I was considering the details that differentiate this crime from others. Particularly the motivation, technique and other details. He wasn't going around killing at random, in public from far away and then leaving. Manson targeted victims in his camp and hollywood folks. These killers were pure terrorists, although they were to stupid to know what they were terrorizing for and to lazy and cheap to join the regulars. They were just killing Americans, like the jihadists on 911. It's their use of the rifle which no one has used in this way on the American public. The mansons hacked up most of their victims I think, it was a cult thing and all they had was a 22 pistol. These maggots really gave the grabbers something great to run with. Their stories scare the sheep, but these maggots gave the sheep a real scare.
Manson targeted like the son of Sam, the unibomber, or ted bundy, they all picked their victims for certain goofy, but limited reasons. They terrorized, but the folks they terrorized were a small group. Even robbers fit here.