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Wow Cho laughed, this info makes me happy

Despite his anorexia, Adam Lanza had bookmarks about candy on his computer.
Charles Whitman was an Eagle Scout and played piano (on a similar note, Nathaniel Berhow was a Boy Scout.)

Guilherme taucci mentioned in a tweet that if he had a better financial condition he would like to help institutions that care about the welfare and care of animals and that it was a hobby that he would like to adopt. Apparently he quite liked animals

Randy Stair once said that he hated women (3 years before the shooting)

More about animal lovers, kinda:
"[Anton Niclas Lundin] Pettersson was often described as an animal lover, but it appeared to be driven by anxiety concerning the animal’s welfare. He did not, for example, go fishing with his family because he felt sorry for the fish. He also refused to feed the family iguana with locusts, and the iguana eventually died."

Wellington Menezes de Oliveira's suicide note said, among other things:
"I have left a house in Sepetiba of which none of my family members need, there are poor institutions, financed by generous people who take care of abandoned animals, I want this space where I spent my last months to be donated to one of these institutions, because animals are very unappreciated beings and need much more protection and affection than human beings who have the advantage of being able to communicate, work to feed themselves, therefore, those who take my house, I please ask to have good sense and fulfill my request..."

It seems that for every attacker who engaged in animal cruelty, there's a few who saw in animals an empathy they did not see in humans.

Dylan Klebold volunteered at a daycare centre when he was a sophomore.

Patrick Purdy, who shot up a school primarily consisting of Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants, also hated America. He had "drawn an American flag inside a circle with a slash through the flag," and the Great Satan from his "Death to the Great Satin [sic]" on his jacket apparently referred to the US.

lognifiiskurk wrote:

Dylan Klebold volunteered at a daycare centre when he was a sophomore.

That's one hell of a childhood memory to dredge up years later.

Elliot rodger search history has weird things like "Nazi anime" "Did Hitler have a girlfriend" (that its not so unexpected about him) "Roomate takes very long showers" etc...

Charles Whitman was very good with kids, despite being childless. A child actually wandered into his garage as he was preparing for his attack: he gave the kid the barrel he just sawed off of a shotgun as a toy. [Source: A Sniper In The Tower by Gary M. Lavergne.]

Others with guilherme taucci and love for the animals:

Returning to his love of animals, Guilherme also had an appreciation for nature.  I remember in a tweet he complained about people who killed animals.  On his Twitter he followed a "Pet lovers" account.

Kip kinkel was part of a prison basketball group.

Not a mass shooter, but Timothy Mcveigh worked as a babysitter in his youth. The children he takes care of describe him as "he was very funny, the best babysitter I ever had" also that he brought plastic aliens and it took hours to place them on the walls to make games, like wars among other things.

I found Eric Houston's behavior during the attack surprising.
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Charles Whitman donated blood at least six times.
Also, his hobbies included karate and scuba diving.

Eric Harris said that the most important aspect of someone's personality to him was compassion.

Adam Lanza at one point used his savings to buy toys for needy children on Christmas. (It seems this ws before middle school.)
(Source.)

margaflor wrote:

Elliot rodger  search history has weird things like "Nazi anime" "Did Hitler have a girlfriend" (that its not so unexpected about him) "Roomate takes very long showers" etc...

I also remember he hade a search for "Philosophy of a Knife", a supposedly uber gory 'documentary' about Unit 731. It's not really something I would've expected out of him but at the same time I can't say I'm surprised with all the edgy posturing he did.

James Holmes expressed concern to police after the shooting that he had hurt any kids, and was saddened to learn he killed a 6 year old girl.

dyonqqr wrote:

James Holmes expressed concern to police after the shooting that he had hurt any kids, and was saddened to learn he killed a 6 year old girl.

I remember seeing that in the police interview. He also picked a later showing of The Dark Knight Rises so that no kids would be at the cinema when he committed the shooting.

The fastest Adam Lanza was ever said to have driven his car was 88mph

While working at a food store, Kimveer Gill once let out a bird that was trapped inside

Anton Lundin Pettersson once got angry at a spam bot thinking it was an actual person, because it would keep on sending him the same message over and over again.

9mmtomyhead wrote:

Anton Lundin Pettersson once got angry at a spam bot thinking it was an actual person, because it would keep on sending him the same message over and over again.

I've read a lot about Pettersson but haven't heard about this. Is there a source I can read more?

dyonqqr wrote:

9mmtomyhead wrote:

Anton Lundin Pettersson once got angry at a spam bot thinking it was an actual person, because it would keep on sending him the same message over and over again.

I've read a lot about Pettersson but haven't heard about this. Is there a source I can read more?

Yes. There's this one Trollhattan PDF called "The Swedish School Attack in Trollhattan" and you just need to go to page 8, then you'll find the information there.

9mmtomyhead wrote:

Yes. There's this one Trollhattan PDF called "The Swedish School Attack in Trollhattan" and you just need to go to page 8, then you'll find the information there.

I read that, but somehow forgot the spambot part. Huh.

Back to unexpected facts, despite wearing a mask during the attack, Anton Lundin Pettersson wore white makeup, black eyeliner, and glitter in his hair (that last one was most surprising to me.)

Anders Breivik had problems with spiders and insects on his farm. He freaked out when they climbed into his gloves when he was working and screamed when he found one in his chocolate.
He also had a "graffiti phase" from age 13 to 16.
(Source: Åsne Seierstad - One Of Us)

Jaylen Fryberg (2014 Marysville-Pilchuk High School shooting) was voted homecoming prince just weeks before his attack.

dyonqqr wrote:

Jaylen Fryberg (2014 Marysville-Pilchuk High School shooting) was voted homecoming prince just weeks before his attack.

That always confused me about why he committed the shooting. Most school shooters are unpopular and loners but he seemed popular with him being voted Homecoming Prince.

Eric Harris' favourite ice cream flavour was mint choc chip. He also said the one thing he would change about himself was his weight.

lognifiiskurk wrote:

That always confused me about why he committed the shooting. Most school shooters are unpopular and loners but he seemed popular with him being voted Homecoming Prince.

Mental illness is a hell of a drug.

On a more serious note, depression, loss of meaning, and other such symptoms are epidemic in the 21st century, especially in America, China, and other high-stress countries (where the high rates of mass attacks in those regions are no coincidence.) While it mitigated some of it's effects, having friends, a social life, even a wife and family doesn't dispel all risk of depression. All it takes is the right individual and the right circumstance for even the smallest thing - a breakup, a bad day, getting in trouble - to turn that internal despair and hatred outward. A desire to destroy oneself and a desire to cause one's own personal apocalypse seem to be one and the same, it's just the channel used that differs.

Luiz Henrique de Castro wanted to be a policeman. His father, suggested him to study at law university so that he could become a police chief.

Anders Breivik wanted to fill his bullets with pure nicotine to make every one fatal, but he decided against it because it was against the Geneva convention.
Adam Lanza may have had a brief interest in explosives construction, given the gunpowder extracted from bullets in a drawer in his computer room.
Ian David Long's lucky numbers were 7 and 11 (which may have played into his attack occuring on November 7th, as well as his father having died on that date.)

Jaylen Frybery texted the parents of the friends he would later kill shortly before he opened fire.

William Atchison owned a Colt Single Action Army.

Not mass shooters but Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski and Ramzi Yousef became close in prison, with them knowing eachothers birthdays and talking about religion and politics.

Dylann Roof doesn't break rules in prison except for trying to keep an extra jumpsuit in his cell in case he is issued one that is too faded. The visibility of stripes on his jumpsuits are a point of obsession.
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Hayden Jagst and Breanna Rose Long both posted online condemning mass killers. (This is just my speculation, but the former was probably to cover his tracks and the latter was probably to fit in on Tumblr.)

Tobias Rathjen played for the German football club Eintracht Frankfurt as a teenager and accused the coach Jurgen Klopp as stealing Tobias' ideas to make him a better manager.

James Holmes owned a plant in college named “planty”.

employer square was circumcised

Robert Steinhauser helped his friend fix his computer graphics card 3 days before the shooting.