motive

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FBI Docs Suggest Motive for Las Vegas Shooter

Acquaintance interviews reveal Stephen Paddock was upset over treatment by casinos

(Newser) - Documents newly released by the FBI "provide the strongest indication yet of a motive" for the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, USA Today reports. Though an FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded there was "no single or clear motivating factor" that drove 64-year-old Stephen Paddock to rain...

Japanese Deputy PM's Ideas on Hitler Not Well-Received

Taro Aso is apologizing after saying Hitler's 'motive was right'

(Newser) - Japan's deputy prime minister is backpedaling hard after suggesting Adolf Hitler had the right motives for murdering millions of people. During an address to members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Yokohama on Tuesday, Taro Aso used Hitler as an example of how politicians are judged by their...

Bradley Manning Wants to Tell Court Why He Did It

He hoped to 'spark a domestic debate' on foreign policy

(Newser) - Bradley Manning passed classified documents to WikiLeaks because he wanted to "spark a domestic debate on the role of our military and foreign policy in general," says a statement he's hoping to read in court tomorrow. The statement, which prosecutors read segments of at a press event...

Helen Thomas Only One to Ask Real Question

What motivates terrorists? Brennan dodges and patronizes

(Newser) - It's a simple question, really: What motivates terrorists to keep coming after the US? It deserves an honest answer, writes Glenn Greenwald. But when Helen Thomas pressed security chief John Brennan on it yesterday, he resorted to the "cartoon idiocy" that al-Qaeda members are simply evil murderers. She kept...

Lawyer: Lyme Disease Afflicted Church Shooter

Man, 27, charged with murder in 'deteriorating' mental state

(Newser) - The 27-year-old man charged today with murder and aggravated battery in yesterday’s Illinois church shooting was suffering mentally and physically from Lyme disease, his attorney tells the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. Terry Joe Sedlacek was ordered held without bail, though he’s still in the hospital recovering from self-inflicted...

Slain Pastor Blocked 1st Shot With a Bible

As confetti flew, Illinois parishioners thought it was a skit

(Newser) - What drove the shooting death of a pastor at an Illinois Baptist church service yesterday remains a mystery, as more details emerge, the Chicago Tribune reports. After exchanging words with the gunman who walked toward him, the pastor blocked the first of four rounds of bullets with a Bible, sending...

Did a Gift Spark the Hudson Family Killings?

Hudson murders triggered by jealousy, police say

(Newser) - Police believe a stray birthday gift set off the massacre of Jennifer Hudson’s family, People reports. Hudson’s sister Julia held a party the day before the murders to celebrate her 31st birthday. When estranged husband William Balfour showed up, he spotted a gift that he believed came from...

Jealousy Blamed in Hudson Murders

Suspect upset that estranged wife dating: prosecutors

(Newser) - Prosecutors have pinned a motive on Jennifer Hudson's brother-in-law, alleging today that he killed her family members out of anger that his estranged wife was dating someone else, reports the AP. William Balfour—who has been charged with the murders of Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew—confronted Julia Hudson at...

Family Clash May Have Spurred Hudson Killings

Jen's clan had kicked out sister's estranged husband

(Newser) - The estranged husband of Julia Hudson, Jennifer’s sister, is the top suspect in the murder of their three relatives—and police say disputes between the couple may have motivated the crimes, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Hudsons’ mother had thrown William Balfour, 27, out of her house in the...

Anthrax Expert Could Have Cashed In on Panic

Ivins had share in patents for a vaccine

(Newser) - Bruce Ivins, the government scientist linked to the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings who committed suicide this week, stood to profit from a panic set off by the killings, the Los Angeles Times reports. Ivins, who was close to being charged by the FBI when he killed himself, was listed as...

Police Can't Find Motive in NIU Shooting

Gunman covered tracks, pulling hard drive and phone card

(Newser) - The student who killed five at Northern Illinois University last week took pains to stump investigators ahead of time, police say. Steven Kazmierczak pulled his computer’s hard drive and his phone’s SIM card; he also revealed little in a package to his former girlfriend. "The one thing...

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