Denver shootings suspect wrote books previewing attacks
By COLLEEN SLEVIN and THOMAS PEIPERT
AP
12/30/2021
https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-denver-shootings-b63360d029882676d25191b04660d42d

Uh oh.

Police are investigating the writing of James McLeod, who shot and
killed 5 people in Denver on 12/27/2021. Two additional people were
wounded.

In fiction he'd written, he described the actions he was going to take
and named some of the people to be targeted.

Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial killing
that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the victims,
the real target. They do indeed joke about their psychological makeup
and whether they think they could get away with murder themselves, but
it's all having a yuck and we don't really think such authors are
themselves planning real-world murders.

Are we going to look for key words and phrases in newly-published
fiction from now on to identify obviously danger people, or flat out ban
the publication of murder fiction? Or just arrest authors pre-crime?

In <sql0sm$4sl$2@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:

[snip]

>Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
>murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial killing
>that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the victims,
>the real target. They do indeed joke about their psychological makeup
>and whether they think they could get away with murder themselves, but
>it's all having a yuck and we don't really think such authors are
>themselves planning real-world murders.

Ah yes, kind of like L.J. Smithers with his plans
to burglarize his bank in yesterday's Twilight Zone
repeat episode...

(Dick York gets the ability to read minds...)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734546/

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

In article <sql5td$a1l$1@reader1.panix.com>, danny burstein
<dannyb@panix.com> wrote:

> In <sql0sm$4sl$2@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:
>
> [snip]
>
> >Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
> >murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial killing
> >that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the victims,
> >the real target. They do indeed joke about their psychological makeup
> >and whether they think they could get away with murder themselves, but
> >it's all having a yuck and we don't really think such authors are
> >themselves planning real-world murders.
>
> Ah yes, kind of like L.J. Smithers with his plans
> to burglarize his bank in yesterday's Twilight Zone
> repeat episode...
>
> (Dick York gets the ability to read minds...)
>
> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734546/

Back in high school, in the cafeteria, a guy flipped me a nickel in
change from a vending machine. It landed on the table and stood
edge-up. We just stared at it. The guy did not report being able to
read minds or bang Elizabeth Montgomery.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> In article <sql5td$a1l$1@reader1.panix.com>, danny burstein
> <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> In <sql0sm$4sl$2@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
>>> murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial killing
>>> that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the victims,
>>> the real target. They do indeed joke about their psychological makeup
>>> and whether they think they could get away with murder themselves, but
>>> it's all having a yuck and we don't really think such authors are
>>> themselves planning real-world murders.
>>
>> Ah yes, kind of like L.J. Smithers with his plans
>> to burglarize his bank in yesterday's Twilight Zone
>> repeat episode...
>>
>> (Dick York gets the ability to read minds...)
>>
>> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734546/
>
>
> Back in high school, in the cafeteria, a guy flipped me a nickel in
> change from a vending machine. It landed on the table and stood
> edge-up. We just stared at it. The guy did not report being able to
> read minds or bang Elizabeth Montgomery.
>

Our high school cafeteria tables were so covered in gunk that you could’ve
stood a pencil on its tip with a brick on the eraser end.

--
“The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.”

On Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 2:22:03 PM UTC-5, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Denver shootings suspect wrote books previewing attacks
> By COLLEEN SLEVIN and THOMAS PEIPERT
> AP
> 12/30/2021
> https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-denver-shootings-b63360d029882676d25191b04660d42d
>
> Uh oh.

> Police are investigating the writing of James McLeod, who shot and
> killed 5 people in Denver on 12/27/2021. Two additional people were
> wounded.
>
> In fiction he'd written, he described the actions he was going to take
> and named some of the people to be targeted.
>
> Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
> murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial killing
> that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the victims,
> the real target. They do indeed joke about their psychological makeup
> and whether they think they could get away with murder themselves, but
> it's all having a yuck and we don't really think such authors are
> themselves planning real-world murders.

> Are we going to look for key words and phrases in newly-published
> fiction from now on to identify obviously danger people

"Who would invent a job like that?"

On Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 9:52:24 PM UTC-5, anim8rfsk wrote:
> A Friend <no...@noway.com> wrote:
> > In article <sql5td$a1l$1...@reader1.panix.com>, danny burstein
> > <dan...@panix.com> wrote:
> >
> >> In <sql0sm$4sl$2...@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> writes:
> >>
> >> [snip]
> >>
> >>> Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
> >>> murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial killing
> >>> that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the victims,
> >>> the real target. They do indeed joke about their psychological makeup
> >>> and whether they think they could get away with murder themselves, but
> >>> it's all having a yuck and we don't really think such authors are
> >>> themselves planning real-world murders.
> >>
> >> Ah yes, kind of like L.J. Smithers with his plans
> >> to burglarize his bank in yesterday's Twilight Zone
> >> repeat episode...
> >>
> >> (Dick York gets the ability to read minds...)
> >>
> >> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734546/
> >
> >
> > Back in high school, in the cafeteria, a guy flipped me a nickel in
> > change from a vending machine. It landed on the table and stood
> > edge-up. We just stared at it. The guy did not report being able to
> > read minds or bang Elizabeth Montgomery.

> Our high school cafeteria tables were so covered in gunk that you could’ve
> stood a pencil on its tip with a brick on the eraser end.

I grew up in West Virginia. We didn't have tables. We ate off tree stumps. Our eating utensils stood straight up when impaled in the timber.

-------

Thank gawd, I'm a country boy ...

On Thu, 30 Dec 2021 19:21:58 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>Are we going to look for key words and phrases in newly-published
>fiction from now on to identify obviously danger people, or flat out ban
>the publication of murder fiction? Or just arrest authors pre-crime?

So in a Minority Report-esque move we are going to ban Agatha Christie
and her ilk?

Makes perfect sense to me.

danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> writes:

> In <sql0sm$4sl$2@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
> writes:

>> Some of the writers I read do not think of elaborate scenarios for
>> murders but think of scenarios for a spree killing or a serial
>> killing that could be used to distract from the murder of one of the
>> victims, the real target. They do indeed joke about their
>> psychological makeup and whether they think they could get away with
>> murder themselves, but it's all having a yuck and we don't really
>> think such authors are themselves planning real-world murders.
>
> Ah yes, kind of like L.J. Smithers with his plans
> to burglarize his bank in yesterday's Twilight Zone
> repeat episode...
>
> (Dick York gets the ability to read minds...)
>
> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734546/

About twenty years ago, purely as an intellectual exercise, I tried to
think of a way to commit the perfect murder. I reckoned the way to do
it was to kill three people with the same basic profile, include your
intended victim in the three, and make it look like a serial killer.
The seeming pattern would throw off the investigation.

A couple of years later I was listening to an episode of the radio
drama _Richard Diamond, Private Detective_ from the early '50s, written
by Blake Edwards. The villain used the same idea to try to throw off
the police investigation.

We have been cranking out crime dramas like it's our most prolific
product since mass media began. It's hard to come up with something
that nobody's ever thought of before at least in some general form,
unless it involves new technological or social innovations.

-Micky