Who Is Scott Paul Beierle? New Details About The Tallahassee Yoga Shooter Who Shot Six Women, Killing Two
He has a history of hatred toward women.
A gunman shot six women, killing two, before fatally shooting himself at a Tallahassee yoga studio early Friday evening.
The shooter was identified as 40-year-old Scott Beierle.
Beierle entered Hot Yoga Tallahassee just after 5:30 p.m., posing as a customer for the studio's evening class. Without any warning, he pulled a handgun from a black bag he brought to the building and began firing on the others in the room. Beierle shot six women and pistol-whipped a man before turning the gun on himself.
Maura Binkley, a 21-year-old student at Florida State University, and Nancy Van Vessem, a 61-year-old doctor, died as a result of their injuries. Victims Sarah Hodges, 34, and Daniela Archila, 21 are reportedly in stable condition and Daniela Garcia Albalat, 19, Sabrina O’Dette, 21, and Joshua Quick, 33, were treated and released from a Tallahassee hospital, a press release states.
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According to police, students at the yoga studio attacked Beierle in an effort to stop the senseless violence.
“Patrons fought the assailant to prevent him from harming themselves and others," Tallahassee police said in a statement.
A motive has not been released.
"Investigators have been working around the clock to uncover more information and gain clarity as to why this senseless act occurred," said Officer Damon Miller, a spokesman for TPD.
So who is Scott Beierle, the Tallahassee yoga shooter?
1. He was an Army veteran and teacher.
According to the Department of Defense Manpower Data Center, Beierle served in the U.S. Army from 2008 to 2010. His Facebook page says he was a deputy director in supply and logistics and spent time in Germany during his time in the military.
County officials said Beierle taught at Meade High School in Maryland from 2005 to the end of the 2007 school year, the Capital Gazette reports. He also spent time as a substitute teacher at Volusia Couty Schools, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
According to students at Deltona Middle, Beierle had a reputation as a loner who seemed off. He "gave off a psychopath vibe, like someone crazy,” said 14-year-old student Samantha Mikolajczyk, who had him as a substitute teacher multiple times in eighth grade.
2. He has been arrested twice for groping women.
Beierle was arrested in 2012 for grabbing the buttocks of two women at Florida State University, Leon County court records show. One woman said he groped her while she was at the soda fountain. The other woman said Beierle had grabbed her rear end "three separate occasions over the last month."
In 2016, Beierle was arrested for grabbing and slapping a woman's buttocks at an apartment complex pool. The charges for both arrests were dropped.
Courtney Connon, who was 18 when she was grabbed by Beierle in 2012, told Associated Press she feels guilty for dropping the charges against him.
“I was totally just shocked,” she said of when she found out about the shooting. “Since then, I’ve been feeling a little guilt. If I’d pressed charges, would that have stopped him from doing this? How was he not monitored somehow?”
She said she'll never forget how "creepy" Beierle was.
3. He ranted about his hatred toward women on his YouTube channel.
The self-proclaimed misogynist posted hateful videos on his now-deleted YouTube channel, which Buzzfeed reviewed before it was taken down. From the video content, the outlet determined Beierle to be “a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed misogynist who railed against women, black people, and immigrants:”
In one video, titled “The Rebirth of Misogynism,” Beierle lists off a string of women whom he has a beef with. In another, he said women in interracial relationships had "betrayed their blood." In other clips, Beierle suggests putting out land mines to keep immigrants out of the U.S. and says "wh--es" should be crucified.
The New York Times also took a look at his videos and analyzed his apparent personality.
"In the videos, Mr. Beierle pontificated from a dimly lit bedroom, with an unmade bed and a pile of cardboard boxes in the background," The Times wrote. "He lamented his inability to connect with other people — from Army comrades who he said would not travel with him while stationed in Europe to women who refused to go out with him."
4. He wrote songs about violence.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Beierle was an amateur musician who created music that revolved around violent acts. His songs, which he uploaded to SoundCloud via an alias, contain threatening and hateful messages, with titles such as “Homicidal Impulse” and “American Wh--e."
In one song titled “American Massacre,” he sang, “If I cannot find a decent female to live with, I will find many indecent females to die with. Finally, I find that if I cannot make a living, then I will turn, to be successful, I will make a killing.”
At least one online retailer had some of his music available for purchase.
5. He praised Elliot Rodger and claimed to be an incel.
In a disturbing video called “Plight of the Adolescent Male,” Beierle compares his adolescent self to Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old who shot and killed six people and wounded over a dozen other near the University of California, Santa Barbara before taking his own life in 2014.
Beierle considered Rodger an inspiration to "incels," or those who are "involuntarily celibate."
6. He has two masters degrees.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Beierle earned two masters degrees from Florida State University in 2013, one in public administration and another in urban and regional planning. The page also says he received a bachelors degree from State University of New York at Binghamton in 2002.
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.