The unspeakable* Amish-shootings tragedy furnishes still more evidence of how little we know about why people make the choices they do. Apparently the shooter “remembered” molesting two young relatives when he was a youth, but now there’s some doubt whether that ever happened:
In Georgetown, not far from the shooting, no one knew what to say about the man whose inconceivable actions were made only more confusing by his last words.
Mr. Roberts, who ended his siege by killing himself, wrote in a suicide note that he was tormented by memories of molesting two young relatives 20 years ago.
The police later interviewed the two women they suspected had been his victims, and both said they had never been sexually assaulted.
An Old World Close to a New World Horror – New York Times (extra paragraphing added).
It brings to mind the 1966 shootings from the University of Texas tower: Charles Whitman left a suicide note saying he did not understand why he had been having “unusual and irrational thoughts” and asking that an autopsy be performed on him. The autopsy revealed that he had a brain tumor that neurologists speculated might have contributed to his actions.
*Correction: Nothing is unspeakable; our calling is to face the facts and to do what we can to improve them.
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