I think that journalists hesitate to use the word murderer or killer because that is a judgement that a court makes and they will get into trouble / be sued unless they say “alleged murderer” which is awkward. I still think it is far better than the neutral voice used to report on these things currently however.
Honestly, the term terrorist holds greater cultural and emotional weight than mass murderer. I think we should use that weight and if, by using it and applying it to people we even hesitate to call “domestic terrorists” (like that conditional is anything other than code for “white”), we can break the perception that terrorists are defined as someone from a “shit hole country” then so much the better. This may have the effect of revealing the nature of the monster you refer to.
