Why are suicidal people eager to take innocent people with them?

I think some people who are in pain and suffering want to cause pain and suffering to others.

Maybe they just don’t want to die alone.

@gorillapaws So you mean like a terrorist mentality?
@cheebdragon, I still don’t understand that because, in the end, we all die alone. You are always alone in breathing your last breath.

@Pandora Terrorism is usually about affecting fear in other people to compel them to take some political action (or something along those lines). I think this is more about pain than fear. They are suffering and they want others to suffer too. I’m not an expert, my opinion isn’s based on any research or data.

I think it depends on why they are suicidal. My dad committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. He wasn’t looking for anyone to be there, didn’t want anyone to stop him, and just wanted to end it. He had lots of issues that had all built up and it was too much for him.

I think some of the people that are trying to kill others (murder/suicide) are doing it for a variety of reasons, potentially. In the case of a man/woman killing their spouse and children before themselves, it might be that they don’t want those people to find they could live without them. In some cases I think it is that they feel wholly inadequate in life and want their 15 minutes of fame….they want people to know who they were. Doesn’t matter that it is for something bad. As the saying goes, even bad press is good press.

I think the common theme in these cases has to do with their egos. It has to do with not only themselves, but how others will see them after they are gone, or if they will be remembered at all.

People who kill others along with themselves do it out of anger, fear, and hatred. People who kill themselves quietly and alone do it out of hopelessness, despair, shame or to spare it from others. There is overlap, but that’s the way I see it.

That desire comes from a place other than suicide. Wishing to die, in and of itself, does not support a desire to murder.

I think it depends on the person. They each have their own mindsets, though there are a few different types of suicidal mindset that include homicide, e.g. something along the lines of:

* The people fixated on family shame. They can’t stand the thought of their family story going a certain way (usually involving shameful stories about themselves, possibly including the impending suicide part), and they think of the idea of killing that family (often, the entire family) as a way to “avoid” that story, by ending that family, thus “ending” the story, and the main audience they’re attached to. Instead of, or in addition to, the “story” aspect, it may be their ego-identity.

* They may have an overwhelming desire to kill certain people for whatever reasons, but having done that, they then don’t want to live, to escape condemnation by themselves and/or by others.

* They may have an overwhelming desire to change some situation, but then (as above) that also leaves them suicidal.

* They want to kill themselves, but are thinking about the situation after that happens, and think it will be better if certain people are dead in that scenario.

* They want to kill themselves, but think, “well, if I’m going to die, there’s a list of other people I always wished were dead, so I may as well go for that, first”.

* They have been greatly suffering, and it seems to them like there’s a particular group or type of person who was responsible, whom they felt powerless toward or overpowered by, and have a bunch of rage towards, so they think to strike back, but then don’t want to get overpowered again (by the police & society), so they use their ability to kill not only to attack that group of people, but then to kill themselves rather than be overpowered again.

I would just like to point out that the idea suicidal people want to harm others as part of their final act is an overgeneralization.

There is no easy answer to this question.

The overwhelming majority of suicidal people do not want to take anyone with them.

Murder-suicide is extremely rare, is not a growing trend, and each case probably has its own complex reasons for happening.

My feeling is that suicidal people are not the same as mass murderers who take there own lives after.
They are two completely different mindsets.

You’re confusing different types of suicidal behaviors. They can’t all be put in one category.

But it’s not hard to figure out: rage and desperation for being born in a sick world, to make a statement, show people they were “serious” the whole time or just one last “screw you all” which is obviously misplaced.

If suicidal people started taking rich people out with them, lotta things would probably change.

Anger and hurt that can lead to depression. Anger is often a biproduct of feeling hurt. Killing others is lashing out from the anger. Killing yourself is trying to escape all of the pain. It can all be happening at once. Plus, now we are so much more aware of murder suicides, it probably leads to more of them. Plus, more access to guns and more information about how to access guns. My guess is murder suicide is done by men more than women since it usually involves guns.

I agree with the people above that have said that most suicidal people just want to kill themselves, not driven to hurt others, or I would say most just want to desperately escape their own pain.

This Ted Talk about almost becoming a school shooter might apply to this Q, or be of interest to you anyway. https://www.ted.com/talks/aaron_stark_i_was_almost_a_school_shooter

Some…suicidal people maybe wanted to take innocent people because that’s the main impetus…to take lives. His suicide is escape from consequences.

The guy you cite was hopped up on shrooms, so he is not exactly representative.

@ragingloli Thanks for the update. Now that makes sense. Thank God he was a pilot on his own flight. Now it does make me wonder how often they have to do a drug test.

I’m sure some of these people who end up killing themselves weren’t strictly suicidal, but used suicide to escape accountability once they were cornered. The point was the killing, and maybe some of them really imagined a free life after the killing, like their serial killer cousins, but they always knew that they could rely on suicide if push came to shove.