A Study of Active Shooter Pre-Attack Behaviors

In 2017 there were 30 separate active shootings in the United States, the largest number ever recorded by the FBI during a one-year period.1 With so many attacks occurring, it can become easy to believe that nothing can stop an active shooter determined to commit violence. “The offender just snapped” and “There’s no way that anyone could have seen this coming” are common reactions that can fuel a collective sense of a “new normal,” one punctuated by a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Faced with so many tragedies, society routinely wrestles with a fundamental question: can anything be done to prevent attacks on our loved ones, our children, our schools, our churches, concerts, and communities?
 
The FBI conducted a study of pre-attack behaviors of active shooters in the United States between 2000 and 2013. The study found that:
 

• Active shooters take time to plan and prepare for the attack, with 77% of the subjects spending a week or longer planning their attack and 46% spending a week or longer actually preparing (procuring the means) for the attack.
• Active shooters were typically experiencing multiple stressors (an average of 3.6 separate stressors) in the year before they attacked.
• In those cases where the active shooter’s primary grievance could be identified, the most common grievances were related to an adverse interpersonal or employment action against the shooter (49%).
• In the majority of cases (64%) at least one of the victims was specifically targeted by the active shooter.

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As I stated when talking about the Las Vegas shooting: "While we tend to think of mental health consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, compassion fatigue and burnout as resulting from a specific traumatic event, these same things can result from prolonged exposure to a hostile and stress inducing work environment.  The harming effects of workplace (or other environmental) stress can result in an individual becoming psychologically injured after long-term abuse (problems that are drawn out over months, or even years)."

Mark Follman (2015) in his research for 'Mother Jones Magazine' found that mass shootings are planned and prepared for by the shooter over a period of time. These mass shooters don't just snap and go on a killing rampage. Follman stated “When the next shooting happens at a school, an office building, or a movie theater, the question will again be asked: "What made him snap?" But mass murder is not an impulsive crime. Virtually every one of these attacks, forensic investigations show, is a predatory crime, methodically planned and executed.”

When interpersonal or employment stressors are drawn out of long periods of time (months or years), and when counseling and support is not readily available for individuals experiencing multiple stressors, we create an environment with an increased likelihood of producing an active shooter.

We cannot blame others for the actions of an active shooter, the person doing the killing is the person at fault. What we can do however is look at morale and environment in our workplaces (and schools) to ensure that we are not maintaining an environment that creates a specific target for the active shooter (64%) or creates multiple stressors that starts a person planning an attack.