海角大神

Aaron Ybarra, the young man charged with leaving a violent trail at Seattle Pacific University on Thursday, told a police dispatcher in 2010 that he had a 鈥渞age inside鈥� 鈥� the first recorded evidence of what police say became a plan to take as many lives as he could before killing himself.

As it was, Mr. Ybarra, police allege, killed one student and injured two others 鈥� one very seriously 鈥� before a fast-thinking student, 22-year-old Jon Meis, took advantage of Ybarra reloading the weapon and pepper-sprayed him. Meis and other students then pounced on the shooter, disarming him. Ybarra had brought 50 shotgun shells.

New details emerging about the build-up to the attack indicate Ybarra had long struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues, although the former community college student, his friends said, had seemed to be turning his life around. He was twice evaluated by psychiatrists, but was found 鈥渘ot detainable鈥� after his mother refused to have him admitted.

Ybarra had in 2010 called 911 in a drunken stupor, telling a dispatcher that he had a 鈥渞age inside鈥� and wanted to commit suicide. 鈥淗e wanted to hurt himself and others,鈥� according to a Mountlake Terrace police report. In 2012, police found him drunk in the street where Ybarra said he hoped a 鈥淪WAT team would make him famous.鈥�

In 2011, Ybarra took himself to an emergency room, telling staff that he got scared after hearing the voice of Columbine High School shooter Eric Harris in his head, telling him to hurt people. He was not detained.

He 鈥渇eels he identifies with one of the Columbine killers, whom he identified as Eric Harris,鈥� counselor Deldene J. Garner in a chemical dependency assessment filed in Edmonds Municipal Court, according to the Seattle Times.

The shooting was the second in a short span on the West Coast, coming only days after college student Elliot Rodger stabbed to death three people in his apartment before going on a drive-by shooting rampage near the University of California鈥檚 Santa Barbara campus, killing three more college students before shooting himself.

Mr. Rodger had written a long manifesto titled 鈥淎 Day of Retribution鈥� in which he vowed to take vengeance against the world for a variety of societal wrongs he perceived had been levied against him, including being ignored by women. Like Ybarra, police had investigated Rodger, but found no reason to have him detained for psychological evaluation.

It鈥檚 impossible to draw any kind of firm connections between the perpetrators in a series of shootings on college campuses and by college students in recent years. But patterns of narcissism, mental instability, and a building, often undefined 鈥渞age鈥� against the world are often factors in school shooting situations.

Peter Langman, author of 鈥淲hy Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters,鈥� told Lehigh University last year that school shooters often face a 鈥渟low build鈥� to violence that鈥檚 eventually precipitated by a single event, such as being 鈥渞ejected by a girl.鈥�

鈥淭hey are planning it, and it builds and builds,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ometimes the shooters have role models for violence. They look at Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School as a role model or Charles Manson or Hitler. They get into various ideologies that would support violence as appropriate. There are a lot of things coming together.鈥�

鈥淏ut you don鈥檛 have an ordinary kid who wakes up one day and becomes a mass murderer.鈥�

Ramonda Brandes, Ybarra's lawyer, said in a statement after Friday's court hearing that "Mr. Ybarra suffers from significant and long-standing mental health issues, including delusions, that were in play during yesterday's tragedy."

The statement went on: "I do not know at this point in time why Mr. Ybarra's illness brought him to Seattle Pacific University, but I can tell you that he recognizes the suffering of the victims and their families. He is sorry for their pain."

The fact that American colleges and their 20-something charges again and again become the focus of school shooting situations has begun to stir questions among at least some college students about what鈥檚 going on. Southern California college student Haylee Barber on Saturday that she can鈥檛 help but 鈥渨onder if a new type of civil war is upon us.鈥澛�