Not actually a "random" attack

The murder of an 88 year old veteran of the battle of Okinawa by two teenaged thugs in Spokane, WA last week is rightfully receiving national news coverage. But all the reports I have seen so far (e.g., this one) are describing the attack as "random."




Predators don't choose targets "randomly." If you chose randomly, you might end up assaulting someone who could fight back, or someone who doesn't have anything worth stealing. Predators look for prey, not for a fight.

By the way, everyone talks about how non-human predators target the old, the weak, and the sick, but here's a report on an interesting study that actually present data that support that contention. Most everyone leaves out that by "weak," we mean the youngest animals. So predators don't just cull the herd by eating those who are already going to die soon, they also thin the ranks by limiting the number of offspring on hand. Those predators are baby killers.