Alabama's Morning News with JT
Dr. Carole Lieberman tells us more about the shooter's mental state
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So, you know, once again, there were signs back in the days of his high school and being bullied and having his neighborhood friends or, you know, other people in the neighborhood discuss what he was kind of like and what the whole situation was at the home. Your thoughts on, you know, this 20 year old manifesting himself into the point where he felt he had to get on top of a roof. What's going on here? Well, a lot of dysfunction in the home. And it's so funny because the FBI came out the other day saying that he doesn't have mental illness. Well, maybe he doesn't have schizophrenia or manic depressive bipolar illness, but he certainly does have deep psychological problems. And that was, you can tell that by the fact that he was bullied so mercilessly, mercilessly. In fact, his classmates said he was relentlessly bullied. And kids who are bullied are kids who have problems. You know, the other kids sense that they are good targets to bullying, that they're, you know, there's something wrong with them. There's, you know, they will be affected more. They're weaker in some way. Now he was very intelligent, actually. So what is that? Well, let me pause you. Let me pause you right there for a second here. We always talk about people and shooters. Yeah, there's somewhat of a bullied background on them. Can we talk about people as opposed to talking about the person being bullied? Can we talk about bullyers just for a second as a psychologist or a psychiatrist? Yeah. What goes on in somebody's brain that thinks it's necessary to be a bully? Well, you know, there are also, there are bullies also have problems. Typically, bullies come, well, both actually, but typically, bullies come from families where they have been physically abused. And what happens is they identify what's called identify identification with the aggressor. So in other words, that means that they identify with the person who has been abusing them. They want to be the powerful one, not the victim. And so, yes, bullies have problems too. They just act out on them in a different way. They act aggressively with them, whereas the bullied, the victims, you know, cow or more. And they, you know, they attract this because bullies like to see, they pick on people who they think will react badly. Like, will react in a way to show that they are very hurt by the bullying, that they have been affected very, very badly, not just physically, you know, if the bully is hitting them or whatever. But psychologically, like, cowering a lot. And there's a video online about where one of his classmates, one of Thomas Crook's classmates, was pulling his leg, like literally pulling his pants leg. And he's saying, stop it. I don't know if you saw that one, but it's like, you know, and you could tell when he was saying, stop it, that it was really annoyed by it, really hurt, really scared. And that's the kind of thing that bullies like. All right, well, let's talk about this guy in his political background. He says he's a Republican, a registered Republican, donated to a PAC, I guess, for the Democrats. And there's a woman that's a Republican, I guess, neighborhood chair and, you know, hands out signs all the time for elections in the neighborhood there in Bethel Park. And she says, you know, the dad was a libertarian, there was no signs ever for Republican candidates in their yard or Democratic candidates for that matter. But, you know, he obviously had his opinions about Donald Trump and, you know, what drove that where he felt, you know, I've been bullied. So as opposed to just reacting and responding with, you know, a violent action towards the kids that he's around, he took it to the, you know, the level of going up onto a roof and coming after Donald Trump. Something was influencing him. Yes, I think, you know, first of all, there are so many contradictory reports about things like about the political leanings of his parents, for example. But I think that one of the things that drove him is that he was not just bullied, but he tried to join the gun club, the shooting club in high school. And they didn't, they rejected him. And he, you know, they made fun of him because he could shoot straight. Yeah, he was on the rifle team. And then they got rid of him because they thought he was dangerous. And then he joined a community shooting club or something. Well, yeah, he joined this and he went with his father to the shooting range in the community. But going back to the school, I think part of his motivation could be that he wanted revenge. He wanted to show these kids. Really, you think that I wasn't a good enough shot to be on your team? I'm going to shoot the biggest target or the most important target in the world. You know, I'll show you what a good shooter I am. And I think that that was a big part of it. I actually also think that his parents, first of all, there's something, whatever is ailing him, it has a lot to do with his father. And I think his parents should be charged just like Ethan Crumbly's parents were charged with manslaughter, you know, because that father, those parents actually, well, they did a lot of things wrong. You know, they were neglecting him terribly and so on. And they bought the father, bought him a gun. And just like, well, here, this father didn't buy him a gun per se that we know of yet. But he apparently, you know, one story is that he asked his father if he could borrow the gun that day. But if he borrowed it or he took it, you know, it obviously wasn't locked up. Right. Well, I think you're right. I think we're going to get to the point in the investigation that there'll be more about what's going on in that home. That's where it all starts and what was going on as far as knowing that he had potential to be violent. You know, what was going on with the guns, dad and mom, why were you saying something? You know, did you feed the beast? Did you not, you know, raise red flags about the beast? Something inside that home is going to come out and you're right there. Maybe charges coming down the road for the family members. Well, doctor, I appreciate you being with us and we'll do it again soon. Thank you. Hello, it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps, you know, all the mundane stuff. That is why I'm such a big fan of Chamba Casino. 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