Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Port Arthur Massacre
- Common Traits of Killers
- Petty Obsessions
- Psychotic and Isolated
- Increasingly Common
- Conclusion
A FEW individuals have encountered the perpetrators behind some of the world's most horrific massacres – but leading forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen has.
Over decades of living and working in Australasia, British-born Paul, now 81, has interviewed and evaluated some of the region's most infamous lone mass killers – individuals whose actions have resulted in devastating attacks, claiming dozens of lives.
Martin Bryant murdered 35 innocent individuals at Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996 – the deadliest massacre in contemporary Australian history.
Bryant set fire to the guesthouse where he was ultimately captured.
Twisted Bryant aimed to make history by breaking the mass killing record.
Paul Mullen's new book explores the intricate psychology behind lone mass killers.
He has had the unique opportunity to study these individuals and compare their narratives to others globally, which he discusses in his new book, Running Amok.
Unlike in America – where police often kill the perpetrators – or in Britain, where many take their own lives, numerous killers in Australasia have survived.
What Paul discovered is that, despite their varied backgrounds, there are unsettling similarities.
He found that the predominant motive was a desire for suicide – but not in a conventional sense. These killers sought to die in a manner that would ensure they were remembered.
He was assigned to assess the individual responsible for the murder of 35 women and children at Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996.
Paul recounts to The Sun: “I met the Port Arthur killer less than 48 hours after the massacre, and he simply smiled at me, saying, ‘I’ve got the record, haven’t I?’”
“I didn’t need to ask him, ‘What record?’. He meant he had killed more people than any previous lone gunman had done before that time. He was aware because he had studied them.”
The young man with blonde hair – who drove a yellow car with a surfboard on top – was restrained to a hospital bed when Paul met him.
He had suffered severe burns after setting fire to the guesthouse where he was ultimately apprehended, thwarting his original intention to end his life.
Bryant’s “record” has since been tragically surpassed by massacres including the 2016 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, and the 2019 Christchurch attack.
However, the isolated 28-year-old, with a low IQ, spoke in detail to Paul about previous massacres that inspired him.
He mentioned the 1966 University of Texas shooting by mature student Charles Whitman, which became the “original model” for many subsequent killers.
Paul states: “These individuals, armed with the intent to kill as many people as possible before taking their own lives, are seeking a form of suicide that, in their eyes, will grant them fame and infamy.
“They desire to exit in a blaze of glory, not as cowards, but as some sort of hero. They idolize those who have committed similar acts in the past.
“In a peculiar way, they are in pursuit of fame, immortality – and their own demise.”
‘Treated guns like babies’
A video capture of the Columbine high school shooters Eric Harris, left, and Dylan Klebold, right.
