Secret Service report reveals massive attackers leave warning signs before violence

WASHINGTON – Almost all those who carried out massive attacks in the United States last year made threatening threats or communications in advance, and more than three quarters expressed concern, said Tuesday the Secret Service in a report.

The agency's National Threat Assessment Center analyzed 27 mass attacks in 2018, defined as incidents in which three or more victims were injured. A total of 91 people were killed and 107 injured. All but four of the attackers "established a type of communication that did not pose a direct threat but should have aroused concern," the report said.

Former high school student Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Fla., Who killed 14 students and three staff members, "had a long history of behavioral and communication problems."

"Mental illness alone is not a risk factor for violence, and most acts of violence are committed by individuals who do not have mental illness," said the Secret Service.

But by 2018, two-thirds of the attackers had had pre-attack mental health symptoms ranging from depression to psychotic symptoms, including paranoia and hallucinations. Almost half of the assailants had been diagnosed with mental illness or had been treated.

"The findings point out that we can identify the warning signs of an act of violence," says the report, noting that employers can help promote mental wellness programs and solve personal problems such as addictions, financial difficulties or personal relationship problems.

The report encouraged people to share their concerns with colleagues, classmates, family members or neighbors.

"A reasonable awareness of the warning signs that may precede an act of violence can bring community members to share their concerns with someone who can help them," he said.

Among the other results: 24 of the 27 attacks were committed with firearms, mainly at workplaces, and more than half ended within five minutes. The average abuser was a 37-year-old man, and it was motivation rather than ideology.

In 11 of the cases, the assailants appeared to have chosen their target in advance, as did the man who killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in October.

This was the second analysis of the secret services of massive attacks. Its report from a year ago revealed that most of the attacks in 2017 were motivated by workplace or home-related problems and that more than three-quarters of them had made threats or threats. communications of concern.