing so, maybe you take away that glory he believes will be found in his15 minutes of fame. No fame at all, and the shooter goes directly to hell with no one ever knowing who he was. Maybe if we stop glorifying these shooters, and stop giving them the attention they crave, maybe, just maybe, these kinds of things will start to decline.