“…These types of influence have been analyzed by scholars using a variety of terms, including “contagion,” “imitation,” “inspiration,” and “copycat behavior” (Kissner, ; Langman, , ; Lankford & Madfis, ,b; Meindl & Ivy, ; Towers, Gomez‐Lievano, Khan, Mubayi, & Castillo‐Chavez, ). Although the precise effects are impossible to determine for every case, prior research findings indicate that these influences may increase some at‐risk individuals’ desires to attack at all, to kill for fame and attention, and/or to kill a large number of victims for a correspondingly larger amount of fame and attention (Kissner, ; Langman, , ; Lankford, ; Lankford & Madfis, ,b; Meindl & Ivy, ; Towers et al., ). For instance, sometimes the role model may primarily serve as inspiration, whereas in other cases, the role model is influential by vividly demonstrating that high‐fatality killers of this type are consistently rewarded by the media with fame (Lankford, ; Lankford & Madfis, ,b; Meindl & Ivy, ).…”