I'm still sticking with the 'random violence' act for now as most likely.
But I do think there's a possibility that if this family had to flee Chechnya because of violence, with all the terrorism and Putin oppression, that it's quite plausible that as kids these men were traumatized in a way that contributed to their being more susceptible to something like this - analogous to the way that a child being molested makes it far more likely they will become a molestor. 'Cycle of violence' type stuff.
Politically, many people react with fury to this sort of thing, in a 'how DARE you suggest ANYTHING sympathetic to these monsters' type reaction, but IMO, it's often the truth, as unsatisfying as it is to people to have their desire to think it's just some sort of mysterious 'monster syndrome' that can't POSSIBLY have the perpetrators be victims in any way.
But sticking with the molesting analogy, it can often be a sad story of multiple victims, victims becoming perpetrators.
Even if you look at our jails with violent criminals, there's a reason so many have mental problems and come from homes with problems and so on. It doesn't excuse, but it makes it more complicated.
What these guys did is totally inexcusable, but it would help to understand what makes it more likely for people to do something like this - which can often include a legitimate wrong done to them. It helps to appreciate more fully the harm of things like violence, like a Chechnya - we see a bit of it with PTSD among troops, but how much worse can it be for civilian populations?
Terrorsts so often come from opressed populations - you have a hard case to make to preach about the 'sanctity of life' to them when they are treated so badly.
This could apply to a cycle like Israel and Palestinians also - you're not just asking Palestinians to treat Israelis nicely, but asking them to treat oppressors nicely, and that's not easy - and a bit ironic given that Israel themselves has a special reason for a passion for security given their own history of being oppressed, including mass murder.
And even THOSE perpetrators of mass violence - the Germans of WWII - trace a lot of THEIR hatred and desire to oppress to their own horrible treatment and situation when they were in stravation following very harsh sanctions put on them for World War I by the allied powers who won, where Germans largely blamed 'the Jews' for their horrible treatment. Cycle of violence type stuff.
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