Or, he may desire to avert his perception of current or future harm (e.g., disgrace or humiliation) because of his actions outside of the relationship. He posted his intentions and later a description of the first shooting on social media.Īs described in the second category, the perpetrator may feel a deep sense of hopelessness and despair based on a self-appraisal of his behavior toward the victim (e.g., abuse or neglect). The assailant then turned the gun on himself. Investigation revealed a history of domestic violence.Īfter shooting his girlfriend, a 44-year-old man killed his ex-wife in her apartment. It shows the couple arguing and the husband beating his wife unconscious. Home video surveillance captured the incident. 17Ī husband killed his wife and then himself. Among older adults, domestic murder-suicide may grow out of a longstanding pattern of violence physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and obsessive control. 15 The aggrieved assailant, typically a jealous or younger adult, 16 may be overly dependent on the victim and unable to accept any change that affects that perception. In the first category, both the perpetrator’s homicidality and suicidality may be rooted in a deeply felt sense of loss of a highly valued relationship.
12 The typical profile of a murder-suicide perpetrator is a depressed elderly man with new or worsening health problems who serves as the main caregiver for an increasingly dependent spouse and owns or has access to a firearm. In many cases, both the victim and perpetrator may have failing health. 10 A Florida study found a much higher incidence among such men - most in their 70s - than those in younger age groups. Older adult males disproportionately represent the population carrying out murder-suicides, holding responsibility for at least one-third of all occurrences in the United States. One report characterized assailants as sexually jealous or rejected young men, mothers suffering from depression, and older men struggling to care for themselves and chronically ill spouses. Members of every age group commit domestic murder-suicides, although youths perpetrate them less frequently than adults and older persons. National Violent Death Reporting System data for 2003 to 2005 indicated that 91.4% of murder-suicides were committed by males, 97.6% by persons over age 19, and 77% by individuals identified as white. Perpetratorsĭomestic murder-suicide perpetrators belong to the same demographic group that accounts for most suicide victims in the United States - adult and older adult non-Hispanic white men. 7 This suggests that at some point, as the perpetrator’s risk emerges and intent rises, a domestic murder-suicide, like other suicides, may be preventable. Domestic murder-suicides progress from suicidality and involve the same factors underlying all suicides. These elements support a suicide prevention perspective.
Nonetheless, domestic murder-suicide has two compelling features in common with suicide: 1) it is overwhelmingly committed by adult and older adult white males, and 2) firearms are the principal lethal means used. Children, even infants, may become victims however, adults and older people, particularly the latter, make up most of the lives lost.ĭisagreement exists in the literature as to whether murder, 4 suicide, 5 or a distinct phenomenon 6 drives these incidents. While multiple murders may occur in a domestic murder-suicide, one is most common.
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