Omar Mateen beat his first wife mercilessly. He beat her if she didn’t do the laundry and for other equally benign offenses. He took her paycheck and controlled every aspect of her life until she finally escaped. Mateen is also the man who killed 49 people in Orlando and wounded 53 others before he was eventually killed by the police.

Domestic violence is also called “intimate terrorism” as the perpetrator, usually male, uses violence as a way to control his partner.  It is terrifying and “often a way for male abusers to impose their view of ‘traditional’ gender roles.”  When the group, Everytown For Gun Safety “analyzed F.B.I. data on mass shootings from 2009 to 2015, it found that 57 percent of the cases included a spouse, former spouse or other family member among the victims — and that 16 percent of the attackers had previously been charged with domestic violence.”

Researchers are looking at the parallels between what drives a man to terrorize women and the ultimate act of terror—mass murder.

Read more at The New York Times