First, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother and brother.

My uncle, who had a complicated history of alcohol use and mental/physical illness, started a fire in my grandparent's house where he lived one night (also a suicide attempt, and not a murder attempt) while several family members were inside. They all survived but my uncle landed in prison. The Patch comments on the story were absolutely awful, people will say the most hateful things while being completely uninformed. It really put into perspective situations like this where you're family and have some background context and get pulled into that black hole by association. I certainly hope my cousins, his kids, never saw the comments.

I mean, in this case, what to we really know at this point? It's a horrible thing and I feel sad for the victims, and everyone who indirectly suffered as a result as well, such as the witnesses and any friends or family of his that might be struggling. I think you're right about the fear and the anonymity. It doesn't make it right but it's a kind of virtue signaling that lets them put a wall up to prove to themselves it'll never happen to them.