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Deadly Shooting at UCSB Motivated by Misogyny

A 22-year-old man went on a shooting and stabbing rampage on Friday night near the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus in Isla Vista, killing six students and injuring 13 more. The confirmed suspect claimed it was his “day of retribution” for a lifetime of rejection by women.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

The suspect frequently posted misogynistic and racist comments on “Men’s Rights Activist” online forums and posted several videos online detailing his hatred of women and humanity in general and his feelings of alienation. In a YouTube video posted before the attack, the suspect details his plan to “punish” women through a killing spree. He had also written a 140-page manifesto about his life and his thoughts on women, calling women “a plague” and claiming they should be kept in concentration camps.

The suspect’s mother and therapist had previously become concerned by the suspect’s increasingly violent online posts and videos. According to a lawyer for the family, the therapist reported concerns to a local mental health service which referred the report to police. Officers conducted a welfare visit a month before the attack, visiting the suspect in his home, but did not see the need to investigate further. 

The course of events Friday night left nine crime scenes. He first stabbed to death his three roommates in his apartment, then tried to enter the Alpha Phi sorority house on the UCSB campus. The sorority members did not open the door when he repeatedly knocked. He then drove around Isla Vista, shot a man in a deli, then opened fire on pedestrians, killing two women. His reckless driving injured more as he attempted to flee from police. Eventually, he got in a shoot-out with the police before killing himself with a gunshot wound to the head.

The attack triggered a massive Twitter conversation about the harassment and abuse women face on a daily basis, with 1.2 million people tweeting with the hashtag #YesAllWomen as of Sunday evening. “Because every single woman I know has a story about a man feeling entitled to access to her body. Every. Single. One. #YesAllWomen” tweeted Emily Hughes. “Girls grow up knowing that it’s safer to give a fake phone number than to turn a guy down. #yesallwomen” tweeted Kate Tuttle.

One in four women will experience rape in their lifetime, one in four women also experience domestic violence, and almost all have experienced some form of street harassment. Women are particularly threatened by gun violence. Women dealing with domestic violence are more than five times more likely to be killed if there is a gun in the home, and many mass shooters start off their attacks by murdering an intimate partner.

Media Resources: NPR 5/26/14; Los Angeles Times 5/24/14, 5/25/14; Time 5/25/14; Twitter; Mashable 5/26/14; Futures Without Violence; Daily Kos 5/24/14; Feminist Majority Foundation

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