The Highland Park shooting suspect\u2019s family saw nothing amiss, yet the social media trail was predictably and typically dark.<\/p>\n
As details on the Fourth of July parade shooting emerged, it became increasingly evident that there had been numerous signs of trouble that is common in mass-shooter cases, as police recounted in a briefing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
It highlighted an often-deadly gap between what an accused shooter\u2019s friends and loved ones perceived<\/a>, and what actually happened \u2014 details understood only in hindsight.<\/p>\n At least 56% of mass shooters exhibited at least one dangerous warning sign beforehand, according to Everytown for Gun Safety<\/a>, a nonprofit organization that aims to eliminate gun violence.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say part of the problem is that nobody can conceive of the idea that it would be their loved one who could do something so terrible,\u201d James Densley, professor of criminal justice at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minn., told the Daily News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Chairs and belongings are seen left behind a day later at the scene of a mass shooting at a July 4th Parade in downtown Highland Park, Ill. <\/span>(MAX HERMAN\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe have constructed a myth of who the mass shooter is,\u201d said Densley, who also co-authored The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic with Hamline University professor Jillian Peterson. \u201cThe idea that this is an outsider, a monster, a madman, pure evil \u2014 when the truth is that the mass shooters are not \u2018them,\u2019 they are us. What we mean by that is that everybody, before they perpetrate a mass shooting, is somebody\u2019s son, somebody\u2019s nephew, somebody\u2019s brother, somebody\u2019s classmate, colleague, neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n When faced with this person, he said, it\u2019s impossible to think that the person could be the perpetrator of such heinous deeds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t possibly be sitting next to a future mass shooter in class, or at the lunch line at work, or at Thanksgiving dinner handing them the mashed potatoes,\u201d Densley said, because we are conditioned to imagine such criminals as \u201cscary bad guys who lock themselves in basements, like who we see in the movies\u201d instead of someone who could be right in our midst.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not about hypervigilance and suspicion, Densley emphasized. It\u2019s about reaching out if someone appears to be struggling, about \u201cbeing attuned to what\u2019s going on in people\u2019s lives, get them talking.\u201d<\/p>\n The 22-year-old Highland Park shooter appears to have planned his diabolical assault for weeks<\/a>, and his social media posts provided boulder-sized clues. Tributes to mass shootings, music videos under his rapper handle, and other platforms and profiles were rife with tributes to mass shootings and public killings.<\/p>\n The Highland Park shooter did indeed have two previous police encounters<\/a>, in 2019, one of them an attempted suicide and the other a threat to \u201ckill everyone,\u201d police said Tuesday. That\u2019s also the year he bought several guns legally<\/a>, including the one he used on Monday in Highland Park.<\/p>\n He allegedly fired more than 70 rounds into the Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb. He donned women\u2019s clothing to evade detection and hide his facial tattoos and plotted out how to access a building rooftop, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli said at a briefing Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n In that regard this shooter was no different than the 18-year-old who gunned down 10 people in a racist rage at a Buffalo supermarket, or the same-aged miscreant who shot 19 schoolchildren<\/a> and two teachers to death in Uvalde, Texas.<\/p>\n Both those two alleged gunmen showed signs that included perpetrating cruelty to animals \u2014 allegedly killing cats and airing the results online, according to ABC News<\/a>. The accused shooter in Uvalde \u2014 who was shot dead once authorities breached the classroom \u2013 allegedly threatened girls online<\/a> before opening fire at Robb Elementary School. He also posted photos of himself with a bag of dead cats.<\/p>\n People who commit animal abuse are five times more likely<\/a> to inflict deadly violence on fellow humans, according to a study cited by animal rights group PETA.<\/p>\n Those who knew the Uvalde shooter saw him change in the days and weeks leading up to his attack, The Associated Press reported. He did not reveal his concrete plans, however, until 30 minutes before he left arrived at the school, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>.<\/p>\n Weekdays<\/p>\n Catch up on the day\u2019s top five stories every weekday afternoon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/resizer\/Wxo9gGR_vI9M9G-RAE5LRpc7mxw=\/1440x0\/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/tronc\/NRZMYGARKVAQFN2ZXY3BJXJQNE.jpg\")
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The Daily News Flash<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n