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The persistent crime that connects mass shooters and terror suspects: Domestic violence
The persistent crime that connects mass shooters and terror suspects: Domestic violence
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The persistent crime that connects mass shooters and terror suspects: Domestic violence
By Mark Berman August 15 at 2:25 PM
Before police in Virginia arrested a 20-year-old man they said plowed his car into a group of activists in Charlottesville over the weekend, killing one and injuring 19 others, the same man had come to the attention of law enforcement in another state. In 2010, police records show, the mother of James Alex Fields Jr. called 911 to report that her son had hit her and threatened to beat her. During another 911 call, made the following year, Fields’s mother said he was “very threatening toward her,” the dispatcher noted.
These calls have helped shed some light on Fields’s life before the chaos in Charlottesville on Saturday. They were also grimly familiar. With the revelation of his mother’s terrified calls, Fields became the latest man accused of a potential terrorist attack or a mass killing to have previously been accused of domestic violence.
Fields has been held in a Charlottesville jail about two miles from the crash scene where, police say, he sped his Dodge Charger at a group of counterprotesters rallying Saturday against white supremacists. A judge on Monday denied bail for Fields, who has been charged with second-degree murder, among other counts. Federal charges could also follow. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the car attack meets the definition of domestic terrorism, and the Justice Department launched a federal civil rights investigation into what happened, dispatching counterterrorism prosecutors and counterterrorism FBI agents alike to probe the case on the day of the crash.
....
Time and time again, spasms of violence in public places have been followed by investigations into the attackers and suspects. Many of those probes have unearthed reports of violence or threatening behavior against women in their lives. While research has shown that domestic violence is not universally a factor preceding public attacks, it has cropped up often enough following high-profile incidents to constitute a disturbing, recognizable pattern.
....
Mark Berman covers national news for The Washington Post and anchors Post Nation, a destination for breaking news and stories from around the country. Follow @markberman
By Mark Berman August 15 at 2:25 PM
Before police in Virginia arrested a 20-year-old man they said plowed his car into a group of activists in Charlottesville over the weekend, killing one and injuring 19 others, the same man had come to the attention of law enforcement in another state. In 2010, police records show, the mother of James Alex Fields Jr. called 911 to report that her son had hit her and threatened to beat her. During another 911 call, made the following year, Fields’s mother said he was “very threatening toward her,” the dispatcher noted.
These calls have helped shed some light on Fields’s life before the chaos in Charlottesville on Saturday. They were also grimly familiar. With the revelation of his mother’s terrified calls, Fields became the latest man accused of a potential terrorist attack or a mass killing to have previously been accused of domestic violence.
Fields has been held in a Charlottesville jail about two miles from the crash scene where, police say, he sped his Dodge Charger at a group of counterprotesters rallying Saturday against white supremacists. A judge on Monday denied bail for Fields, who has been charged with second-degree murder, among other counts. Federal charges could also follow. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the car attack meets the definition of domestic terrorism, and the Justice Department launched a federal civil rights investigation into what happened, dispatching counterterrorism prosecutors and counterterrorism FBI agents alike to probe the case on the day of the crash.
....
Time and time again, spasms of violence in public places have been followed by investigations into the attackers and suspects. Many of those probes have unearthed reports of violence or threatening behavior against women in their lives. While research has shown that domestic violence is not universally a factor preceding public attacks, it has cropped up often enough following high-profile incidents to constitute a disturbing, recognizable pattern.
....
Mark Berman covers national news for The Washington Post and anchors Post Nation, a destination for breaking news and stories from around the country. Follow @markberman
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