As the nation reckons with an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies overseeing the investigation into Saturday’s shooting are searching for a motive. But a motive may never be found, according to James Alan Fox, professor of criminology, public policy and law at Northeastern, who’s spent decades studying public mass shootings. That’s because the search for a motive in many cases often amounts to, as one psychiatrist puts it, an “exercise in fruitless speculation and wasted resources.”
It’s a natural response to tragedy: the asking of why. The reasons often begin with some grievance, but the particulars — what drives a person to commit an act of violence — can be elusive, Fox says. In the case of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who authorities say attempted to assassinate Trump, determining a motive may prove even more difficult, as investigators have yet to discover any social media handles or writings linked to him. His political leanings are similarly hard to discern — he’s a registered Republican, but made a small donation to a Democratic cause.
