Woman killed three people at a Rite Aid distribution center before shooting herself.

Police respond to the scene. NPR/AP.

A 26 year old woman shot and killed three people and wounded several more at an Aberdeen Maryland Rite Aid distribution center before shooting and killing herself. NPR. The attacker has been identified as Snochia Moseley. She allegedly attacked the site because of a workplace dispute. She used a handgun in the attack. 

My Comment:

We have had a sting of minor mass shootings like this one for the past couple of days and for the most part I haven't been covering them. For one thing I do think that covering mass shootings is part of the reason they happen. Publicizing every single one that ever happens is not something that we should do. I tend to cover them only when they are unusual or especially noteworthy. Other than this case I don't see the last couple of shootings to be either. 

This one is a little different though, if for no other reason than it was committed by a woman. Mass shootings by women are extremely are to the point where I can only think of three off the top of my head, two of which were recent. The first one, the infamous "I don't like Mondays" shooting, happened in the late 1970's. The other two were the San Bernardino attack (done with a male partner) and the Youtube shooting.

I don't really know why there are fewer mass shootings by females. Part of it might be that they have less desire to be infamous. Part of it too might be the fact that female murders are less likely to use firearms to murder than men. And of course most violent crime is committed by men (though I would also say that woman are more violent than a lot of people give them credit for), so it shouldn't be surprising that women are less active in this sort of violent crime as well. 

I also think that women in general tend to be less direct with their aggression. They are less likely to go with the physical confrontation route and will instead attack people with words and gossip. I also think that many women realize that many of them are less strong than most men and will be stopped if they act violently so they never really try violence. 

Of course the gender of the attacker isn't the only issue here as this attack was also committed by a black person. The racial angle isn't really that interesting to me other than the fact that once the race of the attacker was revealed the story dropped off in coverage very quickly. There is very little political gain from either side of the culture war (other than the racist fringe of the far right) when the shooter is a black female so this attack will likely fade very quickly. 

I do want to point out that this attack again proves the gun control narrative wrong. The attacker did not use a rifle and lived in a state with some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. Maryland is a "may issue" state for concealed weapons, but is essentially a "no issue" state so it was unlikely that anyone would have been able to return fire during this attack. I haven't been able to determine if the attacker got her guns legally but I wouldn't be surprised either way as gun control seems to do little to stop these kinds of attackers...