Caped Teen Kills Two, Then Himelf in California Shooting Spree

A 19-year-old wearing a cape killed two and himself in a shooting spree in Aliso Viejo, California.
Caped Teen Kills Two, Then Self in California (AP)

A 19-year-old in a black cape and a paintball mask went on a shooting rampage Saturday in his upscale Southern California neighborhood, killing a man and his daughter before committing suicide, authorities said. William Freund also fired shots into another house and confronted a neighbor outside, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

A neighbor said Freund had attended high school with one of the victims, but police don’t believe the two knew each other. “It may have been random,” Amormino said.

Bizarre. And how typical is this:

Neighbor Katherine Anderson, 15, said Freund and Christina Smith had attended Aliso Miguel High School together. Anderson, whose older brother had given Freund a ride to school, described Freund as “a real quiet guy.”

Ugh.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. DL says:

    Sounds like another “quiet” type flipped!

  2. Anderson says:

    Will Congress pass a law protecting cape manufacturers from liability?

  3. Anderson says:

    Just as importantly, was he a good speller?

  4. joe says:

    You should learn some basic logic:

    The fact that some quiet people are disturbed pyschotic killers does not establish

    that most very quiet people are potential killers or even seriously disturbed. Some are shy.

    They probably do have a higher than normal chance of being awkward socially and you in some sort of cheerleader fit of having to denigrate people to feel adequete decided that we should encourage the assumption that people who don’t chatter and fit your values are sick and should be avoided.

    Which of course will increase the odds that the very small minority with severe problems that manifest themselves as violence will lose it.

    In fact the number of “he was perfectly, a real nice guy” criminals is much higher than the type you highlight. But that of ciurse is not the goal, it’s to offer excuses to pick on quiet and shy people.

    You are weird.