kansascity | Long served seven months in Iraq and was discharged in August 2010 with the rank of sergeant, according to Marine Corps records.
He
attended infantry school and the Marine Corps Communications Electrical
School. Records show that he was a data network specialist in the
Marines and served in Okinawa and California.
In Apri1 2015, Long
contacted a California organization that serves as a support group for
people who believe military or government officials are electronically
tracking and harassing them.
The harassment can vary from mild to
severe, with some of the worst cases allegedly involving the use of
secret weapons to inflict pain, according to victims, who call
themselves “targeted individuals.”
Long asked to be put on the
organization’s “buddy list” while living in West Africa. But a month
later, he deactivated his account without explanation, according to the
organization, People Against Covert Torture & Surveillance
International, also known as PACTS International.
Long is at least
the third “targeted individual” to become a mass shooter in recent
years, said Derrick Robinson, PACTS’ executive director.
Aaron
Alexis, a 34-year-old civilian contractor, killed a dozen people at the
Washington Navy Yard in September 2013 before police killed him. Two
weeks earlier, Robinson had exchanged emails with Alexis, who thanked
PACTS for finally providing answers to things happening to him.
“In
his case, he was suffering from hearing voices, from microwave burns,
from stalking activity and something else. I don’t remember,” Robinson
said. “He was very confused about what was going on. He wanted some
answers.”
Alexis asked Robinson for addresses of other victims so
that he could write to them, but Robinson said he could not give out
that information.
“Two weeks later he walked into the Navy Yard and blew away 12 people,” Robinson said.
In
November 2014, another “targeted individual,” lawyer Myron May, opened
fire at the Florida State University library before police killed him.
He believed government “stalkers” were firing a direct energy weapon at
him to inflict pain.
Long had posted a video of May on his YouTube
channel. That leads Robinson to believe Long patterned his shooting
rampage off May, who may have patterned his Florida State shooting after
Alexis and the Navy Yard.
Based on YouTube videos posted by Long,
it appears Long thought the Marines were targeting him and keeping him
from getting jobs, Robinson said.
Long apparently served as a
contact for people who believed they were targeted and were seeking help
from another group, the Columbus, Ohio-based nonprofit Freedom From
Covert Harassment and Surveillance.
That group describes itself as
a support group for people marginalized by electronic harassment
campaigns, often at the hands of government or law enforcement
personnel.
The group’s January newsletter included its “buddy
list,” a series of regional contacts offering support for people
subjected to these types of campaigns. That list had Long’s e-mail as
the contact for victims in Burkina Faso, a western Africa nation.
Officials with Freedom From Covert Harassment and Surveillance were not immediately available for comment.
As for Long’s book? By Monday afternoon, Amazon had taken down the page listing it.
