Domestic terrorismCharleston shooting highlights threat posed by domestic terrorism

As the nation reflects on the 17 June Charleston, South Carolina church shooting, which killed nine and led to the arrest of suspect Dylan Roof, law enforcement and security experts note that domestic terrorists pose a greater threat to Americans than foreign terrorists.

As the Kansas City Star reports, these experts say that foreign terrorist threat should not be dismissed, but that the threat of attacks by domestic lone-wolves is a greater threat to ordinary citizens.

“Since 9/11, our country has been fixated on the threat of jihadi terrorism,” said Richard Cohen, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “But the horrific tragedy at the Emanuel AME reminds us that the threat of homegrown domestic terrorism is very real.”

Roof appears to have been motivated by racist ideology, but investigators are classifying the attack as more than a hate crime.

“Here we go again,” said Daryl Johnson, a former senior analyst with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “This is an act of domestic terrorism. And as far as the number of fatalities, this was the biggest one we’ve had since Oklahoma City.”

“Yes, it’s hate-motivated, but the definition of terrorism is violence committed for a political or social change that instills fear in a population. It definitely fits the bill because of the target — he went into a historical, symbolic facility — and because of (racial statements) he reportedly shouted during the shooting.”

The Star notes that domestic terrorism has become less of a focus for local and federal law enforcement agencies in the wake of 9/11, with resources shifted to dealing with foreign terrorism, but the incidents of domestic terrorism have been increasing.

Last year, neo-Nazi F. Glenn Miller Jr. shot three people outside of Jewish centers in Overland Park, Kansas.

In 2012, white supremacist Wade Page stormed a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people.

In 2009, white supremacist James von Brunn shot and killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Investigators are still examining Roof’s motives to see whether he he was trying to promote any specific agenda, but many signs point to his general alignment with the practices of hate groups around the country.

“[It’s] an obvious hate crime by someone who feels threatened by our country’s changing demographics and the increasing prominence of African-Americans in public life. Since 2000, we’ve seen an increase in the number of hate groups in our country — groups that vilify others on the basis of characteristics such as race or ethnicity. Though the numbers have gone down somewhat in the last two years, they are still at historically high levels,” Cohen says.

Roof appeared to have an interest in white supremacy, but many of his Facebook friends were black. He was not known to groups tracking white nationalist activity, and in contrast to some who have committed violence, he had not been publicly promoting a racist agenda.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino, told the Star that mass killers do not always easily fit into a simple category.

“We tend to make mass killers 10 feet tall when oftentimes they’re 10 inches tall and hunched,” he said. “Many of these attacks, while symbolically hitting a deep chord with citizens, are often part of a chaotic mix of motives, some of which will only ever be known to the offender himself.

“This may be a situation where mental distress is as much an explanation as anything else. But let’s see what comes out from family and friends. Was there some kind of catalytic incident in his life that filled him with some kind of rage where he felt comfortable lashing out against a symbolic target?”

Levin said Roof’s Facebook photo says a lot about him.

“Generally, when we’re looking at motives, we try to start with what are they saying,” he said. “He certainly looks like an angry fellow, and that was the message that he was trying to present.”