Originally Posted By: Der Ami
This may be radical. I think the shooting was caused by his gambling addiction. He was a highstakes gambler that always figured his odds and did everything to better them. To him, this was the ultimate gamble, shoot everyone up and escape( the sheriff believes he intended to escape). He did everything to better his odds, but didn't calculate that a security guard would arrive so quickly, trapping him inside. He lost the bet, so killed himself( as well as a lot of others). Instead of worrying about the tools, we should study the addiction and how to deal with it.
Mike


Was it an addiction, a side effect of his Rx or was he mentally ill? We can guess but may never know. He might have intended to "get away" for the short term but all those guns purchased under his own name and with proper paper work were never going to allow him to get away with this. The man hunt would have been extreme and with technology your chances of hiding above ground is near zero long term. Perhaps this was a sick game to him and that would point to mental illness.