Why the Highland Park suspect represents a different kind of violent extremism — NPR

Article makes too much sense and, yes, a "troubling new trend."

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..."The challenge of intervening
Experts worry that gaps in understanding the conditions that contribute to this kind of mass shooting, as well as legal limitations, could hinder efforts to prevent future, similar attacks.

“It’s not hard to to figure out where different violent spaces are,” said Conley. “What’s hard is what do you do once you find one, if the red flag still falls within free speech territory. Because currently we have no intervention abilities, we only have law enforcement.”

The complexity and nuance of these subcultures, and how they interact with each, other also presents a challenge for parents who are eager to keep their kids from falling into these online activities. The age group at particular risk, said Newhouse, are 13- to 24-year-olds, primarily male.

“If someone doesn’t even understand the subculture, how are they going to effectively intervene?” Hightower asked.

Still, Newhouse said he believes technology companies, working with journalists, experts and the public, can mitigate the problem through content moderation. He and other experts agreed that Crimo should not be viewed as an outlier, and that need for common understanding of this mass shooter profile will only be more urgent.

“He’s not going to be the only one, I can tell you that right now,” Hightower said. “You’ll see more and more of young boys [and men] like [Crimo] popping off. It’s not just going to be neo-Nazis and terrorists.”