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Separate mass shootings that happened within 12 hours of each other were perpetrated by US military veterans last weekend.
According to the US Census Bureau, only about seven percent of Americans are veterans. However, data from The Violence Project reveals that 26 percent of mass shooters over the past six decades had military experience.
Professor Carl Castro from the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work explained to the Daily Mail that this discrepancy might be due to the emotional, cognitive, and financial difficulties veterans encounter when transitioning to civilian life.
Castro, who served in the US Army for over 30 years, said: ‘They think that transition is going to be a piece of cake.
‘But there’s a significant number who struggle in that transition because they didn’t anticipate a lot of the challenges they’re going to have.’
He said that many veterans are looking for compatible lifestyles after becoming civilians, only to find that impossible.
Castro noted, ‘Many veterans don’t realize that matching the lifestyle they had in the military requires a civilian job paying $90,000-$100,000 annually, a salary that’s challenging to secure immediately after leaving the military.’
Iraq war veteran Thomas Sanford, 40, was identified as the Michigan church shooter. He is seen here in military uniform. He allegedly killed four
Nigel Edge, 40, allegedly killed three people and injured five in Southport, North Carolina
That system shock can often be accompanied by difficulties in friendships or relationships, Castro added.
‘They’re not ready for the emotions that they have when they look around and all of their high school peers are much further along in their careers than they are,’ he said. ‘They are starting over again.’
For some veterans, that restart can often feel meaningless.
Castro explained: ‘This feeling of ‘what I did in the military was important,’ and now what I’m doing is like, ‘Who cares even if I did this job that I’m doing?’
That contrast can become even starker when veterans compare their current lives to their time serving.
For some, Castro said, the experience of being deployed and in combat can never be topped – but it goes away after leaving the military.
He said: ‘They may not be there right away, but in about two-to-three years, they start looking fondly back upon their time in the military.
In many cases, it’s one of the best times of their life.’
Sanford allegedly rammed his car into a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, before setting it ablaze and shooting at congregants
The car Sanford allegedly drove into the church is seen above. Pictured: Firefighters work to contain the blaze on Sunday
Edge allegedly used an assault rifle to shoot at a waterfront bar from a boat on Saturday night. A scene photo is seen above
But then, veterans return to real life and face various forms of ‘rejection’, Castro said.
That can result in ‘lone wolf’ shooters, which is what happened last weekend as the figure of mass shooters with prior military experience grew to include Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, and Nigel Edge, 40.
Both had been deployed to Iraq.
Edge allegedly killed three people and injured five in Southport, North Carolina, on September 27 around 9.30pm after using an assault rifle to shoot at a waterfront bar from a boat.
He is a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, Southport police chief Todd Coring said at a news conference.
The 40-year-old – whose birth name was Sean William Debevoise – was a Purple Heart recipient. Edge’s last assignment was with a Wounded Warrior battalion.
In addition, he was awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, two Iraq Campaign Medals, Humanitarian Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
Edge was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and 2006, and served about six years in the Marines from 2003 to 2009, according to ABC News.
According to Facebook, Sanford has a wife and child and he served in Iraq
About 12 hours later, Sanford rammed his car into a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, before setting it ablaze and shooting at congregants, killing at least four and injuring eight.
He was shot dead by police in the church’s parking lot.
The former Marine served from 2004 to 2008, working as an automotive mechanic and vehicle recovery operator.
Sanford was also deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2007 to March 2008.
He left the Marines ranked as sergeant.
One family friend told journalist Ty Steele that Sanford had been battling post-traumatic stress disorder.
She said: ‘It’s hard to feel sad for someone who did something so terrible, and I still feel sad. I had heard through family events that he had had PTSD.
‘He would make comments occasionally and it was something that was kind of talked about. It wasn’t talked about in depth… so I don’t know the depth of his issues.’
Sanford was a father-of-one.
Gene Petrino, a retired SWAT Commander, said that Sanford and Edge’s stories were part of the wider trend regarding the abandonment of veterans.
Grand Blanc is a suburb of Flint, located around 60 miles northwest of central Detroit
Petrino told the Daily Mail: ‘What ends up happening is you’re just like, cut off. You are released from the military and you’re expected just to survive on your own.
‘There’s really not a lot in place to help the soldiers transition to civilian life – especially those that are really struggling.’
He added: If you think about it, you’re with a group of people that you’re with 24/7 and then all of a sudden, you’re not.
‘You’re abandoned by your brothers, essentially, and so you have that loneliness.’
Both shootings in Michigan and North Carolina, Petrino said, were preventable.
Going forward, he wants to see more done to safeguard veterans after they leave the military.
Petrino said: ‘My opinion is that it’s really a failure that we are not doing more when they’re exiting the service. It needs to not just be once just a one time thing. There needs to be continuing follow-up with them as well.
When it comes to the military, I think that we really are failing the veterans.’
Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009
Military jury sentenced Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood
Military service is not a predictor of mass shooters, as only a minuscule portion of veterans carry out these heinous acts. Time in the military also does not mean combat experience.
However, veterans show up much more frequently among shooters than in the general US population.
Veterans carried out four of the 15 deadliest mass shootings in modern American history: the 1966 UT-Austin Tower shooting that killed 15, the 1991 Luby’s Cafeteria shooting that killed 23, the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting that killed 26 and the 2023 Lewiston shootings that killed 18.
The full list is extensive.
In 2002, the deadliest mass shooting in Massachusetts history was executed by Michael McDermott. The US Navy veteran gunned down seven of his coworkers using an AK-47 variant rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .32 caliber pistol.
Seven years later, then-major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 at Fort Hood, Texas. It was the worst mass murder at a military base in US history.
Earlier this summer, Army Sergeant Quornelius Radford shot and injured five soldiers at the Fort Stewart base in southeast Georgia.
Radford, who was a supply sergeant, enlisted in January 2018. He had not been deployed.
Following the Grand Blanc, Michigan, shooting, Donald Trump posted that Sanford, the suspect, was dead and ‘there is still a lot to learn.’
The US president added on Truth Social: ‘In the meantime, PRAY for the victims, and their families.
‘THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!’
