Angel of Death

By Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D. David Attias, The Angel of Death, killed 4 in 2002 by plowing his car into a crowd of young people. He was found guilty, but legally insane and was placed in a psychiatric facility. He was evaluated during the time for his hearing for conditional release and reportedly found to be irritable, sexually inappropriate, and argumentative, but not violent or dangerous to the community. He is to be stepped down in September 2012 from that psychiatric hospital to an outpatient facility on conditional release. However, he has a history of extreme violence since age 11 when he attempted to strangle 2 children. He also has a history of not taking his medication.

It is important to point out that mental illness and dangerousness are two different concepts and must be measured separately, preferably with valid and reliable risk evaluation instruments. David Attias has several violence risk factors which make his release risky.

The risk factors for adult male violence, in particular mass murder fall into 3 groups: those who are psychotic and have little or no history of violence; those with personality disorders with a long history of violence; and those that have both a psychosis and a personality disorder. Risk factors for psychotic adult males are paranoia, not taking medication, problems relating to others, anger management problems, substance abuse, narcissism, above average intelligence, and the experience of a recent stressor that injures their selfesteem or sense of identity. Violent adult males with personality disorders have long histories of committing violence, and also have histories of childhood abuse, neglect, and families exhibiting domestic violence or chaos. They often have anger management problems, poor problem solving, paranoia, charming but superficial personalities, inability to form lasting relationships, criminal behavior, substance abuse, poor job stability, and difficulties with women, family members and co-workers. The third group of men has some of the characteristics of both of the first two groups.

Therefore, if someone displays multiple risk factors listed above, the risk of violence rises. The more risk factors thy have the more the risk increases. David Attias reportedly has a long history of extreme violence, a mental illness with psychosis (presently medicated), interpersonal difficulties, anger management problems, and a history of not taking his

psychiatric medication. Should he stop taking his medication and/or abuse substances and/or experience a stressor that injures his self-esteem in the future, he could once again become violent. Mandated medication and abstinence from substances and supportive therapy is probably not possible once he is completely released. However, these measures would lower his risk of violence in the future.

Evaluation by a violence specialist to determine the appropriate type, level and intensity of services going forward would be a prudent recommendation.