Episode 3332: MOTIVE FOR MUSLIM FAMILY MURDERS: Terrorism or Troubled Childhood?

A well-respected Muslim family, who emigrated from Pakistan to Canada, and were model citizens, living a life of love and learning, were cruelly mowed down on one of their evening walks by 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman in a pickup truck. In the first segment of this episode of The Terrorist Therapist Show, we take a close look at the Salman Afzaal family: father (a physiotherapist), mother (an engineer), daughter (a 9th grade honor student) and grandmother (the matriarch) - who were all killed. Only a 9-year-old son survived and is hospitalized.If their murderer was motivated by hate, he chose a family who did not fit the stereotype that is sometimes unfortunately foisted on Muslims. Veltman is charged with 4 counts of murder and 1 count of attempted murder, and there is controversy over whether terrorism charges should be added.Next, Dr. Carole puts Nathaniel Veltman on her couch and takes us inside his mind to figure out what motivated him to perpetrate this savage act. And it’s more complicated than you might imagine. On the one hand, there’s Islamophobia/HateCrime/Terrorism. On the other, there’s a troubled childhood, including grief over a family member’s death, scars of his parents’ divorce, addiction to violent video games, insufficiently treated anger issues, jealousy over the Muslim family’s seeming closeness as contrasted with his own dysfunctional family, and more. All of these are analyzed, so that you can decide which factors you think played the biggest role in this tragedy.