Online activity fueled accused gunman's extremism
Seth Hatfield watched conspiracy videos and weaponry content, experts say, picking grievances into a personal ideology.
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Online activity suggests accused Montreal shooter Seth Hatfield consumed videos about weapons, the outdoors, and a tangle of conspiracy theories and grievances, experts say.
A YouTube account bearing Hatfield's name subscribed to channels about fishing and guns and maintained a playlist of 51 videos. More than a dozen were clips by Paul Joseph Watson, a former editor of Alex Jones' Infowars platform, dated six to seven years old. In the videos, Watson targeted immigration policies, feminism, and popular music. One four-year-old video claimed Germanic nations were undergoing "extermination and replacement" and included Nazi imagery and claims the COVID-19 pandemic was planned.
David Hofmann, an associate sociology professor at the University of New Brunswick, described the pattern as "buffet extremism"—where individuals pick and choose theories aligning with their grievances to cobble together their own ideology. Dr. Ghayda Hassan, a clinical psychologist and director of the Canadian Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence, agreed with that characterization.
Hassan warned that graphic video and images of Monday's shooting circulating online could lead to more violence by serving as grooming material for vulnerable individuals. She urged responsible citizenship and awareness of the online environment's impact.
Experts cautioned against drawing firm conclusions about Hatfield's motives, noting that information is still emerging. Quebec media have reported Hatfield wrote a manifesto expressing hatred toward women and called for more violence.