Names will
surface
The desire of law enforcement officials to not give notoriety to mass killers is understandable. You don’t want to reward the murderers with the publicity they might have been seeking, nor do you want to encourage copycats who might have the same twisted idea of going out in a blaze of carnage.
Still, it’s counterproductive to try to withhold the names of the killers, since that only fuels an appetite to learn who they are. Once the information comes out, which is inevitable, the name goes viral on the internet, and the chase begins by journalists and others to track down as much as they can about the killer’s background and possible motivation — creating more publicity than might have otherwise occurred.
It’s not just a morbid curiosity in human beings to know about these killers. The public has a legitimate interest in trying to understand what makes them tick, so that the potential warning signs can be spotted in others before it’s too late.
Tim Kalich
Editor and Publisher
Greenwood Commonwealth
