COLUMNS

Living in a Time of Twitter and Mass Murder in the U.S.

undefined and VP of Tactical Analysis
Scott Stewart
VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Apr 10, 2018 | 08:00 GMT

An attacker armed with a handgun targeted employees at YouTube's San Bruno, California, campus. Three people were wounded in the shooting, which received massive media attention.

Gunshots erupted at YouTube's offices in California on Tuesday, sparking a panicked escape by employees and a massive police response, before the shooter -- a woman -- apparently committed suicide. Police said three people had been hospitalized with gunshot injuries following the shooting.

(JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The number of mass public attacks in the United States has increased, and the media attention they generate has created the impression that the country is more dangerous than ever despite historically low homicide rates.
  • While mass public attacks accounted for less than 1 percent of all homicides in the United States last year, their indiscriminate nature is a cause for concern, but not panic. 
  • Authorities and security managers must continue working to prevent such attacks and to train people to respond to them. At the same time, individuals must take responsibility for their own security and be prepared to react in the off chance that they find themselves near a mass public attack. 
 

On nice days YouTube employees would enjoy their lunch hour in the enclosed courtyard at the company headquarters in San Bruno, California. However, that lunchtime routine was shattered on April 3, when a woman entered the courtyard through an unlocked gate from the parking garage and opened fire with a 9 mm handgun. She wounded three YouTube employees -- one remains hospitalized -- before taking her own life. The shooting unfolded in real time on social media and cable news, captivating public attention. It also illustrates two points: how media coverage of such shootings creates more vicarious than actual victims and how that coverage makes the United States appear to be more dangerous than it is....

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