Everything we think we know about mass shooters is wrong.
By Tom Junod
First published by Esquire on September 16, 2014
Are we helpless to stop mass shootings? Is anyone even trying to stop them? The good news is that the answers are No and Yes. The bad news: The person loading up hasn't gotten the news.
THE OUTSIDE of the building is nondescript by design. It is brown and it is brick, with darkened windows and reflective glass in the doors. It could be anywhere, and it could be used for anything—office rental, warehouse space, light industry, government bureaucracy, apocalyptic bunkering. The inside is no different. The only indication that the building is used for anything other than midlevel marketing are the two flags given prominence of place. The flags fly the colors of the United States of America and of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In an anonymous conference room inside the anonymous building, a man sits at the head of the conference table. His name is Andre Simons. He is trim, compact, and alert, with a scalp shaved to a high shine, arched eyebrows, and preternaturally wide-open eyes. He has seen a lot, heard even more, and suggests, by his demeanor, that he knows just about everything—everything, that is, but the one haunting and humbling thing he really needs to know.
THE OUTSIDE of the building is nondescript by design. It is brown and it is brick, with darkened windows and reflective glass in the doors. It could be anywhere, and it could be used for anything—office rental, warehouse space, light industry, government bureaucracy, apocalyptic bunkering. The inside is no different. The only indication that the building is used for anything other than midlevel marketing are the two flags given prominence of place. The flags fly the colors of the United States of America and of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In an anonymous conference room inside the anonymous building, a man sits at the head of the conference table. His name is Andre Simons. He is trim, compact, and alert, with a scalp shaved to a high shine, arched eyebrows, and preternaturally wide-open eyes. He has seen a lot, heard even more, and suggests, by his demeanor, that he knows just about everything—everything, that is, but the one haunting and humbling thing he really needs to know.
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