WHY?

I am pained over the horrendous loss of innocent life in Blacksburg, VA. And the "why" is asked here too. (I do hold some of my "this is what was supposed to happen to them" theory. But it seems a bit callous.)
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But my main "why" is from a more psychological place. Understanding the human mind. WHY? What happens to a person to do such a thing? How does a human being's thinking get so distorted to think this is the right thing to do?

It's like a suicide bomber. Their way of thinking is so clear to them. Yet, I guess I believe a suicide bomber is coming from a more cultural brain-washing.

This guy in Virginia was living in America. Although he must have carried some of his Southest Asian cultural biases with him, he was American.

And again, it doesn't matter. Or does it? He was a human being.

I think of the angry teens I have worked with over the years and wonder, how many of them could have been capable of such things? How do we ultimately detect such a distortion?

What puts a human being over the edge so much to do such a thing?

Would my client really kill herself to get her husband's attention? Are people that desperate?

This is such an important conversation for the therapeutic world.

And as a parent how to I explain to my children such a scary world story?