Suspected Stockton serial killer arrested; identified as Wesley Brownlee, 43

[Ford_Prefect]

2. I've always wondered why they use spree to describe such behavior. It suggests a certain casual

and impulsive quality to such events. This is in contrast to how deliberate most serial killers are. They may be driven by terrible impulses but they usually appear to be particular about their targets.

Such journalistic short-hand is lazy writing and editing which treats events like these as common enough to be considered like the next rainstorm.