I'm not surprised by the continuing desire to understand the motive in this case. As a former FBI profiler, in the absence of any other obvious motive like financial, revenge, or ideology, I would default to a sexual motive, even in the absence of any sex. nytimes.com/2023/01/01/us/… Given 3 of the 4 victims were female and the 4th male victim was not supposed to be there, a logical conclusion is that he targeted the females as victims. Also, no evidence has emerged of him having any long-term male/female relationships which may point to sexual frustration.

As a former profiler I can tell you that the why doesn't matter. Just the how. How, i.e., crime scene analysis, will always tell you plenty about the offender's personality. Why is only important to the prosecutor for presentation to the jury.

https://twitter.com/Undetermined_US/status/1609568362803363841

Profilers study the why of crime only to understand how it may lead to who. The crime scene can often tell investigators a different story than what may seem obvious to the untrained. For example:

Here's a little trivia about the F.B.I. you may not know from watching tv. When the F.B.I. conducts a search, the first persons through the door--after SWAT, if needed--is the Evidence Response Team (ERT). Think CSI. Their 1st job is to photograph the entire location. 2. This is to document the conditions at the premises to prevent later allegations that the F.B.I. destroyed the location during the search. The next function of the ERT is to diagram each room to be search and label the furniture or contents on the diagram for later reference.

Just got back to Seattle from a trip to Northern Idaho. Needed to meet the WiFi fiber installer. But once again I was struck by the friendliness of everyone I met. One thing to note, they had at least a dozen cryovac whole beef briskets in the grocery in preparation for Labor Day Apparently smoked beef brisket is something that EVERYONE does in Idaho.

This is a very interesting thread which brought up a few things I have been wanting to comment on, both from a professional expertise POV and from an investigative.

https://twitter.com/sl_huang/status/1451797888158375937

First, to reiterate I am a retired F.B.I. firearms instructor and former F.B.I. SWAT operator, so I have substantial experience with weapons safety. And I have trained with blank ammunition with wax projectiles, which we created ourselves.

As I watch CNN coverage of the Nashville bombing, my thoughts go out to the men and women of the FBI across the country whose Christmas is now ruined. Because of the size of the device, this will be a nation Major Case not isolated to Nashville, which is a small resident agency out the Memphis Field Office.

See this picture? That Seattle officer’s name should be in letters as big as the word “POLICE”. Front and back. On his helmet and shield as well.

Start of slowly developing thread. 1/n I have a theory that the ratio of police violence or brutality is directly proportional to the public’s ability to identify that officer in film and photographs. An anonymous officer is more likely to use excessive force than an identifiable officer. 2/n

When I attended the F.B.I.’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar we were provided a tour of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Our tour was led by a Dutch female survivor of the holocaust and her emphasis was on how local police enabled the Nazis. 1/n The local police didn’t enable the Gestapo by being vocal supporters, but rather by being silently complicit in their actions. They stood by while the Gestapo carried out mass arrests and deportations to Nazi death camps. 2/N

Wait... WHUT?? The SecDef “didn’t see the intelligence about Iran posing an imminent threat to 4 U.S. embassies”???Then why is the POTUS saying that?

If the SecDef didn’t see intel about an imminent threat, then there wasn’t one. He is privy to all intel in re military matters

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1216365680871821312

Think about that for a minute. Despite how guilty Soleimani may be for past actions, we now have a SecDef willing to launch an attack against a foreign government official on foreign soil without intel of an imminent threat based on the POTUS’s “belief.” #WhatHaveWeBecome?

Interviewed on @MorningEdition this AM about Domestic Terrorism. Listen if you get a chance. But I will repeat the salient points here, Along with additional points that were covered in the short 4 and 1/2 minute interview. 1. IMO, the issue that has everyone upset is why can’t law enforcement investigate and prevent Domestic Terrorism (DT) where pre-event behavior is so clearly potentially violent.

A Christmas Border Wall take: In 1985, a couple of hoods robbed a bank in Yuma and got into a high-speed chase e/b on I-8 towards San Diego. @jimgreff At some point they turned south and headed towards Mexico and the border fence. After crashing into the fence, they climbed over into Mexico and got into a shootout with Mexican police.