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He was carrying all of the evidence with him, including the fake ID he used at the hostel, the gun & suppressor, mask, and even a handwritten manifesto that poi
by breadwinner 2y ago
He was carrying all of the evidence with him, including the fake ID he used at the hostel, the gun & suppressor, mask, and even a handwritten manifesto that points to his motivation. It seems he wanted to be found.
- qzw 2y agoExactly my thoughts as well. Every piece of evidence law enforcement has was basically intentionally provided by him. If he just stuffed his trash in one of his 7 pockets, or wore a pair of sunglasses, or didn't actually stare straight at the camera in the taxi like he was getting his school picture taken? I mean pretty much the only thing he failed to do was leave his business card at the crime scene.
- Smar 2y agoBut the calling card needs to be left the previous day.
- JesseTG 2y agoThey'll never see it coming!
- aorloff 2y agoVersion 2.0 of this crime will feature the shooter having the forethought to have put a bitcoin wallet address on the front of his mask as he traipsed around in front of the cameras. And boy howdy, the sparks will fly then
- evoke4908 2y agoAs bad ideas go, this has to be one of the best.
- ALittleLight 2y agoBefore releasing the pictures authorities would redact the address.
- aorloff 2y agoBut the internet.
- worthless-trash 2y agoI don't think they'd know what it was.
- kaladin-jasnah 2y agoMy lack of socialization really shows when I first thought this to be a reference to the Persona video game.
- cpill 2y agoI guess the next one can learn from this one and they will iteratively get better at not getting caught.
- qzw 2y agoIn the movie "Wag the Dog", Dustin Hoffman plays a Hollywood producer who is hired by the President to create a fake war to take attention away from another scandal. Spoiler alert Near the end, Hoffman's character is upset that the President's re-election is credited to something else instead of his handiwork. Even when told he's risking his life if he says anything, he yells "I want the credit!". I think a similar psychology may be at work in this and other crimes that become (in)famous.
- elliotec 2y agoI _think_ what you're getting at is saying the suspect wants the credit, in response to the parent saying the next one will be better at evasion by learning from his mistakes, right? And implying the next one might not want to evade either? I have no speculation here just looking for clarification on the movie reference.
- qzw 2y agoYes, that's what I'm trying to say. Obviously anybody who goes to the trouble of penning a manifesto is a hero/protagonist in their own narrative. When they see that their acts have captured the attention or even admiration of a significant portion of the public, the urge to stand up and say "I'm the one who did this great deed, and here's why" will often overpower the instinct for self preservation.
- ZeroGravitas 2y agoThis is the topic of the wonderfully named Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Imp of the Perverse: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe/short-fiction/text/the-imp-of-the-perverse https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe/short-fict...
- 2y ago
- tdeck 2y agoThe Identity Killer strikes again https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CiVFn1vEIiM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CiVFn1vEIiM
- whaleofatw2022 2y agoIt would be interesting to see if he's banking on jury nullification being within the Overton window...
- MichaelZuo 2y agoOr maybe he’s just not that smart… it’s pretty much expected some number will lose their marbles and become semi-deranged or fully deranged every year. I’d guess at least 1 in ten thousand per annum. Which would equate to hundreds of newly deranged developers per year in the US.
- _heimdall 2y agoMost people don't even know what jury nullification is, and even fewer realize it is in fact legal. I'd be surprised if he was banking on that.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoI don't think he was banking on that, but I thought it interesting that posts about jury nullification were all over the front page on Reddit today, e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1haimhk/til_that_a_jury_does_not_have_to_convict_a_guilty/ https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1haimhk/til_... and https://old.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/1haejf4/new_yorkers_need_to_look_up_jury_nullification/ https://old.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/1haejf4...
- bryanrasmussen 2y agomaybe the prosecutor will refuse anyone who knows what jury nullification is
- throwaway48476 2y agoUsually it's phrased differently but it's on the form.
- 2y ago
- zxcvbnm69 2y ago[dead]
- bbqfog 2y agoMaybe he saw how the world basically thought he was an amazing hero and he wanted to let people know who he really is.
- analog31 2y agoIndeed, when the alternative was to be a nobody, on the lam, for the rest of his life.
- fooqux 2y agoHow so? All he had to do was continue to fly under the radar for a few more weeks until everyone forgot about it. Being on the lam implies they knew his identity; they did not.
- groos 2y agoMurder is hard on your soul. He wouldn't be able to go back to life as usual.
- pmarreck 2y agoIf I nonjudgmentally assumed you speak from personal experience, doesn't it also depend on the person, their sensitivity, vulnerabilities etc.? I have a 3.5 year old toddler and it sure feels hard on my soul right now (he just behaved the worst he's ever behaved in daycare today, to the point that they had to isolate him... and this is me dealing with it after only 3 hours of sleep, since he also keeps waking up every night ever since he turned 3... "sleep regression" should be called "slow parricide via toddler non-sleep")
- Clubber 2y agoIt gets better.
- quantified 2y ago
- JKCalhoun 2y agoIf that's the case, you make a call to a reporter — and then walk into a police station to surrender to authorities.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- cellwebb 2y agoI mean if he's giving himself up, why not gift a mcdonald's employee 60k?
- booleandilemma 2y agoI can't help but think of another nyc shooter, Frank James, who was also caught at a McDonald's after turning himself in. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/search-new-york-subway-gunman-centers-man-who-rented-u-haul-van-2022-04-13/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/search-new-york-subway-gunm...
- Clubber 2y agoMore evidence that McDonalds is really bad for you.
- BurningFrog 2y agoOnly if you have no sense for drama. That's not this guy.
- aorloff 2y agoThe only part I don't get now is the cell phone I assumed he had some help with the timing via the burner phone But this all looks very lone wolfish now
- hughesjj 2y agoI still don't get how he knew where the guy would be
- throwaway48476 2y agoIf you're a shareholder you get a postcard in the mail with the time and address of public meetings.
- shoooooooooota 2y agoBut not "he will leave the building at this 30 second interval. As needed for a walk up on a busy city street that is well policed.
- throwaway48476 2y agoHonestly I think it was luck.
- hawski 2y agoHe had 10 days to find out on site.
- griffzhowl 2y agoYeah, the timing is a question I still have. At first it sounded like he was only there a few minutes before the CEO appeared. Later information sounds like he might have been hanging around outside for longer. I haven't seen a knowledgable evaluation of how plausible it is that he would have known where Thompson was going to be based only on public information.
- 2y ago
- anothernewdude 2y ago1. This guy has a tight alibi and the shooter is elsewhere. 2. This guy has a terminal illness. 3. This guy is bankrupt after healthcare debt + buying backpacks.
- K0balt 2y agoIt’s all very convenient and airtight, very nicely packaged. I’m not saying it’s not exactly what it looks like, just kinda makes me think huh. Either the perp really wanted to be caught, or someone really wants to close this case. I’m going with he wanted to be caught, since he’s apparently not an actual idiot. So just a relatively smart privileged dude swept away by dark ideology? It wouldn’t be the first time. If there’s any more to it, we won’t likely know.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tomlockwood 2y agoMaybe he was planning to do another.
- typeofhuman 2y agoThis fits.
- pcblues 2y agoAgreed. He seems to be smart enough to never be caught. Could just be the need to be liked/famous/known. On the other hand, he might not have expected to be noticed by someone who knew him. That's a real 0.01% you can't predict in your perfect planning.
- kadoban 2y agoHow many similar crimes go unsolved? It can't be common. I doubt it's a matter of just being smart.
- garrettgarcia 2y agoHe doesn't seem smart at all... He took off his mask in front of a camera to flirt with a receptionist. He left a long extensive trail of evidence. He manifesto sounds like it was written by a 14 year old. It only took him four days to get caught. Like most criminals, he is not smart.
- Vampiero 2y agoLike most criminals who get caught*
- hsavit1 2y agoIt’s very difficult to not get caught in a total over militarized surveillance state. He is not stupid
- sumeno 2y agoLess than 50% of murders are solved these days[1]. If he hadn't been carrying around all of the evidence and was more careful with the mask he very well may have gotten away with it, the NYPD had no clue who or where he was [1] https://www.npr.org/2023/04/29/1172775448/people-murder-unsolved-killings-record-high https://www.npr.org/2023/04/29/1172775448/people-murder-unso...
- Gud 2y ago
- xivzgrev 2y agoI don’t think so, per article: He "became quiet and started to shake" when asked if he had recently been to New York, according to the criminal complaint filed in Pennsylvania. Being smart can lead to arrogance, which leads to stumbles. like carrying evidence, dining in public, etc.
- garrettgarcia 2y agoHe says in the manifesto that they won't take him alive. He planned to go out shooting, then wimped out.
- thatwasunusual 2y ago_Alleged_ manifesto. We still don't know if it's real.
- Cumpiler69 2y agoThis. I expect a lot of fake/AI generated scams will be banking on this media hype to make some money while the iron is hot.
- nashashmi 2y agoI doubt he was arrogant. I think he was on the run and didn’t have any place to put away the evidence. Probably homeless this whole time. And had to go to get food at some point.
- anigbrowl 2y agoIt's been several days, he had plenty of time to wipe stuff down and dump it. I don't think this is arrogance necessarily, perhaps isolation and paranoia.
- RajT88 2y agoProbably hadn't really thought through the specifics of tossing evidence. Bodies of water are popular for disposing of things, because it's a huge PITA to find things there. Imagine how hard it might be in a large local pond, and then multiply that in complexity for a rather big river. Or an inland sea like the Great Lakes. Don't even multiply for those; it's a stupidly big irrelevant number.
- vFunct 2y agoAnd he really could have gotten away with it if he wanted to. Im sure he noticed online the vast population of people willing to hide him or provide an alibi.
- fsckboy 2y agoor, he didn't think he would get caught and his plan to was move on to victim #2.
- doctorpangloss 2y ago[flagged]
- lgrapenthin 2y agoCould as well have walked into a police station or uploaded the manifesto on his GitHub.
- 77pt77 2y ago> including the fake ID he used at the hostel I've stayed at that place multiple times, though years ago. They did check ID, but never copied it. I wonder how they knew it was fake.
- wildzzz 2y agoDo they record names of guests? It would take two seconds to ask the NJ DMV if someone by that name exists. If they don't, then the ID was probably fake. If there is someone by that name, showing the real ID photos to the hostel receptionist would quickly clear up whether the ID is fake or not. The receptionist flirted with him and got him to show his face so there's a good chance she'd be able to look at some photos and say whether any of them look like the guy.
- 77pt77 2y agoLast time I was there they wouldn't even record NJ. They recorded name on reservation and maybe DOB. The place had cameras everywhere apart from inside rooms and bathrooms. I can't believe that was the only time they got him on camera.
- gruez 2y ago>Last time I was there they wouldn't even record NJ. >They recorded name on reservation and maybe DOB. I'm sure the cops can run the same name/DOB combination through the databases of all 50 states + DC, and rule out any that don't match the surveillance footage.
- mmooss 2y agoOnce the police traced the suspect to the hostel, wouldn't they check the relevant IDs?
- 77pt77 2y agoWhat ID? The hostel had none. They never copied it. They never wrote ID numbers either. They checked the name and that was it. Unless it changed in the last year or so.
- bufferoverflow 2y agoOr the most obvious case of setup ever.
- NooneAtAll3 2y agocan be both killer's and police's setup too
- xwrzz 2y agoHe didn't want to be found but thought it was a non-zero possibility is being ruled out why?
- ProAm 2y agoJury nullification!
- ProAm 2y agoJury Nullification!
- pmontra 2y agoIf this is a vendetta, the goal was achieved and there was nothing more to do. He had to give himself two goals, the vendetta and not get caught, which is more difficult than one goal. A hired killer would pursue both goals routinely as a mean to stay in business but not an amateur and anyway not as effectively.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> seems he wanted to be found He was presumably en route somewhere. Disposing of a fake ID such that forensics can’t get anything useful off it isn’t easily done on the run / incognito. (And if his inspiration is the Unabomber, he presumably had more targets.)
- someotherperson 2y agoSurely you recognize that all you need to do is to rub it on some concrete for a couple of minutes to completely destroy it right? Not to mention if you owned a pair of scissors or a lighter or something…
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> you recognize that all you need to do is to rub it on some concrete for a couple of minutes to completely destroy it right You're going to take time away from your actual escape to make yourself less incriminating in case you are caught? Should he have been grinding up IDs at the Greyhound bus terminal in New York? Right after the whole city heard about the shooting? Or should he have waited until after the FBI plastered the nation with his face? > if you owned a pair of scissors or a lighter or something Scissors won't take care of fingerprints, let alone DNA. As for the lighter, again, where do you propose he do this without attracting attention? Actually, I could see him having thought this would be easy to do, maybe even packing a lighter and scissors, only to realise in execution that you can't start burning IDs on a bus without someone noticing.
- someotherperson 2y agoRespectfully, none of what you’re describing is real life. Police don’t go around fingerprinting random pieces of plastic. You can just deface it in any way and throw it out the window on a highway or into any trash can and it will quite literally never be found.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
- nadermx 2y agoWhat about those eye brows though?
- qingcharles 2y agoA lot of people who commit crimes are suffering from a range of untreated mental illnesses. They are not always firing on all cylinders all of the time, leading to weirdness like this.
- jajko 2y agoMost folks with mental illnesses live among us, not in mental institutions. If on a scale 1-10 you have something like bipolar on 1 or 2, you can sort of function with some meds. Sort of, until SHTF and emotions go haywire. Keeping relationships is hard, be it personal or professional, so folks struggle but from outside they often just appear 'weird'. Wife is a GP doctor, maybe 1/3rd of her patients have some form of this.
- qingcharles 2y ago100% this. I've seen stats saying 20% of people in jail have untreated mental illness. I've spent a lot of time in jails and I would say it has be 80%+ because a lot of people can function enough to live in society and hide their symptoms until the point where they do something criminal.
- throwaway48476 2y agoThis guy had bad back problems and got surgery but it was probably ongoing. He got kicked off his parents insurance at 26 and ran out of money.
- zusammen 2y ago[dead]
- shalmanese 2y agoHe was working for TrueCar as a data engineer, he had employee provided health insurance.
- another2another 2y agoAlso (I'm hoping) the trauma of taking another person's life must be hugely upsetting. I'm hoping it's not something you do lightly, and is not without personal consequences (guilt,shame, shock,.. dunno).
- jjallen 2y agoHe could be taking lots of medication for his back pain which could cause him to think not so rationally
- gwd 2y ago> It seems he wanted to be found. I talked to someone personally who at some point had committed a series of crimes, and at some point they started doing things that were more and more likely to get them caught; they told me they thought to themselves, "What am I doing?" But they didn't stop, and eventually got caught. In a different story, a few years ago I dropped my wallet on the sidewalk outside my house, and someone picked it up and tried to use one of the credit cards in it. Then they got in a fight which got them arrested; and the police found my wallet (with my ID and everything) in their possession. Why get in a fight that's going to get you arrested just at the moment when you have stolen property in your pocket? My take is this: We present to others, and even ourselves, the illusion that there's just one unified "self"; but really inside there are a number of independent motivations within us. In both cases above, I think there was a part of those people who felt guilty and actually did want to be caught and punished. It's possible there was something similar going on with the guy who shot the CEO: one part of him had managed to plan everything perfectly so that he could get away; but there was a saboteur. It couldn't ahead of time prevent him from doing the shooting, but it could afterwards prevent him from disposing of the evidence and ensure that he got caught.
- navane 2y agoThere's a decent book written about exactly this, Crime and Punishment, by one of those Russians. Pretty hilarious read too.
- alabhyajindal 2y agoI immediately thought of this when I read the parent comment.
- shishy 2y agoone of those Russians... lol Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- kiba 2y ago"Wait, this doesn't make sense", believe it or not, is not the default state of humanity, nor is it even the majority of our thoughts. I know I am not doing my body and health a favor. There's a tool called journaling, but I am not even using it right now. It's a very useful tool to get your mind into thinking "wait, this doesn't make sense", or "why am I behaving this way?" Everyday, I say to myself that I am speeding up my decline in health, and yet nothing changes(because I don't journal).
- prawn 2y agoMy guess is that he assumed he'd be caught early, wasn't, and then got a bit overwhelmed with the reality of staying on the loose. That would've been overwhelming: finding places to sleep, transport, eating, etc. A gun and ID might've felt like tools that still had use, so he was yet to discard them. Why you'd eat-in at a fast food place rather than just go via some low level Chinese takeaway though!
- Cumpiler69 2y ago>A gun and ID might've felt like tools that still had use Exactly. A gun, even without ammo, still allows you to get out of hairy situations: steal a car, force someone to drive you somewhere, etc >Why you'd eat-in at a fast food place rather than just go via some low level Chinese takeaway though! Maybe he though he'd be more anonymous in a major fast food chain, and you stand out more in a Chinese place.
- soygem 2y agoYup, looks like a CIA glowop.