Loon Wolves & The Toronto Terror Attack

When a mass shooting occurred in Toronto, this past July, the media was - as usual - coy about who the shooter was. They didn’t give us his name or a closeup photo for an inexcusably long time. These are sure signs, as we are coming to recognize, that the shooter’s ethnic identity would be revealed by these pieces of information. In particular, sure signs that the shooter is likely a terrorist. And the media are desperate to keep such speculation at bay. The Danforth shooter (named after the street in Toronto where the mass shooting occurred) was finally revealed to be 29-year-old Faisal Hussain. He killed 2 victims and injured 13. But then the question became: was Faisal Hussain mentally ill, or a terrorist, or both? In other words, was he a loon wolf? Born to Canadian parents of Pakistani origin, his family was quick to release a public statement claiming that Faisal had been psychotic and depressed throughout his life, as if this would prove he wasn’t a terrorist. Meanwhile ISIL claimed he was a soldier of the Islamic State. And despite Toronto authorities denying this, a police search of the home he shared with his parents found ammunition, large-capacity magazines, and evidence that he visited ISIL websites. Like most perpetrators of terror attacks, there were red flags that weren’t heeded - from his telling a teacher he wanted to kill someone because it would be cool, to several people having called the authorities to investigate Faisal. In this podcast, Dr. Carole puts Faisal on her couch and answers the question: Do terrorists target the mentally ill because they’re more vulnerable to radicalization?