Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream: A Forensic Psychiatrist Illuminates the Darker Side of Human Behavior (20 page)

A Behavioral Profile of the Workplace Killer

There are millions of unhappy workers in the workplace, but only a few of them reach the point of acting out their unhappiness in violence against others. Although the behavioral characteristics of the person who commits workplace mayhem is rather stereotypical, the psychological motivation can be extremely complex and, often, undiscoverable. Typically, the worker is disgruntled and has troubled work relationships, but this is not enough to trigger violence. In general, ordinary occupational unhappiness does not play a significant part in the motivation of workplace violence, although it is often cited as a “cause.” Situations, context, genetic makeup, psychological development, physical and mental disorders, cultural and social influences, and many other factors enter into the lethal mix. Even trained professionals are frequently unable to detect a potential murderer. John Merlin Taylor, whose career in the postal service had lasted 27 years, had paranoid ideas about being set up to take a fall. He imagined that he would find money on his route and that this would be used as a way to discipline or fire him. Such a delusion did not, in itself, signal the murderous violence he later wreaked. Taylor gave no warning that he would explode.

Profiling of potential perpetrators of workplace violence is an inexact exercise; it should be viewed as a rough assessment tool that can raise the consciousness of management personnel toward the possible prevention of outbreaks of violence in their workplaces.

The following 10-dimensional behavioral profile (summarized in Table 6–1) characterizes many perpetrators of workplace violence:

TABLE 6–1.
A behavioral profile of the workplace killer
1. Disgruntled
2. Disturbed
3. Determined
4. Deviant
5. Distant
6. Dangerous
7. Disrupted relationships
8. Dyscontrol
9. Drugs and alcohol
10. Down and out

1. Disgruntled

Virtually all persons who commit workplace violence have major, unrequited grievances against their employers. Often, the employee feels he or she has been “screwed over,” used, abused, and discarded like a piece of trash. Frequent absences occur. Usually, disciplinary actions have been taken against the employee in the past. A documented record of escalating labor-management disputes often is found after a violent incident has occurred. Complaints of work stress commonly precede the outbreak of violence. Disgruntled employees or exemployees whose lives are consumed by pursuing their grievances can turn lethal. For example, James Huberty was described as a bitter man. A 42-year-old unemployed security guard, Huberty lost his job after 13 years of hard work when his employers shut down their plant. He was emotionally cold and had a violent temper; he struck his children and engaged in physical fights with his wife. He was fascinated with weapons, mercenary literature, and army clothing. On July 18, 1984, at 4 p.m., Huberty dressed in camouflage clothing, armed himself, and told his wife, “I’m going hunting humans!” He entered the nearest McDonald’s and sprayed the restaurant with an Uzi semiautomatic weapon and a 12-gauge shotgun. Twenty-one people were killed and 15 were wounded. Huberty was shot through the heart by a SWAT team. A number of mass murderers attack in pseudocommando style. Their interest in weapons, mercenary magazines, and the military are often an attempt to cover up deep feelings of inadequacy, as well as to express intense bitterness and hatred toward others and themselves, given that they often also die.

2. Disturbed

Many perpetrators of workplace violence experience some sort of mental disturbance. Some have been diagnosed; others commit their violence and are judged as disordered well after the fact. The patient who killed psychiatrist Wayne S. Fenton was reported to be a paranoid psychotic. Edward Mann, who rammed his car into the IB M offices and was captured after killing two people, was later diagnosed for the first time as suffering from major depression and a delusional disorder. Many workplace killers commit suicide after their rampages and can only be diagnosed in retrospect, and even then without great certainty.

One particular form of mental disorder,
erotomania
, was implicated in a case in California’s Silicon Valley. In erotomania, the person feels absolutely convinced that the object of his or her affections feels the same way, even if there is evidence to the contrary. Software engineer Richard Farley met Laura Black, an electrical engineer, at the defense contractor ESL, Inc. When she spurned his advances, he stalked her. Four years after Farley had met Black, he stormed ESL, killed seven employees, and gravely wounded Black. Farley wanted to spill his blood on Laura Black so she would never forget him. From prison, Farley continued to write to Black as she lay in a hospital bed with her survival in doubt. Even though his violence had been acted out, his delusion and disorder continued.

The vast majority of people who are mentally disturbed are no more violent than the population in general. There is no research support for the strong connection the public assumes exists between mental disorder and violence. In fact, a previous history of violence and current alcohol and drug abuse are much more accurate indicators of the risk of violence. Mental disorder represents only a modest risk of violence compared with other risk factors such as male gender, young age, and lower socioeconomic status. Mental disorders, however, can interfere with work performance. A vicious cycle may develop in which declining performance brings managerial criticism, which produces further anger and deterioration in work. The worker’s mental disturbance is overlooked, and an opportunity to intervene therapeutically is lost. When mentally disturbed workers are subjected to these downward cyclical stresses, they may be more likely to become violent. Prior brain injuries, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, mania, substance abuse, personality disorders, chronic pain—any of these, or a combination of them, may, but not necessarily do, form the backdrop for violence. When Texas tower killer Charles Whitman was autopsied, he was found to have had a brain tumor the size of a pecan. The pathologist was uncertain of the role that tumor might have played in Whitman’s murderous rampage, but it was learned that Whitman had complained of severe headaches.

3. Determined

Frequently, among survivors of workplace violence, one hears the description of the killer as acting like an automaton—mechanically, coldly, and emotionlessly going about his killing. Gian Luigi Ferri was described as displaying a blank expression while murdering people at the law firm of Pettit and Martin. This observation is counterintuitive, because we would expect peak expressions of strong emotion during the act of killing, such as hate and rage.

It is my impression that many workplace killers commit violence in a mentally-split state. Most workplace killings are planned. Once a plan is hatched, the person is determined to see it through. Perpetrators generally are familiar with weapons, have a military background, and attack the workplace in a pseudocommando fashion. Much like men preparing to go into battle, they are determined and prepare themselves mentally. Part of that preparation is to consciously split off thoughts and feelings that might produce fear or otherwise interfere with the mission.

4. Deviant

The thinking of persons who ultimately explode into violent acts is usually quite different from that of most people. It is odd and extreme. Although such thinking may result from an overt mental disorder, it may also be a manifestation of an eccentric and deviant personality. For instance, the Canadian killer Marc Lepine saw women as the source of all his troubles and wrote that “feminists have always had a talent for enraging me.” Low self-esteem and blaming others for one’s problems dominate the thoughts of many persons who commit workplace violence. This is deviant thinking, no less so than the thoughts of the white supremacist who killed a plastic surgeon for creating “ersatz Aryans,” or Gian Luigi Ferri’s invectives against the Food and Drug Administration concerning the food additive MSG. Such individuals often have an arsenal of weapons stashed at home, for defense against the dangers they perceive based on their crank conspiratorial theories.

5. Distant

With a few rare exceptions, workplace killers are loners. Their lack of meaningful contact with other human beings is almost always a symptom of underlying mental and emotional difficulties. Moreover, the scarcity of human contact removes from these loners a potentially critical brake on their aberrant thinking and behavior. People who are regularly in touch with others are more likely to check their thoughts and perceptions with them and to use the feedback to keep themselves within the bounds of normality. Those who are out of touch with people are more likely to become even further out of touch.

6. Dangerous

Like rattlesnakes, people who commit workplace violence usually give warning: they communicate their threats, either overtly or covertly. They do so regularly, over time, escalating the warnings to the point that when the carnage erupts, few who knew them are surprised by it. Potential workplace killers often are fascinated by firearms. Many of them have had military training, or own firearms and are known to be proficient in their use. Some have a history of prior violence that is contained in their criminal or military records. Thomas McIlvane, who killed four fellow postal workers, had been thrown out of the Marine Corps for running over a fellow Marine’s car with a tank. The best predictor of future violence is past violence.

7. Disrupted Relationships

Most workplace killers are alienated from their families. Many are divorced. Few have any meaningful relationships. The smoldering rage and hatred resulting from wrecked marital and familial relations can erupt into violence in another arena: the workplace. James Edward Pough’s wife walked out of their marriage a few months before his car was repossessed by General Motors Acceptance Corporation. He later went on a rampage against the offices of the financing agency, murdering eight employees and a patron.

8. Dyscontrol

Temper tantrums, violent outbursts, and run-ins with the law are commonly found in the background of some perpetrators of workplace violence. The ex-Marine McIlvane had been disciplined for fighting with postal patrons and for cursing out a supervisor. In such men, the ability to control their violent outbursts is clearly deficient. They seek to resolve conflicts through actions, not through words. And neurological disorders or brain injuries can loosen whatever control they do have. The beginning of loss of control may be signaled by the perpetrator who speaks louder than usual, is easily startled, and becomes increasingly impatient and irritable.

9. Drugs and Alcohol

The use and abuse of drugs and alcohol are well known disinhibitors of violent impulses. Like brain injuries or neurological disorders, they loosen control over violent propensities that the individual may have, leading to outbursts of uncontrollable behavior. Generally, too, people who abuse such substances are found to have underlying personality disorders. Individuals with borderline and antisocial personalities are capable of committing violent acts, and are rendered more so by using drugs and alcohol. Postal worker John Taylor’s alcohol consumption was known to have increased before his rampage. It likely fueled his unfounded suspicions that he was going to be set up and made to appear as though he was unlawfully accepting money on his mail route.

A small subset of workplace killings are unplanned. Some individuals, intoxicated on drugs, commit murders outside of work and then go to the workplace and kill again. Ramon Salcido stayed out much of one night drinking and taking drugs. Early the next morning, he took his daughters, ages 1, 2, and 4, to a county dump and cut their throats. Somehow, the youngest child survived. Salcido then drove to his inlaws’ house, where he killed his mother-in-law and her two children. He returned home and killed his wife. Salcido then drove to the winery in Sonoma, California, where he worked. There he killed one employee and wounded another.

10. Down and Out

Employees who turn violent in the workplace are at the end of their emotional, personal, and financial ropes. Consumed with rage, they feel they have nothing to lose by going on a rampage. They see this as a final opportunity to turn the tables on coworkers and superiors who had once appeared to them invulnerable and to force these tormentors to experience vulnerability. Most workplace killers are in their thirties or forties and have failed to meet their occupational goals. Also, over the course of their working years they have accumulated personal and job setbacks to the point that they feel they are at a dead end. Joseph Wesbecker, described in the next section, fit this description. It takes time, augmented by bad experiences, to make a workplace killer.

Three Life and Death Histories

In the backgrounds of Gian Luigi Ferri, Joseph Wesbecker, and Patrick Henry Sherrill, many of the behavioral aspects of the workplace killer listed in Table 6–1 can be observed.

When Ferri’s carnage at Pettit and Martin was over, his ex-wife could not believe that her former husband could have been the perpetrator because “the man I married hated violence.” Nor could one of Ferri’s former assistants at his failed mortgage company, who said, “You don’t expect that from someone you know, no matter how lonely and sad and miserable he is.”

Ferri immigrated to the United States in 1964. He studied biology and psychology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, from which he received a bachelor’s degree. Thereafter, he worked as a mental health counselor for the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services. He married and divorced quickly. After his divorce, Ferri did volunteer work for the televangelist Reverend Terry ColeWhittaker, a former Mrs. California. He adopted her slogan, “Prosperity, Your Divine Right,” but prosperity did not shine on him. He was involved in a failed Midwestern trailer park venture and got legal counsel from Pettit and Martin. Not satisfied with their work, he eventually turned to another law firm and won a million-dollar settlement.