Its not lack of critical thinking.

It is motivated reasoning.

They're using their brains, they're using them to justify atrocities, by unmaking the atrocity into something else.

They're thinking critically, but without the concept of arriving at a conclusion that seems to make sense, they are instead doing it backwards; scrambling for narratives and lines of reasoning that avoid the obvious conclusion and obvious evidence.

... this is evil.

I literally cannot think of a better definition of evil then starting from knowing you are wrong and then doing everything you can to gaslight yourself and others into not thinking you are wrong.

The Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police or whatever they fuck their little piggy club is called, who issued a statement explicitly denying reality and reframing this as a PR problem for people who don't support the unwarranted first degree murder of civillians?

Literally evil.

These people are not redeemable, they are fundamentally broken, violent, dangerous sociopaths.