Dylann Roof, pictured above, has been arrested this morning in Shelby, North Carolina. He is alleged to have been the perpetrator in a mass-shooting event last night in downtown Charleston, South Carolina at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine people were killed and one was wounded. Among the deceased is Clementa C. Pinckney - who was a senior pastor at the church and South Carolina State Senator.
This photo of Dylann Roof was one he had posted on his Facebook and is his current profile picture. His primary emotion displayed here is anger while his secondary emotion is disgust. Although both of these emotions share the characteristic of flared nostrils, his mid-facial tension has a significant disgust component. The downward-forward tilt of his forehead, his partially closed upper eyelids, lower eyelid tension and downward vectoring of his eyebrows are all strong anger indicators. In addition his jaw is mildly clenched and his chin is dimpled. The thinning of his upper lips and his concave-down mouth configuration are all indicative of anger.
This is the image he chose as his public persona. It conveys the emotions which encapsulate his self-image - the ones he projects onto the public and therefore the ones he wishes the World to perceive. Those who perpetrate violent crimes have a very strong tendency to post on social media images which display them showing during moments of contempt, disgust and anger. People who project such emotions will also tend to have a greater tendency toward a narcissistic profile as well as possessing shorter tempers. They have a predilection to react to verbal conflicts and confrontations with physical responses and much less so with diplomacy. Thus when time permits, social media images play a valuable role in threat assessment.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3219: "Slow Jam the News" with Jeb Bush, Jimmy Fallon and Body Language
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2828: Elliot Roger, Isla Vista/U.C. Santa Barbara Mass Shooting & Threat Assessment - Body Language and Threat Assessment
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2231: A Common Facial Expression of Mass Killers - Using Body Language as a Threat Assessment Tool
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3133: The Red Flag of Robert Durst's Body Language
___________________________________________________________________________________
