Reporter Sheri Fink interviewed Troy Rohn for an article, “Las Vegas Gunman’s Brain Exam Only Deepens Mystery of His Actions,” that appeared Feb. 9 in the New York Times.
Fink’s article was about Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old gunman who killed 58 people in Las Vegas in October 2017. Fink interviewed Rohn and other scientists who study corpora amylacea, small structures in the brain that appear as people grow older and may be related to Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
“I think that there was clearly an abnormal number of these corpora amylacea (CA) in his brain and particularly in areas that we normally do not find them. I think the issue is or was for this story was whether CA are a cause or effect,” Rohn told Boise State’s Office of Communications and Marketing.
“I spent a long time talking to Ms. Fink about this and the bottom line is we just don’t know if there is any correlation between the presence of these structures and the link to certain diseases, behaviors or disorders.”
Rohn said he was surprised Fink contacted him “out of the blue and asked about CAs.”
“In the end,” he said, “I don’t think the scientific evidence will ever be able to explain why this man carried out this horrendous act of violence.”