Mental illness may be at play in the case of South Carolina shooter Dylann Roof, but psychologist Dr. Tiffany Sanders says that does not fully explain his actions.
"There's elements of the media that's moving to characterize this young man as a loner, as someone who might be mentally ill, unstable versus calling it someone who's a white supremacist, who's just consumed with hate," Sanders, founder of Sanders and Associates mental health practice, told Ed Berliner on "MidPoint" on
Newsmax TV Tuesday.
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"If this was probably a black person, like in many cases, we've seen lately that they use terminology in the media, such as a thug, someone who's bad or someone who's a threat to someone else," she explained.
"Although, in this case we can absolutely use those terms and also use the term . . . terrorist," she said."There may be elements of mental illness with Dylann Roof, but I don't think that's accounting for his actions."
Sanders says that at this point "we have not gotten enough information. The only information we know is that he's been arrested before for drug uses, but that does not relate to someone with a mental illness."
"I don't want to say just because you're consumed with hate and you are racist, that's a mental illness," she said.
"He can be delusional in his beliefs and irrational, but that doesn't necessarily make him mentally ill," she explained. "If you read through his manifesto, he was very clear, it's well written, for someone who dropped out of school in the 10th grade, I was very surprised to see that."
"This is a man who was in his right frame of mind to know what is right or wrong," Sanders added.
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