Experts warn that recent school shootings show growth in new radicalization pattern

[mahatmakanejeeves]

NATIONAL
Experts warn that recent school shootings show growth in new radicalization pattern

MARCH 8, 2025 11:00 PM ET
Odette Yousef


An emergency vehicle is parked outside the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., following a shooting on Dec. 16.
Morry Gash/AP

Two recent school shootings are highlighting what extremism researchers see as a growing — and poorly understood — trend among young people who embrace mass violence.

The attacks, at high schools in Madison, Wis., and Nashville, Tenn., defy categories that law enforcement and researchers have long used to understand radicalization pathways, such as radical Islamist terrorism and white nationalist terrorism. Instead, some researchers say these attacks are examples of "nonideological" terrorism. They say these attacks appear to be the result of several antisocial, decentralized, online networks coming together in ways that encourage and inspire younger children to commit atrocities.

"It's really about that violence for the sake of violence," said Matthew Kriner, managing director of the Accelerationism Research Consortium. "There is a growth of intention and design within certain subcultures and subnetworks to inculcate that belief into younger people."

In December, Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow killed a student, a substitute-teacher coordinator and herself at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. The following month, 17-year-old Solomon Henderson killed himself and another student at Antioch High School in Nashville. Both appear to have been heavily influenced by mass killers of the past and preoccupied with the prospect of adding themselves to such a list.

"This is sort of the next chapter of what we could call 'far-right violence' looks like at this stage or what terrorism looks like," said Kriner. "One thing that we're trying to get people to start to wrap their heads around is that anything and everything is becoming a viable pathway to violence."

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If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

[Irish_Dem]

1. Who funds and organizes these online groups?

Who benefits and how?

[Egwinsi]

2. Antioch

Being more in-tune with online politics and "bloodsports" as they call it, you end up figuring out who a lot of these kids and teens are being influenced by. People like Nick Fuentes, Paleochristcon (BigPapaFash), Richard Spencer, and many other more extremists reaching out to young vulnerable people on the internet.

In the Groyper community run by Nick Fuentes, a known neo-nazi, there is a group of "decentralized accelerationist extremists" like the article talks about called the "764 Groypers". 764 is known for grooming the shooter into committing that heinous act in Antioch TN. Their entire goal is to find young vulnerable people on the internet and inundate them with 4chan memes and culture, eventually convincing them to commit mass violence. The groypers generally operate out in the open on X if you can believe it!