El Paso and Poway: Mass shootings with online hate crime connection

(KGTV) – Federal investigators are continuing to look into the backgrounds and motives of the El Paso and Dayton shooting suspects to determine if the shootings were instances of hate crime that may have been inspired by the Poway synagogue shooting.<br />
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The El Paso shooter was taken into custody after killing at least 20 at a Walmart store on Aug. 3. Investigators said the 21-year-old suspect pulled the trigger just 20 minutes after posting a racist manifesto.<br />
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Hours later, police in Dayton shot and killed a man who opened fire at a downtown entertainment district. Multiple people, including the gunman’s sister, died at the hands of the gunman.<br />
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Sociologist Dr. Pete Simi studies political extremism and violence at Chapman University. He said white extremism is not what it used to be.<br />
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<b>RELATED: <a href="https://www.10news.com/news/national/8chan-goes-offline-after-cloudflare-pulls-support-for-website-used-by-el-paso-suspect">Online forum 8chan goes offline in light of El Paso shooting</a></b><br />
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"At an earlier point in time, we were seeing some of these lone actors who were middle-aged or even older in some cases," Simi said. "Whereas in the last few years, we have been seeing it trend in the opposite direction. Pretty young."<br />
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Simi also said the young, tech-savvy generation connects with like-minded people on anonymous online forums like 8chan.<br />
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In his manifesto published on 8Chan, the El Paso shooter posted: "In general, I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto. This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas."<br />
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Earlier this year, the suspect in the Poway synagogue shooting shared a similar message on 8chan in which he also praised the work of the New Zealand mosque shooter.<br />
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"In some cases, they talk about is how you could've been more active, or you could've killed more people if they had done X-Y-Z," Simi said. "Or they're discussing the relative merits of this type of violence and pros and cons. It's really a cesspool environment."<br />
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At this point, the Dayton suspect's motive has not been confirmed. But he too is a young, lone-acting shooter who wore body armor. FBI investigators are now digging into his digital background to find answers.<br />
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"What may connect them though is there may be some kind of copycat aspect to it," Simi said.<br />
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In light of the mass shootings, Frederick Brennan, the founder of 8chan, demanded the site be shut down.<br />
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He said he created the website in 2013 as a free speech forum, but relinquished ownership in 2015.