MINNEAPOLIS — The FBI worries that people with criminal intentions might try to copy last week’s deadly terror attack in New Orleans.
Researchers say that the immediate days after such headline-making violence are of most concern.
A copycat crime is a criminal act mimicked or inspired by another crime seen in media, either in real life or fiction. The crimes typically aren’t an exact copy but feature certain elements or techniques from the original crime.
“There’s some research that supports this idea that within weeks of a high-profile mass casualty incident, an attack incident, there are sort of follow-on attacks,” Randy McAlister said.
McAlister spent years in law enforcement including time with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. He runs McAlister Threat Management , a firm that consults and trains in the areas of behavioral threat assessment management.
Why do people commit copycat crimes?
“Somebody who is sort of on the brink of carrying out an act of violence, somehow now feels empowered by what they’re seeing in the media, whether social media or mass media,” he said.