The sexually frustrated killer who gunned down three women in a Pennsylvania health club, then committed suicide, blogged his preparations, with the final chilling entry announcing the “big day.”
George Sodini burst into the LA Fitness Gym in Bridgeville, near Pittsburgh, late on Tuesday and sprayed 36 bullets into a Latin dance class, hitting 12 people. On the eve of the killings, he wrote: “Took off today, Monday, and tomorrow to practice my routine and make sure it is well polished…. Tomorrow is the big day.”
[…]
The blog, which Supt. Moffatt said was being treated as genuine and was quickly pulled off the Internet, reveals the sinister, often banal mind of a man crippled by sexual frustration, anger at women, and depression.It listed his date of death, Aug. 4, 2009, and his status of “never married” and ended with the words “Death Lives.”
A picture of Mr. Sodini, 48, attached to the blog shows a lean, white male with slightly greying hair and wearing a smart blue shirt.
The police chief said the blog clearly showed “the hatred in him” and computer sleuths were looking into whether anyone saw the blog and if so, why they failed to report it.
You can read some of Sodini’s diary entries. You have to wonder, given our culture, how many more like him are out there, future killers or not.
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Legalise prostitution.
How could someone that crazy have a net worth of $250k?
I think it speaks to the isolation that has occurred in our society.
What’s that movie that deals with life out of balance…. Koyanisqatsi?
2,
Dude worked for a law office, and has been single for his entire life. I’m surprised his worth is so LOW.
Reading his blog yesterday, it became amply clear that what this guy wanted the most in his life is for his life to leave some kind of mark, for his life to have some larger meaning within society. So in the sick twisted recesses of his mind he decided that going out ‘in a blaze of glory’ while taking out some of the objects that tortured him the most (women) was the best option for him.
My guess is that he had Aspergers syndrome, making him socially inept while appearing normal to the rest of the world, resulting in extreme frustration in his social life. He wanted relationships, but was regularly ‘shot down’ because either women sensed that he was slightly off, or his Aspergers did not allow him to develop the relationships that he started. He was a computer programmer (specializing in “.NET”), left behind $250,000, so he was actually quite ‘normal’, but with severe social / relationship issues.
There are probably lots and lots of people walking around harboring the same resentments and despair for life that this guy had… they just end up committing suicide privately instead of publicly.
We should talk openly about this guy’s problems, instead of just throwing stones. It may help other people like him to seek professional help, avoiding the ultimate result like in this case.
A sick individual who the NRA seriously believes should have as many guns as he can store in his apartment.
#5 – Mr. Fusion
The gun debate does not apply in this case, since the guy was not (as far as we know) in the mental health system, and posed no obvious risk. The 2nd amendment allows gun ownership, and there was no documented reason that he shouldn’t be eligible.
That doesn’t change the fact that gun ownership is waaaay too easy in this country. You can be banned from getting on an airplane for being on a ‘threat list’ (even if you pass every type of TSA search), but you can not be banned from buying guns if you are on the same list. Possible terrorists can’t fly but they can buy guns. That is just ridiculous.
This guy was all over the map. Liberal yet racist, Misogynistic yet longing for female coompanionship, intelligent but stupid. Externally, there was nothing to predict this behavior other than this blog.
#3, he was a .NET developer, not a lawyer.
#5, Externally, he was spotless. Externally, he was just as likely to do this as you. If it wasn’t a gun, it would have been with a knife, or a sword, or a bomb. Unless you’re going to do a mental evaluation of every American, these things will happen in a country to 400 million. I’m just superised it doesn’t happen more often.
btw. Pretty sure that mental evaluation is in the Health Care bill. Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services. This way they can define conservatism a mental illness.
7 Angus,
I didn’t say he was a lawyer, I said he worked for a law firm. They hire programmers too you know…
Gun control… now? Oh, yeah… guns don’t kill people, people kill people… *yawn*
I know that 30 years of conservatism has made everybody cynical about social workers — but this guy seems like he could have been helped by intervention.
Jägermeister,
Right after the Virginia Tech slaughter, Bush said, “Now’s not the time to do the debate”
Is now the time?
Angus said “he was a .NET developer”
Well that explains a lot. Maybe he was put on a SharePoint project and went over the edge.
#12 Greg Allen,
Are you suggesting that people at the gym should be in spandex with open carry?
#12 – Greg Allen
The problem is that politicians don’t want to deal with it… they might lose voters. 😛 They’ll do anything to win… watch Swing Vote…
Sounds like the President of Blackwater.
Strange how some sociopaths are considered villains and others are considered heroes by some people…
How did he get into the gym? Usually you either have people trying to sell you gym membership at the door.
There are a lot of people with Asperger’s. Being a programmer, I probably have a touch of it myself–comes with the job.
I have no idea why this guy didn’t try singles groups, church, clubs or whatever tripped his trigger. Named had it right–legal, monitored prostitution (available in much of Nevada) should have been available for this guy and others like him.
Every time something like this happens I notice a curious cultural element. Note that the entire discussion is about how this is a “crazy individual”. Which is true. Not one story on NBC or Fox about how white people are dangerous, or how straight men are mentally unbalanced.
Now IMAGINE is this was done by a black man, or an illegal immigrant, or a gay man? Now the story would NOT be about a “crazy individual”, but have overtones or direct comments about how gay people are dangerous, or black people are crime prone or proof illegal immigrants will kill us all.
Don’t want to go TOO deep into it, but every time something like this happens, just notice how it’s different if it’s a white heterosexual…how it will be JUST about individual not the race/sex…but any other group it becomes reflective of the entire group. Huh.
Why give this (former) waste of oxygen any more publicity?
Sodini’s Resume.
http://scribd.com/doc/18200735/GeorgeSodini2001Resume
man should have just went to Atlantic City and bought some women. Even the church ( back int eh day at least ) said that hookers were a necessary evil
The scary thing is the part about how people should be reporting people. If that is true, half the people here should be reported. To Gitmo Nation West Officials.
I’m with Awake, he probably had some kind of Asperger’s issue. Either that or crippling low self-esteem from a f*cked up childhood.
Some people say “God doesn’t give anyone more than they can handle.” Here’s the counterexample to disprove that theory. How sad for him, and for the people he killed.
And I don’t think he just wanted sex, I think he wanted a relationship.
#19 Good point there… we’ll have to keep this incident in mind next time a black guy goes postal. See how the media handles it compared to this one.
#14 Now there’s an image to get the gun nuts salivating… women in spandex carrying Glocks!
Re: From the story and if so, why they failed to report it.
FAILED TO REPORT IT?
#8 Mr. Fusion, Re: We have enough regulars contributors to DU that exhibit the same tendencies.
HAVE I GOT A PROGRAM FOR YOU
Gestapo safe neighborhood programs have begun showing up across the country.
http://recessionreadyamerica.com/2009/08/nazi-programs-showing-up/
According to the program’s website: http://wetip.com Informers can earn up to $1000 dollars for each confirmed conviction.
Robert Gellately of Florida State University had written about the Gestapo in his book, The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy.
“There were relatively few secret police (Gestapo), and most were just processing the information coming in. I had found a shocking fact. It wasn’t the secret police who were doing this wide-scale surveillance and hiding on every street corner. It was the ordinary German people who were informing on their neighbors.”
So you see, this is just how the Nazi’s did it, but you will not learn that in the Public Fool System.
How about that, Nazi tactics in the Red White and Blue UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Who’d a thunk it?
———-
Mr. Fusion, some might think YOU need to be reported.
# 20 locomotivebreath1901 said, on August 6th, 2009 at 9:30 am
“Why give this (former) waste of oxygen any more publicity?”
My thoughts exactly.
So if in Case #2 everything is the same and the guy is also reported as some minority race, or gay THEN the report has put some special burden/onus on said group?
And white heterosexual SHOULD be mentioned in this story in order to keep the burdens/oni the same to all groups?
Hah, hah.
Sorry kiddies. Burdens/stereotyping only takes place when some “additional” associations are made other than factual reporting.
So easily mislead, don’t even need red herrings. Just the wrappings the fish came in.
#1 brings a good pont.. I too believe that prostitution should be leagleized, and I have said that here befor, for many reasons..but not to elaborate here..
So the natural act of wanting companionship and sex is illeagle (if you pay for it) but its OK to own a gun, that is made for 1 thing..to Kill?..
Its a couple times a month or more the Gun issue always come up on the Blog…
I’ll say what I said last time. In the Uk all guns were outlawed in a short peiod of time after the Dunblane incident in Scotland, it should be done in America as well… when will enough be enough.. only folks who have never lost a loved one to gun crime will be advocates of Guns.
The fact Remains, Guns Kill because they are quick, easy to use and readily available, an unarmed indivisual has no chance, if the assilant wanted to use almost anythng else, the victims would more than likely have a chance to defend themselves.
Oh and Bombs are not an argument… 🙁
#11,
Social Worker != Counselor.
The reason people are cynical about Social Workers is that they think they are Counselors, when the ARE NOT. They receive some counseling training, but do not serve the same purpose. (or, are not iNTENDED to serve the same purpose.)
Counselors are intended to help care for people’s mental health, to help THEM find solutions to THEIR problems. They are overseen by Psychiatrists (usually) who can prescribe drugs if the person has a physiological reason for their mental health issues.
Social Workers are licensed differently, do not have the same emphasis on counseling, and are intended to help people with a range of life issues, not just mental health.
This guy needed a counselor, not a social worker.
You know, posting my darkest thoughts for the first time, it would be kinda appropriate to take a gun to an NRA National Meeting and gun down the audience. I assume many participants in the audience would be openly carrying or have concealed pieces and there would be armed security everywhere? I don’t know as never having touched a gun, but thats my imagined scenario.
Then I’m thinking about Eastwoods Character and plot element in Unforgiven. Very similar situation. Lots of guns around. They can’t get pulled out, the shots go wild. Eastwood mows down the evil doers because he has the will/experience/nihilism to do so.
To the point: would this mass extermination of vermin cause the remaining pack to reconsider their gun position, or simply to reaffirm it?
Loving the women both physically and relationship wise as I do, I probably wouldn’t want to kill their idiot boyfriends and spouses.
but of the two groups . . . . . .
#29 Social workers can become therapists, if they get therapist training. In that case they get something called a LICSW, licensed clinical social worker. You need a master’s degree, so it’s not as much training as a psychologist who gets a PhD, but it is equivalent to other masters-level programs.