The May 18 mass shooting at Santa Fe provides the latest evidence of a phenomenon that researchers have in recent years come to recognize, but are still unable to explain: The mass shootings that are now occurring with disturbing regularity at the nation\u2019s schools are shocking, disturbing, tragic \u2014 and seemingly contagious.<\/p>\n
Interviews with law enforcement officials, educators, researchers, students and a gunman\u2019s mother, as well as a review of court documents, academic studies and the writings of killers and would-be killers, show that the school-shooting copycat syndrome has grown more pervasive and has steadily escalated in recent years. And much of it can be traced back to the two killers at Columbine, previously ordinary high school students who have achieved dark folk hero status \u2014 their followers often known as \u201cColumbiners\u201d \u2014 in the corners of the internet where their carefully planned massacre is remembered, studied and in some cases even celebrated.<\/p>\n
Investigators say school shootings have become the American equivalent of suicide bombings \u2014 not just a tactic, but an ideology. Young men, many of them depressed, alienated or mentally disturbed, are drawn to the Columbine subculture because they see it as a way to lash out at the world and to get the attention of a society that they believe bullies, ignores or misunderstands them.<\/p>\n
The seemingly contagious violence has begun branching off Columbine, researchers say, and is now bringing in more recent attacks, many of them building off the details and media fixation with the last.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n For \u2018Columbiners,\u2019 School Shootings Have a Deadly Allure https:\/\/t.co\/ACt1A9rvTS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/21cKrzaSoM<\/a><\/p>\n — YourNews24H (@YourNews24H) May 30, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n