THE CASE OF THE MASS SHOOTER AT ORLANDO

THE CASE OF THE MASS SHOOTER AT ORLANDO Psychologically Warped O N June 12, 2016, a mass shooting terrorist attack and hate crime took place inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the United States. It resulted in 53 wounded and 50 dead, including the gunman, who was killed by the Orlando police after a three-hour standoff. The shooter was identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American, born to parents of Afghan origin. How did Mateen develop this extreme hate and anger? A close look at his life shows that he had come to look upon himself as a socially rejected person. He also felt that the social system had not supported him and he had not therefore, been able to fulfill his ambitions. This sentiment made him rage against the whole system and destroy those who represented that system. After a lot of thought, he narrowed his target down to Pulse, a gay night club which was a soft target. Here he poured out his anger on all those who were in the club that night. The result was one of the worst mass shootings in the history of the United States. Omar Mateen wanted to become a full-fledged police officer. Last summer he applied for an intensive six-month law enforcement training course at the academy in his home town, Fort Pierce. The Daily Mail Online reported that officials at the Indian River State College’s Criminal Justice Institute were so concerned about his ‘deceptive’ behavior that they rejected him. This rejection was not due to disfavour or discrimination but rather due to his own inability to measure up to their criterion. It was not a case of injustice. In fact, if we see it from the right angle, it was a case of true justice. Study of such cases show that such offenders are generally obsessed with their own selfrighteousness which leads them into blaming others. Consciously or unconsciously, they believe they are always right and others are always wrong. It is this mindset, rooted in self-rejection, which leads to hate and culminates finally in violence. Address the mind of an angry man by reasoning with him and you will find that very soon he will of his own, reappraise his behaviour.