Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
Take Two

The role that racism played in Elliot Rodger's rampage

Isla Vista police identified Elliot Rodger as the main suspect in a shooting Friday night in Isla Vista that left 7 people dead.
Isla Vista police identified Elliot Rodger as the main suspect in a shooting Friday night in Isla Vista that left 7 people dead.
(
Frank Stoltze/ KPCC
)

Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.

Get LA News Updates Daily

We brief you on what you need to know about L.A. today.
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
Listen 7:12
The role that racism played in Elliot Rodger's rampage

There are certain topics, like guns, that come up over and over again in the wake of mass killings like the one in Isla Vista. 

Things like mental illness, or a culture of violent video games, are looked to for explanations, but what other factors connect the perpetrators of these crimes?

Graduate student Cliff Leek and sociology professor Michael Kimmel have studied the profile of mass shooters and found a striking commonality: they are overwhelmingly white and male. Cliff Leek joins us now with more.