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

[mysteriew]

Actually it does not, the MO is very different from that of Islamist terrorists who almost always use explosives or military grade weapons so as to create as much property damage and kill as many people as possible all at once, and make sure everyone knows where it came from. In this regard the Oklahoma City bombing bore the signature of a Jihad terrorist attack and that's why the initial assumption was that middle-eastern terrorists were involved, we had a hard time believing some average white kid from upstate New York had done it. Today's event is more than likely the sicko deed of a genuine whack-job acting on personal impulse. In fact it reminds me of the Montreal Massacre. See the Crime Library or google Marc Lepine.

It is true that in the past, most terroristic activity has been done with bombs or military grade weapons we are now in the present. Higher security for planes, hopefully better monitoring for weapons and explosives. More awareness for everyone.
Since a large part of terrorism is the shock factor, then I would expect them to devise other ways.... something unexpected like a school shooting. And there have been enough of them to give others the idea.
That said, to this point there haven't been any problems with asian terrorists yet have there?
I am undecided as to whether these two events are connected. The first shooting does appear to be a 'crime of passion'. He only shot the girlfriend and the TA who got involved in the argument. Common scenario for a DV.

Second shooting seems more premeditated. He came armed, he carried a lot of ammunition, he chained the doors, he walked from room to room shooting at random. It was like he intended to murder as many as possible before he killed himself.
The two scenes just seem very different. I don't know if it is coincidence, if the 2 nd shooter already had it planned and just put it into effect after hearing of the first shooting, or if there were two working together. But from I have been reading in the recent articles there does appear to have been 2 separate shooters. One for the DV and one for the murder spree.

 

[SadieMae]

No, they are not voluntarily extended an extra three months, when they are already stressed out and exhausted from their tour.

No, some volunteered long ago and NEVER thought they would be in a guerilla war like this one. (National Guard?)

Buzz's point is that we are blaze about the deaths over there, though even more numerous - because we don't really see it "up close and personal', also because they've been at it so long we "predict" it, just as you said, we know it's going to keep on happening and we're just plain used to it.

If we were there, the sight of our people being literally "blown up" every day would bother us alot. It should bother us alot every day. And it doesn't because we don't see it like the drama we're seeing on TV today. We're practically "immune" to hearing about overseas deaths.

Yes, this is off topic but Buzz was trying to point something out; and it's a good point to think about. Some people will sit google-eyed watching the TV all night; but won't bat an eye any more about "50 dead in a suicide bomb"; "2 helicopters down". Our guys are innocent too, because they're blown up by bombs buried in the road that they just didn't see.

To our children growing up, sadly, violence everywhere is our way of life and what we see on TV every day. Violent videogames are a path to manhood, violent movies are fun and like someone said above, our whole society including our foreign policy is "a little off".

It's all voluntary. My point was, anyone who signed up/enlisted for the military/national guard knew the terms and risks: They go where ever they're ordered, when they're ordered and they stay as long as they are ordered, per their voluntary contract with the military, war or no war, bottom line. There was no part of that agreement they didn't understand. So there's no reason for anyone to whine about it. Nobody MADE them sign up for this and they weren't drafted into it. I've spoken to many a soldier just returning to Fort Hood that got their stay extended for 3-4 more months in NOV '06, when they were 1 hr away from getting on a plane home. Did any of them complain, not one did. I see the true casualties of this war "up close and personal" everyday. It's the families, the wives and children of soliders killed. Fort Hood has over 35,000 soldiers there, 1st CAV and 4th ID. The news may say he is from NY, MI, FL, CA, etc, but his wife and kids are here. They know the risks of war and know at anytime "the car" could pull up to their door. They have prepared themselves for that scenario.
Throwing what's happening in Iraq to what happened in VA can't even come close in comparison. It's not a numbers game. Numerous casualties are expected in WAR. Not even having 2 students gunned down on an American university campus could ever be expected, let alone more than 30. There is no comparison to the shock, horror, and total senselessness of it. I'll pray harder for those families. No way could anyone see that coming. These students were not in a place that put them in harms way.

 

[Utopia]

I am not shocked but I am saddened. There is more to this story than a domestic abuse situation IMO. But we have to wait and see.

I am saddened that I am not shocked.

 

[SheerLuck]

This probably is a very simple case of an extremely disturbed person who simply snapped; unless there is another person involved, which I highly doubt. So probably no mystery here. This is absolutely horrible and adding to the pain; is 1 very disturbing question, which I can't help connecting to 9/11 in a correlation, that maybe has been missed?

A double homocide occurs at 7:15 a.m. on a college campus; yet the decision was made by the school administrators; not to cancel classes; even though the killer was not confirmed to be caught???

Sadly in America, the almighty dollar or in todays case; a day of classes; takes precedent over the obvious safety of innocent people. Obviously in the face of evil; you cancel school today until the murderer is caught. Just an absolute and obvious no brainer. You don't assume that the killing will stop because it's a "personal" murder by a jilted boyfriend. You accept the fact that evil is on campus and the evil has not been arrested yet, so you take a step back and cancel classes. You(the school president and administrators) forget about the day's agenda. In the 9/11 attacks, after the first tower was hit, people naturally started to leave the second tower; suspecting the worst. Their instinct was right: to drop their work agenda for the day and get the heck out of building 2, but unfortunately New York Authority made the pathetic decision to tell people over loudpeakers in the second building; that people should stay at work and not to worry. Sadly, some listened and went back to the top of the building. All these people on the top 19 floors could have lived if they left in the 16 minutes between the 2 planes hitting, but many listened to "procedure" and died. Todays kids weren't even told there was a double homocide and a killer uncaptured. Just sickening. My hope after today is that people in authoritative positions wake up and see reality: when evil strikes you protect those who you're responsible for; instead of worrying about a days pay or a couple of classes. Such a sad tragedy

 

[frangi8773]

I am saddened that I am not shocked.

Unfortunately me too......

 

[richandfamous]

To: Dr. Eckleburg
On the assumption the mass murderer was CHINESE, the Chinese news media have already jumped into action, with timelines, graphics, explanations, etc.
(Japanese news media is also hot on this story, covering the reactions of many Japanese students who were on campus there.) No shortage of them having second thoughts about safety in American hinterland. Which is really said--the numbers of Japanese studying in the USA were dwindling already due to perceptions of lack of safety, which all of us here have tried to counter. Who could blame them now (at least those up there in the beautiful hills of Virginia today)?

4,143 posted on 04/17/2007 12:03:41 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo

that's from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1818131/posts?q=1&;page=4101

 

[KarlK]

It is true that in the past, most terroristic activity has been done with bombs or military grade weapons we are now in the present. Higher security for planes, hopefully better monitoring for weapons and explosives. More awareness for everyone.
Since a large part of terrorism is the shock factor, then I would expect them to devise other ways.... something unexpected like a school shooting.

Sadly, school violence is not that unexpected, at least not as unexpected as flying airliners into buildings. I'm not saying it's not possible that a terrorist would do this but if it was the case he would have made sure that the media knew where it was coming from so that his "message" would reach the public. This being said it could be a terrorist wannabe acting on his own but I don't think it's an attack from an organized terrorist group. The MO is similar to that of most previous school shootings, especially the one that happened in Canada in 1989 at the University of Montreal which was the work of a wacko. That story is on the Crime Library under "Montreal Massacre" I believe, that's where I read it a few years ago.

That said, to this point there haven't been any problems with asian terrorists yet have there?

No, at least not from China. That country may have some problems but it's certainly not a hotbed of terrorism and relations with the US tend to be amicable as long as we don't get caught spying on them and vice versa. China is our second trade partner in importance after Canada. Most of our computers and electronic appliances come from there. Anyway, regardless of his nationality the killer was probably not motivated by political issues. It looks as if he just went postal.

I am undecided as to whether these two events are connected. The first shooting does appear to be a 'crime of passion'. He only shot the girlfriend and the TA who got involved in the argument. Common scenario for a DV.

Can't say either, not enough info is available to us yet.

The two scenes just seem very different. I don't know if it is coincidence, if the 2 nd shooter already had it planned and just put it into effect after hearing of the first shooting

That thought has crossed my mind as well. If the first event was unrelated then it may have acted as a trigger for someone who had already planned a rampage but was undecided as to when to get it under way. A double murder on campus would be more than enough to tip over an unbalanced individual.

Wait and see I guess.

 

[frangi8773]

http://snipurl.com/1gt7x


They have started to release names of the victims.

 

[KarlK]

On the assumption the mass murderer was CHINESE, the Chinese news media have already jumped into action, with timelines, graphics, explanations, etc.

Jeez, they sure don't waste any time drawing conclusions over there.

 

[richandfamous]

What worries me now is the other freaks frothing to a frenzy over this to the point of doing a copycat spree!


Prayers to the families.

 

[SadieMae]

What worries me now is the other freaks frothing to a frenzy over this to the point of doing a copycat spree!


Prayers to the families.

I pray this will never happen again, but in my heart I know it will someday. The world gets crazier by the day....

 

[richandfamous]

I pray this will never happen again, but in my heart I know it will someday. The world gets crazier by the day....

I'm sad for my children that will have to see even worse things happen.

 

[Gina_M]

Someone has set up a MySpace page as a memorial for the victims:

http://www.myspace.com/virginiatechmemorial

 

[richandfamous]

http://fredericksburg.com/
Good news source.

 

[richandfamous]

Someone has set up a MySpace page as a memorial for the victims:

http://www.myspace.com/virginiatechmemorial

thanks Gina

 

[KarlK]

http://snipurl.com/1gt7x


They have started to release names of the victims.

That source says that the girl who was killed early in the morning along with the RA was named Emily Hilscher. The only person by that name I found on Google is 18 or 19 years old and is from Woodville, Virginia. I don't know if this young lady is the victim but I found a MySpace account belonging to her, though she hasn't been there in months.

I wouldn't mention her if I had not found something eerie on her page: among her friends is that same "Tom" who was also listed as a friend of that moron who was sort of pretending he had something to do with the shootings on his own MySpace account. Unfortunately I don't recall the bozo's name but the links to his page can be found in the first pages of this thread. This makes me wonder if the guy is not actually telling the truth about knowing the killer, or at least the first killer, since he and Emily have at least one friend in common.

Emily's MySpace page can be accessed from here:

http://www.peekyou.com/US/VIRGINIA/WOODVILLE/Emily_Hilscher/24607648


My prayers go to Emily and all the victims of this horrendous event

 

[richandfamous]

That source says that the girl who was killed early in the morning along with the RA was named Emily Hilscher. The only person by that name I found on Google is 18 or 19 years old and is from Woodville, Virginia. I don't know if this young lady is the victim but I found a MySpace account belonging to her, though she hasn't been there in months.

I wouldn't mention her if I had not found something eerie on her page: among her friends is that same "Tom" who was also listed as a friend of that moron who was sort of pretending he had something to do with the shootings on his own MySpace account. Unfortunately I don't recall the bozo's name but the links to his page can be found in the first pages of this thread. This makes me wonder if the guy is not actually telling the truth about knowing the killer, or at least the first killer, since he and Emily have at least one friend in common.

Emily's MySpace page can be accessed from here:

http://www.peekyou.com/US/VIRGINIA/WOODVILLE/Emily_Hilscher/24607648


My prayers go to Emily and all the victims of this horrendous event

Tom is everyones first friend on myspace, he owns myspace.
Everybody thinks that is strange at first.

 

[frangi8773]

That source says that the girl who was killed early in the morning along with the RA was named Emily Hilscher. The only person by that name I found on Google is 18 or 19 years old and is from Woodville, Virginia. I don't know if this young lady is the victim but I found a MySpace account belonging to her, though she hasn't been there in months.

I wouldn't mention her if I had not found something eerie on her page: among her friends is that same "Tom" who was also listed as a friend of that moron who was sort of pretending he had something to do with the shootings on his own MySpace account. Unfortunately I don't recall the bozo's name but the links to his page can be found in the first pages of this thread. This makes me wonder if the guy is not actually telling the truth about knowing the killer, or at least the first killer, since he and Emily have at least one friend in common.

Emily's MySpace page can be accessed from here:

http://www.peekyou.com/US/VIRGINIA/WOODVILLE/Emily_Hilscher/24607648


My prayers go to Emily and all the victims of this horrendous event

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...?

 

[Floh]

Jeez, they sure don't waste any time drawing conclusions over there.

What conclusions?

the freerepublic website?

 

[frangi8773]

http://snipurl.com/1gt9c



This is Emily's myspace. There are condolence messages on the photo comments.