Opinion: Coverage of Buffalo gunman shouldn’t inspire other shooters

Regarding “Buffalo suspect: Lonely, isolated — with a troubling sign,” (May 17): I don’t think the people who report on the Buffalo mass shooting by Payton Gendron understand that the terms they use to describe the shooting and the shooter are exactly what stimulate the fantasies of aspiring mass shooters. When those young, gullible, unstable video-game boys read or hear reports, they will likely focus on Gendron’s methodic planning, his ability to fool authorities and obtain military-style weapons, the deadly efficiency of his assault on grocery shoppers and his prolific writings on racist, white nationalist subjects. Those wannabe terrorist shooters in training — think Gendron, Dylann Roof (Charleston), Patrick Crusius (El Paso) and others — are heroic soldiers in a battle for beliefs they share as disenfranchised losers.