NTAC research findings on attackers

This model for violence prevention is informed by decades of NTAC research, which continually finds that most individuals who engage in acts of targeted violence elicit concern in those around them prior to the attack.

Over 25 years of NTAC research on targeted violence has continued to reinforce that: • There is no specific demographic profile of an attacker.

Those who pose a risk of violence do not always make direct threats prior to an attack but often communicate their intentions to those around them.

Attackers often elicit concern from those around them because of their behaviors or communications.

Bystander reporting and intervention can avert planned acts of targeted violence.

The process was built upon NTAC’s research which found that most individuals who engage in acts of targeted violence elicit concern in those around them prior to the attack.

As research continues to show, individuals planning acts of targeted violence almost always exhibit observable concerning behaviors, offering opportunities for intervention and redirection before criminal behavior or violence occurs.

In some cases, attackers had demonstrated concerning behavior at home, at work, in school, and online, but no program existed to examine all those behaviors together.

Some of these Assessment Themes have their own body of existing research examining their impact on an individual, and prior NTAC research has found that many past attackers had experienced substantial negative experiences related to these contextual themes as well.

This distinction is based on decades of NTAC research that demonstrates that many attackers do not make explicit threats of violence prior to an attack.

Prior NTAC research has identified common motives for those who have planned or perpetrated acts of targeted violence.

For example, in a study examining mass attacks in public spaces, NTAC found that such attacks were most commonly motivated by grievances (e.g., personal, workplace, or domestic), ideologies/racial bias, symptoms of psychosis (e.g., paranoia or delusions), desire to kill, and seeking fame or notoriety.

NTAC research has shown that nearly three-quarters (73%) of mass attacks in the United States involved firearms, and over one-quarter (29%) of the attackers who used firearms met at least one criterion that federally prohibited them from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

NTAC research has found that many mass attacks in the United States involved a firearm that was illegally possessed at the time of the attack.

When the Secret Service published research on averted school attack plots, the study affirmed that targeted violence is preventable when communities identify warning signs and intervene.

In nearly every averted school plot examined, tragedy was prevented by members of the community coming forward when they observed behaviors that elicited concern.