Cascade Mall Shooter Blames Cannabis For His Actions

20-year-old Arcan Cetin is identified as the Cascade Mall shooter who gunned down five innocent people in the state of Washington on September 23. According to recent details, the shooter blames cannabis itself as the cause for his history of trouble with the law.

Young sociopaths that go on killing sprees rarely take accountability for their actions. Killers commonly blame music, drugs and society as a whole. As sociopaths,  they lack moral sense and knowing right from wrong.

Amid frequent prescription pill overdoses, cannabis was one of the many substances Cetin indulged in. Still, Cetin managed to stay compliant with his rehabilitation program as of September 6. One of the conditions of Cetin’s program banned drugs and alcohol as well as firearms.

After the shooting, questions arose regarding Cetin’s cannabis use, however, last April, a judge mentioned that cannabis was not an issue related to the state of his mental health.

Arcan Cetin had a long history of violence. Two years ago he attacked his mother. Cetin was court-ordered to attend a rehabilitation program aimed at erasing his criminal record. Once in rehabilitation, Cetin made unwelcome advances on at least two girls. Cetin was arrested on two counts of fourth-degree sexual motivation. In another incident, Cetin also attacked his father and was court-ordered to lose contact with the father. According to the Associated Press, Cetin’s addiction counselor Jim Follman warned others as early as January that Cetin held a “strong likelihood of similar future violations.”

Obviously Cetin’s mental health treatment was more or less a failure. He would go on to take the lives of Sarai Lara, a cancer survivor, Chuck Eagan, Shayla Martin, Belinda Galde and Beatrice Dotson. Beatrice Dotson was Belinda Galde’s mother. The silver lining is that the Cascade Mall shooting has inspired new efforts to curb gun violence in America.