Yoga studio shooting suspect had a record of racism and misogyny online


The suspect in the yoga studio shooting that left three people dead, including the shooter, in Tallahassee, Florida, Friday night had a record of making racist and misogynistic comments online, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Scott Paul Beierle, 40, reportedly identified as an "involuntary celibate," or "incel," and used violent language to express anger at women who did not date him. "Made one date, didn't show up," he ranted about one woman. "Made another date, didn't show up. Kept making excuses. Ah, I could've ripped her head off." He has also been accused of offline harassment and groping.
Tallahassee police say Beierle posed as a customer of the yoga studio to get into a hot yoga class before he opened fire. Once inside, he shot six people using a handgun, killing two, and pistol-whipped a man who tried to intervene. Two of those injured are still hospitalized but stable; the other three have been released.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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