So I'm reading up on the apparent background of the shooter in Rotterdam (note: identity not *officially* confirmed) who killed 3 people, and well...
- Seemingly traumatized by their treatment as an autistic person growing up (the "doesn't have empathy" claim was mentioned, among other things)
- Socially isolated, with a history of being abusive
- Shooting appears to have been a revenge shooting on people that they felt had slighted them in some manner
- Active 4chan user (an archived thread is where most of the background comes from, and enough details match the person that it looks credible to me)
- Supporter of the FvD (essentially the Dutch alt-right party) as well as Putin
- Slurs and conspiracy theories all over the place, is also an anti-vaxxer

This is possibly the clearest case I've seen so far of the recruitment process described by many folks; vulnerable/isolated/traumatized young guys are targeted with gradual fascist rhetoric, and that becomes their only social space.

I'm hesitant to post the link to the thread, because well, it's unfiltered 4chan. I'm not sure how other folks feel about this. Feedback is welcome.

And to be clear, none of this *justifies* what they have done. They are ultimately personally responsible for the actions they have taken.

But... the responsibility doesn't *end* with the shooter either. There's a very clear path towards how this happened, and a lot of people are not taking these origins (I don't want to call them 'root causes') seriously enough. This is absolutely a collective, societal problem too. Because there is more where that came from.