The thing that comes to mind for me, when I heard he may have a diagnosis of Aspergers, is the current state of services for autistic children. In school I was an outcast, a geek, nerd, whatever. Had very few friends and was considered even by those few friends to be "odd". I'm 40 years old, so no diagnosis of Aspergers existed when I was young. I was just the weird kid. My girlfriend is a behavioral therapist working with elementary aged children with autism and aspergers. So I see daily the terrible state our community is in when it comes to behavioral support for children. The schools and school districts do every thing they can to avoid providing support for these kids. I know for certain that if as a child I had been given the kind of support my girlfriend can give to her clients, it would have helped me a great deal. It is for certain a wrong headed line of thinking to say it was Aspergers syndrome that is the cause of his actions. However, the SYMPTOMS and the effect on his life and on his psyche, of those symptoms, can certainly be said to have played a part in his actions. ANYONE, who feels isolated, alone, mistreated, and humiliated will have a greater propensity towards acting out. Autism and Aspergers are not the only issues in a persons life that will bring those things on. Many neurotypical people will have the same problems in life. The difference is, most neurotypical people will have the ability to seek help and have the social connections to work their way through them. Without some kind of support, people with autism will have a larger struggle. I think that if it does in fact come to light that he had a diagnosis of autism or aspergers, it will be up to our community to use this unfortunate event to bring to light the serious need for the children of our community to have greater access to support and counseling to help them deal with the challenges of early life that so many of us struggle with.