VA - Virginia Tech Shooting, 32 murdered, 23 injured, 16 April 2007

[Shadow205]

Excuse me, I guess I'm missing something here - I stepped out this morning. I thought the boy was South Korean.

Is there an Islamic involved? Gee I'd better watch or read the news, I guess.

He signed his note Ismail Ax

 

[christine2448]

Check out Austrailia ... I read somewhere that crime went up substantially when handguns were banned. This just gives people who can get guns illegally and want to hurt someone all the more power to do it because they know they can but in someone's house and they won't get shot.

If I had a sign on my lawn that said "Proud to be a gun-free home"
and my neighbor had one that said "If you break in my house I will shoot your head off", whose house would be more likely to be robbed? Mine, of course.

Yep, I heard a talk show host saying this today. I can tell you, the sign in my yard would be the latter!

GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE! PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE!

I don't see people banning automobiles or alcohol, or having a fit about either, when someone kills someone because of DUI...the person is responsible, not the alcohol, not the car!

These nuts that want to get a gun can get one no matter what the laws are, and if they can't get a gun they will find another way to kill.

 

[real eyes]

Were the myspace accounts mentioned before really his/his friends? I don't have access to myspace at work, or I would look it up.

THANKS!

 

[christine2448]

Were the myspace accounts mentioned before really his/his friends? I don't have access to myspace at work, or I would look it up.

THANKS!

I don't think so, think it was a hoax...anyone else?

 

[Hopeful One]

Violence on television and movies, etc. has been proven in studies to cause kids to act more violently.

These videogames where you are shooting and killing people have been shown to DESENSITIZE kids.

Oh I don't disagree at all. I just think there are a LOT more factors involved. Violent video games alone don't cause kids to go on mass shooting sprees.

 

[Hopeful One]

I don't think so, think it was a hoax...anyone else?

I think it was a hoax too, JMHO.

 

[Marthatex]

My husband said that last night, he said if there were 20+ in the room, why didn't some of the guys just attack him, ransack him, whatever.....we can never understand I guess because we weren't there.

When someone starts shooting at you, you go into shock, unless you're used to this type of situation (trained military; use guns alot).

Do you run? I'm sure that's the first thought. Do you hide? It takes alot of bravery to rush a loaded gun. Maybe they could see he was very skilled, and were too in shock to make a move or think what to do.

 

[Marthatex]

JERUSALEM — An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a U.S. university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his son said Tuesday.
Students of Liviu Librescu, 76, a holocaust survivor who was an engineering science and mathematics lecturer at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266506,00.html

That's amazing.

 

[christine2448]

When someone starts shooting at you, you go into shock, unless you're used to this type of situation (trained military; use guns alot).

Do you run? I'm sure that's the first thought. Do you hide? It takes alot of bravery to rush a loaded gun. Maybe they could see he was very skilled, and were too in shock to make a move or think what to do.

Yeah, I can't even begin to imagine the fear, and how I would handle something like that.

 

[Taximom]

(((Taximom)))

Aw, thanks. I'm ok, but it sure is heartbreaking to see the pictures of the victims. All that potential lost. All the friends and family members traumatized because of this one a$$hole. :furious:

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Play the jerk wrote:
http://news.aol.com/virginia-tech-s...ichard-mcbeef-cover-page/20070417134109990001

 

[Taximom]

Our schools have lock-down drills. I actually was part of one when I brought my daughter in to school late. (Try keeping a classroom of special-ed children quiet for 20 minutes!!!) After it was over, I walked out quite intimidated even though it was just a drill. I wondered what I, or my children would really do if something like that happened in school. Yikes.

Anyway, I told my other children about the VTech incident so we could talk about it, and my older daughter asked "Don't the college students have lock-down drills like we do?"

 

[Shadow205]

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was described Tuesday as a sullen loner whose creative writing in English class was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service.
News reports also said that he may have been taking medication for depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic, and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

<snip>
ABC, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the note, several pages long, explains Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this."
<snip>
Classmates said that on the first day of an introduction to British literature class last year, the 30 or so English students went around and introduced themselves. When it was Cho's turn, he didn't speak.
The professor looked at the sign-in sheet and, where everyone else had written their names, Cho had written a question mark. "Is your name, `Question mark?'" classmate Julie Poole recalled the professor asking. The young man offered little response.
Cho spent much of that class sitting in the back of the room, wearing a hat and seldom participating. In a small department, Cho distinguished himself for being anonymous. "He didn't real out to anyone. He never talked," Poole said.
"We just really knew him as the question mark kid," Poole said.

more at the link http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-04-17-07-11-08

 

[KarlK]

Are you sure you are not confusing "tom" as the "friend" that every gets when they create a myspace account?
Or am I missing the sarcasm...?

Woops, how embarrassing. Sorry about that, I don't have a MySpace account myself and don't look at that website very often so I hadn't noticed that this Tom was an automated friend to everyone registered there.

 

[KarlK]

What conclusions?

the freerepublic website?

I meant the diagrams about the position of the shooter and other "tactical" details that the media, even less so the Chinese media, couldn't possibly know by the the time they had it published.

 

[heavenlydaze]

According to this article, Cho Seung-Hui's parents were small business owners and the sister attended a prestigious university. Sounds like a hard working family making the most of living in the US, sending both kids to college and wanting the best for them. My heart & prayers go out to the familie's of the victims, and also to the family of the perpetrator.

"His family runs a dry cleaning business and he has a sister who attended Princeton University, according to the source."

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272612777.shtml

 

[poco]

AOL News has obtained two plays a classmate says were written by Cho Seung-Hui. Ian MacFarlane, the former classmate and current AOL employee, provided us with the plays. A note from Mr. MacFarlane and links to the works appear below.

http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/

The second play is not yet available for viewing. I am anxious to read that one.

 

[Taximom]

According to this article, Cho Seung-Hui's parents were small business owners and the sister attended a prestigious university. Sounds like a hard working family making the most of living in the US, sending both kids to college and wanting the best for them. My heart & prayers go out to the familie's of the victims, and also to the family of the perpetrator.

"His family runs a dry cleaning business and he has a sister who attended Princeton University, according to the source."

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272612777.shtml

Also, one of the reporters (CNN/Fox?) said that they thought there was a younger daughter/sister because neighbors saw his parents taking her to school.

 

[heavenlydaze]

OMG...check out this article in 'The Smoking Gun'.

"APRIL 17--The college student responsible for yesterday's Virginia Tech slaughter was referred last year to counseling after professors became concerned about the violent nature of his writings, as evidenced in a one-act play obtained by The Smoking Gun. The play by Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English major, was submitted last year as part of a short story writing class. Entitled "Richard McBeef," Cho's bizarre play features a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of pedophilia and murdering his father...."

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html

 

[kcksum]

These were young kids (many teenagers) with no real life experience. I feel certain that it all happened so fast that they were in a state of shock. I don't know if I would have attacked the guy. I think that I would have played dead if at all possible.

I agree, I will also point out that seeing someone shot point blank in the head would be enough to shock anyone into submission. It is horrific and mind blowing what happens to the human body when a bullet hits it at high speed. These kids were probably sprayed with brains and blood and bone. I don't mean to be so graphic, but to question why they didn't react differently is to minimize what their eyes were witness to in that very moment. None of us were there, it had to have been horrific.
I am constantly surprised at how shocking it is to see a human body mangled and I see it every day at work. This was theri professor who had just been up teaching them in lecture, and then his head is blown apart, it had to have been more sureal than those kids worst nightmere.
It looks nothing like television, much much worse.