What drives a woman to do this?

What can drive a person to not only kill themselves but kill everyone around them in a slow, methodical and calculated way? On this, I suppose we'll never know for sure but these cases are becoming a bit too common these days...

GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. -- A 36-year-old woman killed herself after shooting six people, including her two sons and three other children in the head.

Before shooting herself, investigators say Holder shot her sons and three other children in the head, killing 3 of them.

The victims include Holder's sons, Zachary Lee Smith, 14 and Robert "Dylan" Smith, 17, as well as Holder's niece, Hannaleigh Michelle Suttles, 8. Holder's nephew, Richard "Ricky" Brian Suttles, 17 remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Dylan Smith's girlfriend, Makayla Leigh Woods, 15, was still in the hospital Monday, but doctors said her condition has improved.

Holder's estranged boyfriend, Randall Scott Lamb, 40, suffered non life-threatening injuries and is listed in stable condition.

Source Article
Some of the victims...

It isn't just the madness that drove this woman to the extreme behavior we're reading about here, but the apparent lack of fight the others put up? Susan Smith was a case where the children were just that.... children. Even if Smith hadn't been their mom, there is little hope for a small child resisting a full adult. I look at this story here though and I see a 14, 15, 17 and 40yr old, among others. Whats is happening??

Am I the ONLY one who would drop what I am doing and get up with an immeddiate and hard fight on my mind at the second, if not the first gunshot I heard?? I mean c'mon. I understand it's their Mother, but that would only cause me to re-direct my actions to injure and not outright kill the obvious threat....I damn sure wouldn't take being executed without fighting with every last bit of energy I could muster in my defense. I'm just left reading this and shaking my head in confusion on several levels.

The heading should be 'What drives a person to do this?' Or are you saying this case is special because it's a woman? People lose it all the time. Everone has it in them whether they realise it or not. Just recently I saw a documentary about a normal loving family man - he wouldn't hurt a fly. And then one day he tried to kill his wife with a pickaxe. As for resistance, well with a gun it's over before you know what's happening. Best argument for gun control ever.

It would be damn hard for me to take physical action against my own mother, but if I saw that she was killing my family members, I would just have to instantly accept the fact that she was no longer my mother, as something obviously other than her came over her. Did they have any insight as to why she might have done this? Of course, no body will probably know what was going on in her head, but still, it is quite unexpected of a mother. Makes me curious.

its more like HUMAN!


we all know that females are a bit crazy.....

Liberalism breeds pacifism. Pacifism breeds liberalism. It is a vicious circle. Liberals only believe in killing the unborn. I believe it is because they cannot fight back.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Uhh, I think something called "the love of your mother" would be enough to have someone resist killing, pacifist or not.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


I've been following this since it broke. She had been seeing a married man, he ended it and had to get a restraining order against her. She also shot him but only "winged" him in the shoulder. Why take it out on her family and their friend(s) though?

reply to post by claireaudient


Hmm, well, if she had a restraining order placed against her then she must have had, at least, some emotional problems or was probably be viewed as "mentally unstable". Who know why people do the things they do when they have a breakdown.

Every single human has the urge to kill every single day.

It's our ability to suppress those urges that makes us human.

This is a really sad story, I thought the same thing when reading a few days ago; How could she kill them all? Why didn't anyone fight back? I too would have entered the room ready to fight with whatever weapon I could get my hands on.. Really just a sickening and sad story. None of her victims other than the ex boyfriend had any direct involvement in the situation either. I think this was a crazy lady trying to prove a point.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
Liberalism breeds pacifism. Pacifism breeds liberalism. It is a vicious circle. Liberals only believe in killing the unborn. I believe it is because they cannot fight back.

What does this have to do with anything?

I believe in many liberal ideologies. I take care of people around me. I give my time and money to help those with less than I have.

That being said, I would not hesitate one instant to defend my family, myself, or even innocent people (I have done so before and would do so again.)

Stop trying to turn a tragic story into a political statement. You obviously have very flawed reasoning skills.. You should close ATS and pick up Dr Seuss.

reply to post by starchild10

Best argument for gun control ever.

NO! This is not an argument for gun control! At all! In any shape of form!

This is just one example among many of the insanity that is becoming more common in this world.

Originally posted by ErroneousDylan
reply to post by DarthMuerte

 

Uhh, I think something called "the love of your mother" would be enough to have someone resist killing, pacifist or not.

edit on 27-11-2011 by ErroneousDylan because: Type

ummm, how can you love your mother when she killed you before birth?

Family annihilators are fairly well documented form of mass murderer, if not well understood.

Entitlement. I suspect further deep personal hatred, to the point that they literally want to annihilate everything about themselves.

They "own" their spouses, and their children are part of themselves literally sharing their genes. The others seem to be fear types, trying to save themselves (and again all versions of themselves) by sending them to a safer place.

Then there seems to be the ones that turn it around and they are trying to annihilate everything associated to the other parent as retribution.

www.ncjrs.gov...


There have always been these people. There isn't more of them now. Now we just recognize what they are.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Not really sure what you are going on about here, but alright.

Originally posted by ErroneousDylan
reply to post by DarthMuerte

 

Not really sure what you are going on about here, but alright.

Read my original statement. Then read your response to my original statement. Then reread my response to your response. Maybe it will make a little more sense then.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I do not understand why you think it is worse if a woman does this...

Originally posted by starchild10
Best argument for gun control ever.

I know personally a case in which a father and husband poisoned the food before his wife, two daughters and a son got up for breakfast, so they would all be killed. No need for a gun if really want to do it.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


My response to you was relevant to the topic at hand, not abortion. I was stating about "love of the mother" in relation to the family being discussed. I was only replying to the point you made about "pacifism", nothing else.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Am I the ONLY one who would drop what I am doing and get up with an immeddiate and hard fight on my mind at the second, if not the first gunshot I heard?? I mean c'mon.

This bugs me about every massacre situation. 1 or 2 people can save dozens if they just charge, but it takes so long for anyone to do it. Why?

I think we've all been so conditioned to wait for someone else to rush in to save us. There are very few people that would realize they are supposed to fight back! Even on ATS, I often see people saying to just go along with an attacker or a rapist or whatever. That is terrible advice. FIGHT!

Now, with all that said. When I was 15, I can't imagine my mother shooting my little brother. It would have been so far beyond belief that I would have probably frozen too. Suppose my Mom walks in, shoots my girlfriend, I'm gonna freak out, but I'm not going to attack her, then she shoots my little brother, and I'm totally flabbergasted, don't know what to do, and then she shoots me. It could happen. Even if I was the oldest, strongest person in the room, its still Mom! I wouldn't understand, I wouldn't comprehend, and I wouldn't know what to do.

Hell, I'm 37, and my Mom will be in town in a couple of weeks for Christmas. If she were to snap and shoot my Dad, I wouldn't immediately attack her. If she then turned the gun on my brother or wife, it might be too late to save them.

The only thing I can say with absolute certainty..... if anyone, including Mom, pointed a gun in the general direction of my kids (age 4 and 5), I am immediately tackling and disarming them and chastising them, even if it wasn't intentionally threatening! I am extremely protective of those little guys, but I can't say I would be so quick to react otherwise. It is hard to know what is going on, and I trust her, so I would likely assume she was shooting folks for a reason, LOL!