Two separate mass shootings — one at a Michigan church and the other at a North Carolina bar — involved suspects who were reportedly Iraq War veterans. The incidents highlight the complex and “often misunderstood” link between military service and mass violence, says James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist. The two incidents are not necessarily emblematic of a trend among military veterans, Fox says. He notes that about 23% of all public mass shootings (defined by four or more victims) are committed by individuals with some military service, though not necessarily combat experience.
Thomas Jacob Sanford is alleged to have crashed a vehicle into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, during Sunday services before opening fire on hundreds of worshipers and setting the building ablaze. The 40-year-old former Marine was killed in a shootout with law enforcement. Sanford is reported to have completed tours in Japan and Iraq after graduating from high school.
Nigel Edge was arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out a mass shooting in Southport, North Carolina, from the water while driving his boat up to a dock-front bar and opening fire on diners. Edge, who reportedly changed his name from Sean Debevoise, is a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2005. In 2006, he was awarded a Purple Heart, according to NPR. Edge is said to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Roughly 13.4% of U.S. men are reported to have served in the armed forces in some capacity, compared to just 1.4% of women, data shows. Fox says military veterans are “somewhat” overrepresented in the data, but that shooters’ profiles — at least in the U.S. — don’t fit any particular stereotype.
