Man provided 270 pounds of ammonium nitrate to Palm Springs bomber then fled to Poland

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Group dynamics

Another key distinction lies in group dynamics and constructions of supremacy. Subcultures of nihilistic violence form strong in-groups through shared trauma, grievances and misanthropic worldviews. Some subcultures also establish formal mechanisms to develop in-group dynamics while others create more informal communities in which adherents and followers can interact. For example, NLM requires acts of violence to join the inner circle of the group; the looser-knit TCC offers space in which mass killers are venerated and vulnerable youth are bombarded with narratives that portray violence as sexy, noble and memorable.

This differs from the group dynamics of ideologically-motivated extremist groups. While both form strong “in-groups,” subcultures of nihilistic violence are not focused on the supremacism of their in-group or the need to do violence against an “out-group” to express or advance that supremacism.

Desired impact and targets

Lacking supremacist or political goals, those inspired by subcultures of nihilistic violence often choose to attack targets with aesthetic or personal, rather than political or ideological, meaning. The victims themselves are often immaterial to the attacker’s motivation and are rarely mentioned in manifestos. Targets are often familiar locations with personal meaning to the attacker or chosen for their vulnerability, enabling the attacker to cause maximum harm or damage. This stands in stark contrast to ideologically motivated extremists, who select targets to send a message or based on inherent characteristics such as race, religion, or ideological affiliation.

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Subcultures of nihilistic violence also often act as aesthetic adopters of extremist terminology or symbols, in part due to their overlapping networks. Groups such as 764 and No Lives Matter have adopted neo-Nazi symbology and often share overlapping memes or imagery. However, their interest is largely aesthetic and does not represent an adoption of neo-Nazi ideology. Conversely, members of ideologically-motivated extremists groups may embrace nihilistic violence or even belong to those subcultures, but their violent acts are carried out in furtherance of ideological goals.

The 15-year-old school shooter who killed two in December 2024 at the Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin is a prime example of this overlap. ISD research indicates that the shooter was primarily motivated by her TCC fandom. Analysts identified 16 social media accounts for the shooter, almost all of which contained references to past mass shooters, including Dylann Roof and the Columbine attackers, popular among TCC adherents. However, there was also clear evidence that the school shooter had consumed neo-Nazi media and had adopted neo-Nazi symbols. Her Telegram profile picture depicted a Nazi-era officer wearing a swastika armband and her X banner photo showed the arson of Asane Church in Finland (widely suspected of being carried out by neo-Nazi and black metal frontman Varg Vikernes). A cursory examination of her social media might lead one to believe that the shooter was motivated by neo-Nazi ideology. However the linkages to TCC, her target choice, and the language in her manifesto (described above) more accurately reflect her motivations — namely nihilistic violence.

Some cases are more complicated and likely represent a blend of ideological and nihilistic motivations. In August 2024, a Turkish minor stabbed several individuals outside of a mosque in the city of Eskiseher (Turkey). The youth’s manifesto bore all the hallmarks of a neo-Nazi accelerationist: the attacker identified himself as a “saint,” explicitly referenced accelerationism and encouraged others to carry out violent acts with a video game style point system. However, the attacker also appears to have been influenced by subcultures of nihilistic violence and may have co-opted accelerationist aesthetics: his manifesto cites misanthropy as the main reason for the attack, expressing hatred for humanity and a desire for violence. He also referenced a litany of past attackers, a common characteristic of TCC manifestos. The document included photos of the Columbine shooters, Halle synagogue attacker Steven Balliet, Anders Breivik, Brenton Tarrant, Timothy McVeigh, Finnish school shooter Pekka-Eric Auvinen, and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

The manifesto and social media presence of a school shooter who targeted an Antioch, Tennessee, high school in January 2025 has similar hallmarks of hybridised thinking. While ISD analysts assess that neo-Nazi accelerationism was his primary influence, he also displayed characteristics often associated with subcultures of nihilistic violence. In his 51-page manifesto, he named several mass shooters he admired (including white supremacists Payton Gendron, Brenton Tarrant and Patrick Crusius) and stated that he had “connections with some of them only loosely via online messaging platforms.”

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