On one hand, we're have people who are mentally ill to some degree or another and are not thinking completely rationally (even when their actions appear to show some ordered/rational planning). So reasoning about it will be difficult. But there seems to be a pattern of people who appear to have reached a point of desperation and possibly anger so deep they think the only solution is this kind of violence. The targets of their violence may have a direct relationship to their anger and desperation or it might be indirect or it might be entirely random.

One thing we can all do is look around and think about the people around us and who might be driving down a road of desperation and anger and find ways to engage with them in loving, empathetic ways. It won't stop all of these, but it may be surprising how a small act could stop someone from taking that one-way trip.

Frankly, some of the comments in articles like this exemplify the incendiary behavior that makes things worse.