Domestic violence & terrorism: both rooted in toxic masculinity
Mass Shootings & The Silent Scourge of Domestic Violence
. . .
Consider the cases below, which exemplify the different manifestations of the connection between domestic violence and mass shootings.
. . .
Esteban Santiago, the alleged assailant in a January 2017 mass shooting that left five people dead at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, had previously been prosecuted for physically assaulting his girlfriend. According to the Daily Beast, Santiago was charged for an incident in which he struck his girlfriend in the head and strangled her after breaking down a bathroom door to get to her.
Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at Orlandos Pulse night club in June 2016, had a years-long history of spousal abuse, including physically abusing his wife for not finishing household chores. A former co-worker, Daniel Gilroy, said Mateen was also incredibly misogynistic and racist, and had a temper that was scary in a concerning way. He did not like women at all, Gilroy told NBC News. He did like women in a sexual way, but he did not respect them.
He did not like women at all. He did like women in a sexual way, but he did not respect them.
John Russell Houser, who murdered two women and injured nine others in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, before turning the gun on himself, also had an extensive history of domestic and family violence.
Robert Lewis Dear, who killed three people and injured nine others when he opened fire at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015, had been arrested for rape and accused of domestic violence by two of his ex-wives.
https://medium.com/RVAwonk/mass-shootings-the-silent-scourge-of-domestic-violence-7f84beb28d9a