US Secret Service Threat Assessment Church Case Study Links Domestic Violence with Mass Attacks
The US Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) has published, First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs: A Case Study on the Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Attacks.
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The 40-page report examines the background and behavioral history of the gunman who killed 26 people, including his wife’s grandmother, and wounded an additional 22 others in the attack at the church in Texas on November 5, 2017.
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The attacker had a long history of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual violence perpetrated against friends, family members, and others.
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The murderer arrived at the church armed with a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns. He wore all black clothing, as well as tactical body armor and a black mask painted with a skull design. He fired over 200 rounds into the church from outside before entering the church and firing hundreds of additional rounds.
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After exiting the church, the attacker was shot and critically wounded by a local resident using his AR-15 modern sporting rifle, but the criminal was able to escape the scene. He later died by suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot to his head.
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In addition to educating public safety practitioners on the warning signs of mass violence, this case study is specifically intended to highlight the link between domestic violence and mass casualty violence. Like some other mass attackers, the killer in the First Baptist Church shooting had a long history of committing domestic violence.
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In a study of mass attacks in public spaces that occurred within a five-year period, NTAC says 41% of the mass attackers had a history of domestic violence. While these histories included violence against children or parents, the majority involved violence against intimate partners.
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NTAC’s research concludes that domestic violence not only impacts a single victim, it can also harm the broader community and must be addressed appropriately with a community-based approach. Numerous patterns of behavior and life circumstances are common across mass attackers, including verbal threats, desperation, despair, extreme beliefs, fixations, history of violence, inconsistency, intense anger, interpersonal difficulties, a decline in mental health, stalking, harassing, and bullying.
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Church security teams and individual self-defenders must heighten their situational awareness to identify these behavior patterns early before a mass attack occurs on their watch.
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