What drives a killer?

As I read through the book Murder in Amsterdam, I realized that the novel was more involved with the history of the Dutch then the actual killer, Mohammed Bouyeri himself. The novel seems to drift off from the topic of the mind of a killer but certain pages did have information of his feelings and actions during the crime.

What motivates a person to kill? What motivate a person to kill are emotions of hate, resentment, fear and greed. The motivation of hatred pertains to the novel Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma. Mohammed Bouyeri, a twenty six year old Moroccan-Dutchman murdered Theo van Gogh in November of 2004. After he violently killed Theo van Gogh, Bouyeri stabbed an “open letter” into his chest with a knife. Bouyeri’s letter was addressed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali born Dutch politician. Ayaan Hirsi Alli and Theo joined to create a film called Submission dramatizing what Hirsi Alli saw as Islamic abuse. “Bouyeri’s letter was addressed to Hirsi Ali, as a heretic who had rebelled against her childhood faith and become a willing tool of “Zionists and crusaders.” She was called a “soldier of evil” who had “turned her back on the Truth.” She was “a liar” who would “smash herself to pieces on Islam.” (Buruma, 5) In this quote from the novel, Bouyeri’s intentions of killing Van Gogh, was out of hate for Hirsi Alli. Hirsi Ali was a Muslim of Africa. In her position, now being considered an ex-Muslim, Bouyeri found it offensive that she would betray her culture. He hated her for depicting the Koran as a source of violent abuse in her movie, Submission. Bouyeri’s hate for Hirsi Ali pushed him to kill Theo van Gogh who aided her spreading the truth is abuse within Islam. Basically, Theo was primary killed because of association. In the end, it was Bouyeris resentment an hate towards Hirsi Alli that motivated him to kill Theo van Gogh