CRIME

Long Branch shooting: Did autism play a role?

Studies have established no conclusive link between autism and violent acts, but like much about the disorder, the issue is complex - and emotionally charged

Shannon Mullen
Asbury Park Press
  • 1 in 41 children in New Jersey is diagnosed on the autism spectrum
  • The national autism rate is 1 in 68 children
  • New Jersey's rate is the highest of 11 states surveyed by the federal government

Nearly a week after a Long Branch teen said to have autism allegedly shot and killed his mother, father, sister and a family friend, a host of critical questions remain unanswered.

Among them: What happened inside the family’s modest brick home on Wall Street leading up to the shootings, which took place minutes before the stroke of midnight ushered in the new year?

Scott Kologi on his 14th birthday. via Brittany Michelle's Facebook Page.

And what about the alleged murder weapon, described as a semiautomatic AK-style rifle? Whose rifle was it, and how did the boy accused of the shooting, 16-year-old Scott Kologi, get a hold of it?

The teen is facing four counts of murder and a weapons charge in the deaths of his parents, 42-year-old Steven and 44-year-old Linda Kologi; his 18-year-old sister, Brittany Kologi; and a family friend, 70-year-old Mary Schulz.

More:Long Branch shooting: Victim's death stuns Jersey Shore biz community

Few answers have been forthcoming after a judge barred the press from covering the juvenile court hearing and another judge issued a gag order to prevent lawyers from talking about the case. But one answer may never be known, even to Scott Kologi himself and his surviving relatives: What role, if any, did autism play?

It’s a complex, emotionally charged question, one that has surfaced in the aftermath of other mass shootings by individuals who had exhibited anti-social, autistic-like behavior.

That was the case with Adam Lanza, who killed 20 children and six adults in the 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Lanza, who shot and killed his mother prior to going to the school, and later committed suicide, had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum.

Two years after Sandy Hook, a study published in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior added to the controversy.

The researchers examined the cases of 239 killers who had murdered at least three people since 1985 and found that 28 percent of them had “definite, highly probable or possible” autism. Among them was Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. While Dahmer was never clinically diagnosed with autism, “evidence exists to suggest he displayed numerous indications of Asperger syndrome,” the study said.

The study met with a fierce backlash from critics who faulted the study’s methodology and speculative conclusions.

“The issue is simple: correlation does not imply causation,” John Elder Robison, who has Asperger’s, wrote in the magazine Psychology Today.

“The group of serial killers and mass murderers had other common traits, too, but the authors did not see fit to mention them in the same light,” he continued. “For example: Almost all serial killers and mass murderers are male. Should we be scared of males just because most murderers are male?”

More:Letter: Long Branch shooting cause not home-schooling or autism

Diagnosis not disclosed

Because Scott Kologi is a juvenile, authorities have not even publicly disclosed his identity, and have declined to comment on his health history. Several friends of the Kologi family and the partner of the boy’s grandmother, however, have told reporters that the teen has some form of autism, a disorder characterized by difficulty communicating and interacting socially.

More:Long Branch shooting: Suspect held, judge issues gag order

In addition, in June, the boy’s mother, Linda Kologi, posted a comment on the Facebook page of the Hawkswood School, a private school in Eatontown that specializes in the education and treatment of children with autism and other disabilities.

“Hawkswood school and staff are amazing! So glad my son has such a wonderful, caring environment to learn and grow in,” read the post.

The school’s principal, Andrew Orefice, said he “could not confirm or deny a student’s attendance at the school,” citing a federal law that protects the privacy of special education students. The state-approved tuition for the school is about $75,000 per year, which is paid by the child's home school district.

Neighbors told the Asbury Park Press that Scott Kologi was home-schooled by his mother, but Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said he was enrolled in a school, declining to name it. 

Although Scott Kologi’s specific diagnosis and his state of mind at the time of the shootings may become a key factor in determining his legal culpability, the implication that autism might have played any role at all in the quadruple homicides is deeply upsetting to many people, especially those who have been diagnosed with some form of the disorder, as well as their families and friends.

“It’s a horrible, tragic thing,” said Gary Weitzen, who heads a statewide nonprofit organization based in Brick called POAC Autism Services and has a 23-year-old son, Christopher, who has autism.

“The worst thing we can do is put the blame on autism for this,” he added, “because that’s just not the case.”

A recent review of two decades’ worth of research looking into the relationship between autism and violent acts supports that view.

Published last year by the Harvard School of Psychiatry, the study said there was no conclusive evidence that individuals with autism are more violent than those without the disorder.

That finding conforms with what Catherine Lord has observed in her research, based on a longitudinal study of 200 people with autism.

Few of the individuals in the study group have ever had any kind of interaction with law enforcement, she noted. Even the rate of more minor violations, like speeding and parking tickets, are less than in the general population.

“They are less likely to commit any kind of crime than anyone else,” said Lord, a clinical psychologist who heads the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain in White Plains, New York.

A complex puzzle

Like autism itself, though, the exact relationship between autism and violence is one that researchers still don’t fully understand.

As its formal name implies, autism spectrum disorder covers a wide range of symptoms, skills and degrees of disability.

Some children and adults diagnosed with autistic conditions such as Asperger syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) can be so mildly impaired as to be virtually indistinguishable from their “neurotypical” peers, while others can be so severely disabled that their families resort to placing them in institutions.

Some children and adults on the more severe end of the spectrum are prone to violent outbursts – and their parents and caregivers often have the bruises to prove it.

An inability to communicate – in some cases, even to speak at all – is extremely frustrating. That frustration is not readily understood by people who can easily express their feelings.

Such frustrations often fuel the negative behaviors associated with more severe autism, including hand biting, head banging and other repetitive habits. It can also lead to depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide. Behavioral therapies seek to unravel the root causes of these actions and teach other ways of addressing them.

Individuals with autism who struggle with these problems more typically hurt themselves, not others, but that’s not always the case.

One study of 1,380 children with autism, ages 4 to 17, found that 56 percent were behaving aggressively toward their caregivers, and 68 percent had done so in the past. A smaller number, one in three, were behaving aggressively toward non-caregivers.

But is it really autism that’s responsible?

A major complication in studying the behaviors of autistic individuals is that autism usually isn’t the only condition they have.

Typically, there’s something else, such as anxiety, depression, oppositional defiant disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD.) A study by researchers at King’s College London found that 70 percent of their young autistic subjects had at least one other disorder, while 41 percent had two or more.

The same study that found no conclusive link between autism and violence also urged more research into how these other additional conditions may contribute to violent acts.

To make matters more complex, many people with autism are taking a cocktail of medications to treat these other conditions, often prescribed by different doctors.

What’s more, additional drugs are sometimes prescribed to treat the side effects of those medications, further raising the chances of a dangerous interaction.

Some, or none, of these issues may have come into play in Scott Kologi’s case. But one thing is clear, said JaLynn Prince, who has an adult son with autism: The answers to what happened inside his home that night aren’t known.

Prince and her husband co-founded a nonprofit organization in 2009 called the Madison House Autism Foundation, named for their youngest son, that advocates for the needs of autistic individuals transitioning to adulthood.

To suggest that someone is dangerous because they’re autistic unjustly stigmatizes some 3 million Americans on the autism spectrum who contribute positively to their families and communities, she said.

“That’s my takeaway from this,” Prince said,  “to look at the individual, rather than the diagnosis, because there may be contributing factors."

Contributing: Staff writer Dan Radel 

Shannon Mullen: @MullenAPP; 732-643-4278; smullen4@gannettnj.com