The act of mass murder that had taken place in the past week in a small provincial town has shocked the society. The criminal, who is the unemployed Gregory Johnson, is convicted of the murder of seven person. During the accident fifteen person were injured. The citizens of the town assert that the mass murderer has been living alone. At the same time, none of the citizens had ever supposed that Johnson would be able to commit such a terrible act.
At the present moment the crime is identified as a murder with malice aforethought. Johnson has planned this crime beforehand. For committing the crime, Johnson has chosen the most crowded supermarket in the town. The murder was committed in the rush hours. At the same time, the initial purpose of the crime as explained by Johnson was the robbery, and the murder of the customers in the supermarket had not been planned. As Johnson explained it in his testimony, the murder had been caused by his sense of fear. For committing his crime, Johnson has prepared the mask and the gun beforehand.
Having entered the building of the supermarket in the mask, Johnson began to menace the employee with a gun demanding to give him money from the cash register. When the employee has refused to fulfil Johnson’s requirement the criminal has opened the sporadic fire from the gun. Having killed seven person and having injured fifteen customers of the supermarket, Johnson has turned himself into the police. At the present moment he remains in custody.
In accordance with the law of the state for committing such a crime, Johnson will be sentenced to death. At the same time, his lawyer tries to prove his insanity. For this purpose, the medical expert review is conducted. In spite the fact, that the experts have already found several deviations in the murderers mental health, they are too insignificant to be the evidence in court. The major part of the jurists are apt to think that Johnson will be found guilty in committing the mass murder and he will be sentenced to the capital punishment. Moreover, last time the jurists are reluctant in recognizing the mental illness of the criminals.
Apart from the death penalty, which would be probably enforced to Johnson, he was also punished by the meeting with the relatives of people killed by him. After the meeting, Johnson has shown repentance in committing this crime.
Many experts disagree over the issue of the reasons causing this crime. There is a group of criminals who are apt to think that Johnsons behavior was caused by his psychological disorder.
At the same time during this case investigation several interesting facts appear. Johnsons neighbor has mentioned that not so long ago he had bought a new car of the famous brand. Johnson was very interested with the new acquisition of his neighbor. Later on, he mentioned that he would like to buy the same car, but he lacked of money. It is known that Johnson has been dismissed from the organization where he had been working. Moreover, he had been facing the money problems during all his life.
Thus, this crime may be explained from the point of view of the strain theory. Johnson had the definite material goals in his life. However, the lack of money made the realization of his goals impossible. By the robbery attempt, Johnson tried to solve his financial problems.