Virginia Tech Massacre

[mahlertitan]

can't believe no one has mentioned this yet:

Virginia Tech massacre was a university campus shooting that took place on the morning of April 16, 2007 between approximately 7:15am and 9:45am in the United States. A total of 33 people, including the gunman, were shot and killed in two separate attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia,[3] making it the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. At least two dozen other people were injured.

Cho Seung-hui, identified by authorities as the perpetrator, was a South Korean native who grew up in Virginia and a fourth-year English major at Virginia Tech. He committed suicide in Norris Hall, the second crime scene.[4][5]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre

[Joe Barron]

I've been too angry to mention it. What is there to say about yet another damned American massacre? It seems that they'll keep on coming, regarless of how many there are, and no one seems to have learned anything. It's been seven years since Columbine. What's changed? We'll argue about school security and gun control for a while, and then forget about them until the next shooting.

[71 dB]

can't believe no one has mentioned this yet:

Yes, the Finnish hometheatre forum I an active in lauched this discussion about 28 hours ago!

[71 dB]

It's been seven years since Columbine. What's changed?

NRA makes sure nothing will ever change. 

[mahlertitan]

the korean guy is just stupid. He wrote a play, i read it, it's so hilarious, in a very chilling way.

[Joe Barron]

the korean guy is just stupid. He wrote a play, i read it, it's so hilarious, in a very chilling way.

I'm disappointed the killer was Korean. It's just sad that we rely on immigrants to carry on our most cherished traditions.

[carlos]

CIA should be extremely disappointed. The kid was from south-
Korea, so they can't even say that he has a dirty communist.

[hornteacher]

NRA makes sure nothing will ever change. 

Thats the truth.  So long as political parties here in the US accept massive campaign contributions from the NRA, there will never be a movement within Congress to tighten gun control.

BTW - the 2nd Amendment was adopted in the late 18th century when the "right to bear arms" meant owning a flintlock!

[Don]

the korean guy is just stupid. He wrote a play, i read it, it's so hilarious, in a very chilling way.

Stupid and DEAD.  At least he had the decency to off himself.

[SonicMan46]

I've been too angry to mention it...........

Same as Joe - for me, this is 'close to home' - I've often vactioned up I-81 (Shenandoah Vly - just a beautiful drive & place on this planet), location of Blacksburg.  First, the tragedy of so many young people w/ promising futures lost because of a 'nut case' losing it all!  As the names of these students (and faculty) are released over the next few days, this 'loss' will be even more deeply felt!

Second, I'm a faculty member in the Department of Radiology at Wake Forest University (School of Medicine) - we had a close relationship w/ Virginia Tech - School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences - a wonderful 'joint' union initiated in part by Dr. Pete Santago (a Ph.D. member of our department), who is the Associate Director of this VA Tech school; the director, John Grant, Ph.D., was apparently shot in the shoulder but is doing well - this obviously is 'hitting home' for us here.

Blacksburg is just about 2 hrs up the road from us in Winston-Salem (North Carolina) - we love this trip - my wife & I will have a 'different feeling' when passing this university town on our future trips into Virginia (in fact, one is coming up in May) - not sure what else to say at this point - 

[cx]

Supposedly his girlfriend cheated on him, or at least a girl he stalked ignored him, to the point where in his letter he wrote something to the effect that she made him do it. Anyway, I heard his father has already committed suicide, and the mother has attempted. This coming from a Korean friend who translated parts of a Korean web forum that has been used by members of the family's community. But I suppose it's as good as gossip until more information is released. --CS

[Redbeard]

One man with a handgun is actually a fairly easy thing for police or another armed civilian to stop (once they show up).  Police do it all the time in every country in the world.  What caused the VA Tech and Columbine cases to result in so many deaths is the decision by the police to leave the killers to finish their grisly plans.   From the published time line this guy was allowed to systematically hunt down and execute people in Norris Hall for over 30 minutes, and even then the carnage wasn't stopped by the police but by the gunman killing himself and the students sensing the chance to escape the building.  Otherwise, who knows;  the police may have given him several hours to finish his monstrous business.  What was the police commander thinking?  "Thats it!  I'll give him another half hour, but if he isn't done killing those kids by then I'm going to have to send some of you across campus to go stop him!"

But by all means, blame the CIA, NRA, Republicans, or whoever, so we can then start to craft national policy to tailor to the criminally insane and police departments who elect not to interrupt their massacre of helpless innocents. 

[head-case]

Your comments appy to Columbine, where police did not enter the building until several hours after the shooters had killed themselves and one teacher bled to death waiting hours for help to arrive.  This followed from police procedures which called for the establishment of a command post, etc, before anything gets done.  However, a police official I heard on NPR reported that this event led to a change of basic police procedures.  The new procedure, which it is claimed was followed in this case, calls for the first four officers who arrive on the scene to enter the building and move towards the sound of gunfire.  I have not seen any official statement on how long it take police to engage the gunman, only reports of how long the gunfire went on from students who escaped (10 or 15 minutes was reported by the NY times) which I assume would be highly unreliable.

One man with a handgun is actually a fairly easy thing for police or another armed civilian to stop (once they show up).  Police do it all the time in every country in the world.  What caused the VA Tech and Columbine cases to result in so many deaths is the decision by the police to leave the killers to finish their grisly plans.   From the published time line this guy was allowed to systematically hunt down and execute people in Norris Hall for over 30 minutes, and even then the carnage wasn't stopped by the police but by the gunman killing himself and the students sensing the chance to escape the building.  Otherwise, who knows;  the police may have given him several hours to finish his monstrous business.  What was the police commander thinking?  "Thats it!  I'll give him another half hour, but if he isn't done killing those kids by then I'm going to have to send some of you across campus to go stop him!"

But by all means, blame the CIA, NRA, Republicans, or whoever, so we can then start to craft national policy to tailor to the criminally insane and police departments who elect not to interrupt their massacre of helpless innocents. 

[quintett op.57]

One man with a handgun is actually a fairly easy thing for police or another armed civilian to stop (once they show up).  Police do it all the time in every country in the world.

not in mine

[Hector]

I've been too angry to mention it. What is there to say about yet another damned American massacre? It seems that they'll keep on coming, regarless of how many there are, and no one seems to have learned anything. It's been seven years since Columbine. What's changed? We'll argue about school security and gun control for a while, and then forget about them until the next shooting.

That seems to be the consensus view.

He killed a Holocaust survivor and one of America's leading authorities on cerebral palsy.

No matter, such sacrifices are necessary if the States are to maintain the democratic right to bear arms against, one assumes, an invader.

[Larry Rinkel]

Every one of the gun-happy crowd at That Other Board is outdoing themselves in arguing that this tragedy could have been lessened had VT allowed professors and students to carry firearms on campus. What seems to be forgotten is that many of these killings occurred in a classroom. Even if guns had been allowed at VT, is it reasonable to assume students and professors would routinely carry a weapon each day to class? "Bill, you got everything you need for German class?" "Yeah, Frank - let's see now, books, pen, laptop, cell phone, gun. See you later, I'm off!"

[Don]

Every one of the gun-happy crowd at That Other Board is outdoing themselves in arguing that this tragedy could have been lessened had VT allowed professors and students to carry firearms on campus.

That would be an instant recipe for disaster; a really dumb idea.

I do feel that the police and college administration handled things poorly.  When the two students were killed in the dorm with the killer still on the loose, it was time to immediately shut down the college. 

Have you noticed how the "officials" have been patting each other on the back (actually circling the wagons).  I think that the law suits are going to fly and likely win.

[Redbeard]

not in mine

Really?  Do you mean that the police don't ever confront someone with a handgun in your country?  Or do you mean they do, but less often than police in the US? 

[springrite]

The media's reporting of the killer being a Chinese student from Shanghai, with his name, alleged date of arrival, his website, is shockingly unprofessional. The young man has received hundreds of death threats, and his life made a mess. I can understand misreporting the Asian student being Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean, or Malaysian, but where did they get the name, website, flight number, etc. to report?

[Redbeard]

I do feel that the police and college administration handled things poorly.  When the two students were killed in the dorm with the killer still on the loose, it was time to immediately shut down the college. 

At the very least, they should have had a police presence on the main campus.  A small number of uniformed officers around the main halls, square, etc. likely would have been all that was needed to prevent the second round of killing or at the very least stop it in it's tracks.