Dr. Clint VanZandt appeared on MSNBC to discuss a potential serial killer targeting black males in Michigan. Click here to watch the video on MSNBC.com.

Serial Killer Targeting Black Males Video Transcript from MSNBC

Alex: police in michigan on the hunt for a serial killer. a sketch of the suspect and say they believe the man is responsible for stabbing more than a dozen innocent men since may. five of those men have died. one woman says her nephew was just walking to a bus stop when the suspect approached him asking for help. the next thing he knew, he was being stabbed.

Alex: he said, they just started stabbing and stabbing and stabbing. he’s still in the hospital. he’s not doing good at all.

Alex: joining me live from washington, d.c., former fbi profiler clint van zandt. good morning.

Dr. Clint Van Zandt: hi, alex.

Alex: the victims are older otherwise vulnerable african-american men walking alone at night on sometime as main road.

Dr. Clint Van Zandt: yes.

Alex: what does that tell you about the suspects and how he’s targeting these people?

Dr. Clint Van Zandt: this is someone who is — who is, number one, probably from in or around the flint, michigan area where he started. serial killers normally start in an area they’re comfortable in. they live in, they work in. that’s probably where this guy is from. and noting that in this particular case, flint, has been ranked as the sixth most dangerous city in the country, and last year was number one in the rate of people who were attacked with weapons. alex, last year flint had 35 total homicides. this year they’ve already had 34, and part of this may be based on almost 50 police officers that were laid off earlier this year. obviously, there’s a lower police presence on the street.

Alex: all right. as a former profiler, did you look at this and think it was racially motivated?

Dr. Clint Van Zandt: it could be. only one of the victims were other than african-american. this is something like we saw last week in the case you talked about earlier in connecticut. where, in that case, an african-american man shot and killed eight caucasians. so, you know, we hate to see these broken down on racial lines, but it appears this particular killer is out and about between about 11:00 at night and 6:00 in the morning. he is a white guy. he’s looking for victims that are vulnerable. they’re by themselves, and alex, the police have not only released a sketch, but what we know is, this guy wears a very distinctive stud in the very top of his left ear. i don’t care whether you know this particular guy or not, if you’ve seen somebody doing something that unusual, you know who he is, you should be calling the police or the fbi.

Alex: how much do police in this situation have to rely on help from the public here?

Dr. Clint Van Zandt: they really need a lot of help right now. somebody’s got to know this guy. as i say, he’s from that local area. he’s been out and about. he’s out in communities where he should stand out, but, you know, alex, many times there is this idea that you don’t talk to the police. that if you snitch, people find out you’ve done it, they don’t like you. they give you grief over it. we’ve got to overcome that. the police are desperate in this case. they need help. this guy will kill again, unless he’s stopped.

Alex: clint i know we don’t have a lot to go on here. getting in the mind of someone like this, what’s at the root of these actions?

Alex: well, it probably he feels maybe offended by certain groups or certain individuals. but, alex, he’s out looking for the vulnerable people. and unlike the killer in connecticut last week who used a gun, this guy, this killer in flint and the nearby area, alex, he’s using an edged instrument, a knife. this is an up close and personal crime. this is when we get into face of somebody. you see the fear. you see the absolute terror and when that knife is going, alex, not to get too grisly, the blood is flying from the victim on to you. this guy is really getting off on this, too.

Alex: ugh. i wish you didn’t have to go there. thank you very much, as always.