Until now, it has been believed that the main factor contributing to media coverage and mass shooters’ fame was the number of victims of an attack.
A team of researchers led by our own Prof. Maurizio Porfiri, Ph.D. Candidate Rayan Succar, Postdoctoral Fellow Roni Barak Ventura, and students Maxim Belykh and Sihan Wei, analyzed data from 189 mass shootings from years 1966 – 2021, and found that perpetrators driven by fame – as opposed to other motivations like revenge — planned their crimes around the novelty of the location and targets.
Read the full paper “Fame through surprise: How fame-seeking mass shooters diversify their attacks” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) here.
The study has already been covered by a number of news outlets:
NYU Engineering: “Fame-seeking mass shooters more likely to plan ‘surprise’ attacks, and the novelty of their locations and targets brings added fame”.
Eurasia Review: “Fame-Seeking Mass Shooters More Likely To Plan ‘Surprise’ Attacks, And Novelty Of Their Locations And Targets Brings Added Fame”.
International Business Times: “The Mind Of A Mass Shooter: Fame Seekers Plan ‘Surprise’ Attacks To Gain Notoriety, Study Finds”.
Science Blog: “Mass Shooters Seeking Fame Plan “Surprise” Attacks”.
Image credit: Adobe Stock/JJ Gouin