The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, was a violent shock, but only in the nature and extent of the destruction: by then, most Americans had come to believe that the country would be dragged into the global war with Fascism one way or another, though their eyes were fixed on Europe, not the Pacific.

NEWYORKER: Coming Apart

But his violent death clearly came as a shock and she looked bewildered.

BBC: Putting a face to the conflict in Thailand's south

We learn of his mother, Renee, who, by the time she bore Jonathan, in the early nineteen-seventies, had already suffered electric-shock treatment and a violent marriage.

NEWYORKER: Tarnation

The range of emotions that a PTSD patient feels during a flashback -- fear, anxiety, dread, a sense of shock -- usually does not lead to a violent action, Rossiter said.

CNN: Insights on why people 'snap' and kill