General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Chapel hill shooter was a 'militant atheist' who fantasised that religion would 'go away'. [View all]struggle4progress
(119,431 posts)for a "parking dispute" -- that probably involves some brooding and premeditation, and since most people don't travel well with head wounds, it almost certainly requires entry into their apartment
It's very common for people to know little or nothing about their neighbors, even their next-door neighbors, but murderous rage against someone, who you really don't know, is not the usual murder scenario in civil society: it strongly suggests a lack of satisfactory socialization and the replacement of real relationships by aggrieved fantasies
Of course, it is possible to hate people one really doesn't know, and it is even possible to get quite good at that if one practices regularly. And we do know the alleged shooter did practice thinking about people who didn't share his views about religion as not only ignorant but also responsible for murder.
His wife's statement "I can say that it is my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or the victims faith, but in fact was related to long-standing parking disputes my husband had with various neighbors regardless of their race, religion or creed doesn't really shed much light either: "Yes, he killed three people in their home, but really! he's not a bigot! This was only about the parking!" merely suggests his wife is not thinking at her best right now