Sniper Shootings Psychology

Oct. 17 -- As Washington, D.C., area residents try to conduct their everyday lives under a blanket of fear, they might feel as if the Beltway sniper must be mentally deranged for terrorizing innocent people.

Psychiatrists say the culprit could be a meticulous narcissist who enjoys playing God.

As investigators work with inconsistent eyewitness descriptions of the sniper, and the Bush administration considers the possibility that terrorists could be behind the slayings, psychologists say the shooter is likely a narcissist who doesn't experience any empathy for his victims.

‘Control Killer’

If the suburban shootings turn out to be the work of a non-terrorist serial killer, the shooter is probably a "control killer," said Alexander E. Obolsky, a forensic psychiatrist at the Health and Law Resource in Chicago.

Obolsky says the shooter probably spent significant time planning these crimes in order to get an emotional high.

"When the sniper is getting ready to shoot, he is playing God," Obolsky said. "He is looking at his target, a woman or a man, and saying 'Am I going to let you live today or will you die today?' That makes him feel good."

Jeffrery Smalldon, a forensic psychologist who interviewed convicted Ohio sniper Thomas Lee Dillon, and other serial killers, said it's hard for innocent people to understand what makes serial killers tick.

Dillon, the deer hunter who went on to shoot and kill five people between 1989 and 1992, seemed to believe he was someone who should be accorded some special significance, Smalldon said.

"I think he was very bored with his life," Smalldon said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America Wednesday. "He was someone who believed that society wasn't really recognizing him in the way he felt certain he deserved to be recognized," Smalldon said.

Crazy or Self-Absorbed?

Smalldon said Dillon was not crazy by any legal definition. The psychologist said he concluded Dillon had severe personality disorders and was highly narcissistic. Obolsky says the the D.C.-area sniper could have those same disorders.