Esquire's story on the NIU killer

Has anybody read the Esquire story, "Portrait of the school shooter as a young man"?

It was among the most disturbing, yet well-researched features I've read in a while. I couldn't put it down, but at the same time it was extremely hard to digest.

Thoughts?

 

Link?

 

"Why do they only write about my kid when he commits mass murder?"

 

I couldn't find it on the Web site - it's in the latest issue, and the site still has the Mike Myers issue's content repurposed.
It's an extremely well-reported story. I'd actually be interested to know how the reporter got so much info so quickly. It's only been a few months since the shooting. Some of the descriptions (can't get myself to use color in such a drab story) had to have been assumed. And some of the pics were just chilling.

 

Agree

Agree with all of that. I do disagree with the cover line, which is: Can a school shooting ever be explained? This story comes damn close.

I don't think it explains why it happened anymore than any other stories I've read about school shooters. The story does do a great job of detailing the guy's travails throughout his life, and then the downward spiral in the final weeks before the shooting. But thousands of kids have had similar struggles over the years. Only a handful have become mass murderers. I don't know if the why is ever really answered. Probably because it never can be.

It doesn't look like the story's on their site yet.

But the research put into the story is amazing, especially in a fairly short amount of time.

 

Oh man, I'm ashamed to admit that made me laugh.

 

I laughed, too. The line to hell forms to the right.

 

I thought it was excellent. And I thought it lived up to the cover billing inasmuch as it's clear the guy was horribly mentally ill, despite his friends pretending he wasn't. (And despite the serious and repeatedly diagnosed illness he had no trouble buying an arsenal for the killing.)

 

I'm not... I giggled like hell...

 

"They try just as hard as the varsity killers!"

 

That story (plus Colbert) filled up the time from Philly to Houston on a US Air flight with NO food. Not even fucking peanuts.