When looking at mass shooting incidents, suicidal shooters seem to carry an even more extreme sense of terror and brutality. The current study aimed to examine how mass shooters suicidality and suicide behavioral threshold influence the severity of the mass shooting. We employed Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 194 mass shooters (incidents with four or more victims killed) from 1966 to 2023 in the United States (U.S.). The data were retrieved from The Violence Project Database, originally supported by the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. Based on the statistical analysis, we discovered that mass shooters with suicidal ideation were more likely to kill two more victims on average than their non-suicidal counterparts. For suicidal mass shooters found dead on the scene (either by self-killing or suicide by cop), their victim count rises by around four on average when compared to non-suicidal mass shooters. The findings were reasoned through the information-processing perspective of the Mindsponge Theory. Based on the findings and reasoning, we suggest that mass shootings should be considered within larger socio-cultural settings instead of attributing it to be driven primarily by diagnosable psychopathology. Also, promoting an appropriate interpretation of the values of life and death can be an effective way to alleviate the effects of suicidality on mass shooting severity.

翻译：研究大规模枪击事件时，自杀倾向的枪击者似乎表现出更极端的恐怖与暴力。本研究旨在探讨大规模枪击者的自杀倾向及自杀行为阈值如何影响枪击事件的严重程度。我们采用贝叶斯思维海绵框架（BMF）分析方法，对1966年至2023年间美国194名大规模枪击者（造成四名及以上受害者死亡的事件）的数据集进行分析。数据来源于美国司法部国家司法研究所最初支持的暴力项目数据库。基于统计分析发现，有自杀意念的大规模枪击者平均比无自杀倾向者多杀害两名受害者。对于现场死亡（无论系自尽或借警察之手自杀）的自杀性大规模枪击者，其受害者数量相比非自杀性枪击者平均增加约四人。研究结果通过思维海绵理论的信息处理视角进行阐释。基于研究发现与推理，我们建议应将大规模枪击事件置于更广泛的社会文化背景中考量，而非主要归因于可诊断的精神病理学因素。同时，倡导对生死价值观的恰当解读，可成为缓解自杀倾向对大规模枪击严重程度影响的有效途径。