The Texas Mall Shooter’s Radicalization Is No Surprise

On the evening of Jan. 29, 2017, a 27-year old opened fire in a mosque in Quebec City, killing six people and injuring 19. The shooter was apprehended rather than being killed, allowing a rare glimpse into the potential motivation for such a senseless and racially charged mass killing.

After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was going to allow more refugees in the country, fueled by a fear and hatred of Muslims poured on him by right-wing pundits like Tucker Carlson and ex-Klansman David Duke, the shooter took matters into his own hands and committed an unspeakable hate crime.

Although he previously had a few traffic violations, he had no meaningful criminal record and wasn’t known to the police. But investigations revealed the shooter was a white nationalist who had been heavily radicalized online by multiple far-right figures. The commentator he most searched for was Ben Shapiro, a hugely popular right-wing podcaster who previously tweeted statements such as “Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.