ZetaTalk: The Grudge
written March 12, 2009

There are many motives to a rampage, the application to Service-to-Self worlds we have repeatedly mentioned only being one of them.

• There is the momentary blind rage, the South Carolina shooting over a real estate deal being a typical scenario. Enraged at being backed into a wall, and at 88 years of age struggling with a diminished capacity for dealing with a changing world, the shooter was dealing with the blind rage that one sees in a bear trapped in its den by a hunting party.
• There is also the carefully plotted murder of convenience, where the husband murders his wife, after having taken out an insurance policy on her life, so that he can take up with a younger or more compliant model.
• There are situations where the shooter has been dealt a series of blows - job loss, economic setbacks, or bad health - and decides to end his life and take his loved ones with him. This is not an uncommon reaction in those who have come to think of their dependants as their possession. To these individuals, killing their loved ones is part and parcel to killing themselves, as they are a package.

The rampage in Germany fits none of these, nor does it fit into the pattern of one who is applying for a position on future Service-to-Self worlds. It was a revenge killing because the shooter was holding a grudge. Surrounded by strikingly beautiful girls at high school, he attracted none of them. They were not interested in his parent's wealth, nor did his expertise at table tennis impress them. In a land where mental acumen was common, he was mentally dull. He felt humiliated by his school experience and fumed over this, deciding to take revenge. He fully expected to get away with his deed, and only killed himself when trapped. What are the clues that this was not an application for a future position on a Service-to-Self world? He had a personal relationship with the teachers and girls he was targeting, and those he killed outside of the school were standing in the way of his clean get-away.

The rampage in Alabama also bears all the hallmarks of a revenge killing. Former employers were targeted, and were listed on a grudge list found in the assailant's home. The killer did not lack personal qualities that would afford him good jobs or a mate. He was an A student, attractive, received good reviews from his employers, and in all cases quit his jobs and was not terminated. Did he have a touchy ego, that every slight was recorded and resented? And why was his family likewise targeted? Those who strive for perfect grades are often from homes where they feel held to exacting standards, or where they are trying to gain attention and affection from what seems to be a cruel world. Having given their all, they expect a reward, and when it does not come to them to the degree they had expected, there is resentment. Attractive and bright, the Alabama shooter felt his family did not appreciate him. He plotted revenge, and when the lists of slights, real or imagined, grew too large to bear, he took revenge.

Authorities: Ala. Shooter Quit Job Last Week
March 11, 2009

First, McLendon set his mother's house on fire and killed her, then drove 12 miles and opened fire on his uncle's front porch, killing five more people and his grandmother, who lived next door. Then, he drove through town and fired seemingly at random, killing three more people. With police in pursuit, he ended up at the metals plant where he once worked, and shot himself after engaging in a shootout with law enforcement officers.

 

Alabama Shooter Michael McLendon Was 'Quiet'
March 11, 2009
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7056936&page=1

Michael McLendon, 27, of Kinston, Ala., was described by former high school classmates and others who knew him as a former A student who "never had very much to say."

 

Alabama Shooter had Revenge List of Employers
March 11, 2009

A gunman who killed 10 people in the worst mass shooting in Alabama history had a list of employers "who had done him wrong," including the nearby sausage plant he quit days before the spree and the metal factory where he shot himself. McLendon was briefly employed by the police department in Samson in 2003 and spent about a week and a half at the police academy, dropping out before he received firearms training, More recently, he worked nearly two years at food manufacturer and distributor Kelley Foods in Elba, about 25 miles north of where he shot most of his victims. He was a "reliable team leader" who was well liked, but quit. The company was on the list of those the gunman felt slighted by. So were another of his employers, Reliable Metals in Samson, and a Pilgrim's Pride plant near Enterprise.

 

Teenage Gunman who Massacred 16 in School Killing Spree Shot Himself Dead
March 12, 2009
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1161139/

Kretschmer had deliberately targeted women and girls. He had taken one of 16 guns owned by his father and returned to his old school, where he shot ten children and three teachers. All three teachers were women and eight of the children were girls. Kretschmer was the privileged son of well-to-do parents who had been envied by some of his classmates for his apparent wealth. Police said the former school table-tennis champion wore a black police uniform of the kind worn by the elite officers who were on his trail minutes after the massacre. He also put on a gas mask to give him a more sinister look. He was known as a loser who was miserable with his lot. He tried to buy friends with his money but he couldn't get any.

 

Client Shoots SC Real Estate Broker
March 11, 2009

An 88-year-old client who wanted his down payment back on a deal shot a South Carolina real estate broker. Richard Blow burst into a Coldwell Banker office in Rock Hill Wednesday and shot 68-year-old Jerry O'Neil in the abdomen. He wanted his money back.