Oregon shooter similar to Sandy Hook shooter

Both encouraged to love guns

Investigations into Christopher Harper-Mercer revealed eerie similarities to Adam Lanza, the man responsible for the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. After murdering nine people and wounding several more at Umpqua Community College in Oregon last week, stories of Harper-Mercer's living conditions surfaced. People sought answers to what could have motivated the mass shooting and, unfortunately, the cause of each case remains undetermined.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Like other gunmen who massacred civilians, both the Oregon and Sandy Hook shooters were known to be loners. Harper-Mercer even left a note complaining about not having a girlfriend like Elliot Rodger, who killed 6 people last year near the University of California, Santa Barbara, did. However, the Oregon shooter's similarities with Lanza extends to their relationships with their mothers and guns.

Both Harper-Mercer and Lanza lived in solitude with their single mothers who shared their fascination with firearms with their mentally-unstable sons. 

"When you begin to bring guns into the home environment where you have that dangerous cocktail of behavior, that's pretty unbelievable," said  former FBI profiler, Mary Ellen O'Toole, who directs the forensic science program at George Mason University. Investigators reported both mothers were gun enthusiasts for a long time and had taken their sons to shooting ranges despite the boys' mental troubles.

Peter Langman, a psychologist and author of two books about school shooters, said judging the mothers in hindsight is a simple task. However, complicated relationships often lead to desperate or poor parental decision that result in tragic consequences. 

"In some cases, (parents) don't recognize there's a problem. In other cases, they're aware of their child's mental health issues, but they don't see any evidence of violence, so they don't see any reason not to take their kid target shooting," said Langman. 

Parents sometimes use guns to form a bond with their weapon and violence-obsessed, isolated children just to get close to them, Langman added.

Laurel Harper's social media and online posts revealed her love for guns, but none indicated she was aware of her son's violent tendencies. 

Harper shared her enthusiasm for assault rifles and pistols. She even mocked "lame states" for their gun-control efforts in a three-year-old Yahoo! Answers post from an email address linked to her. Police also found 8 guns inside her apartment, which she shared with her son, and another 6 at Umpqua Community College. 

Although she spoke quite frankly about her son's Asperger's syndrome, Harper also told authorities her son had mental health issues.

Social profiles linked to Harper-Mercer revealed his deep interest in the Irish Republican Army and other mass shootings.

Neighbors claim he was quiet, had child-like tantrums and could be heard having loud arguments with Harper, who always seemed to be overprotective.

Lanza's mother, Nancy, was similar to Harper: Both were doting mothers who seem to have isolated their sons from the rest of the world in an attempt to "help" them. 

In an email, Lanza wrote to her son and said she loved him and wanted him to be happy. Though she loved him, she kept him to herself to eliminate Adam's problems "entirely through hypervigilance and management of his symptoms."

While Adam was being treated for developmental issues he suffered since early childhood, Nancy rejected the help of others and was in denial of his mental impairments. 
In both Harper-Mercer and Adam's cases, easy access to high-powered guns played major roles in their decisions to become mass murderers. 

Despite the similarities between the Oregon and elementary school shooters, it is important to note that most mentally ill people are non-violent. 

Police have yet to announce Harper-Mercer's motive for the rampage and the Sandy Hook investigators were unable to determine Adam's blood lust. He destroyed his computer and killed his mother, who was his first victim.

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