It's like a pack of wolves have descended on a flock of sheep and we're imagining if we could only get a better autopsy of the dead sheep our improved understanding of the exact mechanism of death would lead to a solution.

We know what happened to the sheep: they were torn apart by wolves. Wolves aren't sheep with an alternate point of view -- they're wolves. The sheep will keep dying until the wolves are stopped.

Harder to tell nutjob from sane, apparently.

It is important that we as a society try to figure out what gives someone a head full of bad ideas like this, and not all of us who ask are in the "thoughts and prayers" category attempting to distract from gun control. No civilian needs the kind of firepower he had, and that's part of the answer, but we'd be even better off answering the "why", since someone like this can still do a lot if damage with a car, ammonium nitrate (which he had as well), etc.

I work in the field of biomedical research. I think after every such incident, immediate blood samples should be drawn from the suspect (living or dead), and frozen for later research studies. Some of us out here have some hypotheses, but they aren't easy to test right now.

Focusing on the perpetrators in the wrong way won't help and will actually do more harm if they're only used as scapegoats. For example, focusing on how evil/mentally ill the shooters are gives gun advocates a way to distract from lack of gun regulation. It can also be stigmatizing, because not all or even most mentally ill people are violent. Mass shootings happen because of easy access to lots of guns. THAT should be the focus.