Virginia Tech Campus Shootings

[ykickamoocow 0]

University gunman identified

THE gunman who killed 32 people at a US university was a Korean national identified as Seung Hui Cho, ABC News reported in the US.

Seung Hui Cho was a permanent resident of the United States and his identity was confirmed with a positive fingerprint match on the guns used in the rampage and with US immigration materials, ABC reported on its website, without identifying its sources.

He was 23.

Meanwhile, the university said it was closing Virginia Tech for the remainder of the week.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21576973-1702,00.html

[LabradoRacer 2]

While the incident is unquestionably brutal, it wasn't unexpected given the history of school shootings. While watching the coverage of the shooting on CNN , I was puzzled to see them blurring out the faces of 2 of the 4 cops who were carrying an injured/dead person. Initially there was no blurring & that time I got the impression that those 2 cops were laughing or smiling. I may be wrong. While surfing through the channels, only one Indian channel said that the shooter held was of Chinese/Asian origin. As expected , both BBC & CNN bowed down to political correctness & avoided mentioning this. I think so,there was no mention of the origin in any ticker tape at bottom of screen.

What puzzles me is that if the first shooting occured at 7.15 a.m what were the cops doing until 9.15 a.m? Inexplicable.

Well,given that a gun control policy is next to impossible thanks in no small measure to the powerful gun industry lobby, perhaps the only way out is to have security men checking students at every entry point. Costly ,but cheaper than life.

[LabradoRacer 2]

What circumstances? Did someone you know die? Did someone anyone on this forum knows die, I'll take this back with apologies if that is true. Otherwise, why do we have to manufacture this fake sincerity, fake expressions of regret, a fake funereal atmosphere restricted to a thread. People die, millions, every day. How long should we remain sad? Should we have a totalf1 funeral service too to honour the dead?

You do have a point. The daily suicide bombings in Iraq have got reduced to a mere ticker tape at the bottom of the tv screen or a very casual mention in the newspapers. Whoever said "Familiarity breeds contempt" was spot on. The Iraq suicide bombings have perhaps ceased to make even the slightest impact on the world in general. It isn't anyone's fault that there is lack of empathy. If something happens on a regular basis,there's is a good chance of it being taken for granted. If the school/college shootings in USA continue unabated,it won't be long before the shootings too fail to evoke any sort of sympathy or shock.

I have to admit I haven't been actually deeply affected by any human disasters/tragedies all my life. Earthquakes,bombings,tsunami ,whatever has happened,I was taken aback only for some time,but after that it was always back to life as usual. I mean I have seen tragedies being reported & didn't miss a single meal that day. I think that's true for everyone in general.

Perhaps a ghastly incident causes shock in the following descending order:

1)You actually witness it.

2) You get to see the video.

3) You see the pictures.

4) You read about it.

5) You hear about it.

[LabradoRacer 2]

Bad scene. A few people that my wife and I know teach there, and two of them have students who were shot. Both made it, fortunately.

That's good. I mean that they made it alive is good.

[LabradoRacer 2]

I think the video game industry must be dreading incidents like these. Such incidents always lead to stupid demands such as banning all violent games.

[Sato 0]

Indeed.

But I think everyone dreads incidents such as these. Hopefully one of these days something positive to stop these inicdents will actually be done... They seem to happen, we all are shocked etc, they start the blame game, and then nothing happens until the cycle begins again.

[ykickamoocow 0]

Indeed.

But I think everyone dreads incidents such as these. Hopefully one of these days something positive to stop these inicdents will actually be done... They seem to happen, we all are shocked etc, they start the blame game, and then nothing happens until the cycle begins again.

I dont know about that. After the Port Arthur massacre the government radically changed guns laws and the same thing happened in England when someone killed quite afew kindergarten students.

[james 0]

While the incident is unquestionably brutal, it wasn't unexpected given the history of school shootings. While watching the coverage of the shooting on CNN , I was puzzled to see them blurring out the faces of 2 of the 4 cops who were carrying an injured/dead person. Initially there was no blurring & that time I got the impression that those 2 cops were laughing or smiling. I may be wrong. While surfing through the channels, only one Indian channel said that the shooter held was of Chinese/Asian origin. As expected , both BBC & CNN bowed down to political correctness & avoided mentioning this. I think so,there was no mention of the origin in any ticker tape at bottom of screen.

What puzzles me is that if the first shooting occured at 7.15 a.m what were the cops doing until 9.15 a.m? Inexplicable.

Well,given that a gun control policy is next to impossible thanks in no small measure to the powerful gun industry lobby, perhaps the only way out is to have security men checking students at every entry point. Costly ,but cheaper than life.

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

Benjamin Franklin

[goferrarigo 0]

I think the video game industry must be dreading incidents like these. Such incidents always lead to stupid demands such as banning all violent games.

Spot On.. Hilary Clinton will be calling to Ban GTA IV, Bully very soon...

[mikathegreat2 2]

All I know is the gunman was a South Korean college student! U can find out more on:

http://uk.msn.com

[ykickamoocow 0]

Police identify massacre gunman

* Worst campus shooting incident in US history

* Domestic incident may have preceeded killing spree

* Witnesses describe panic, horror

THE deadliest school shooting in US history was carried out by a 23-year-old

[ykickamoocow 0]

This story is very chilling to hear

The path of the killer

TWO hours after shooting dead two people in a university residence, the gunman walked into the three-storey Norris Hall and chained shut the door.

He then went from room to room, on a shooting rampage. In their own words, survivors tell what happened next

Room 204: Mechanics - They started jumping

"I knocked over desks and pulled screen windows and jumped from the second floor."

"I could see people in front of me land and hurt their ankles and legs.

"I aimed for a bush thinking it would help break my fall and I landed on my back. The two people directly behind me jumping out were shot; they're both in the hospital.

- Alec Calhoun, 20

Room 205: Engineering - The successful barricade

"The sound did not register immediately, even though it was startlingly loud.

"When it started again seconds later, the girl sitting by the door decided to close the door.

"She peeked out into the hallway and saw the shooter, so she immediately closed the door shut.

"Three other students moved a table that was in (the) front of the room and barricaded it against the door.

"A few seconds later the shooter tried to open the door but my classmates kept it well shut, as they held the table against it.

"The shooter shot the door twice at chest level, which resulted in two holes in the door, one of which hit the podium in the front of the classroom and the other continued out the window.

"At this point he reloaded, shot the door again - this shot did not penetrate - and moved on to the other classrooms.

"The shooting continued for several minutes until the police arrived, and the shooter must have shot at least 80-100 rounds."

- Nikolas Macko, computer engineering

"I was sitting in class when we heard loud popping noises a couple of rooms down. The teacher and a student went into the hallway and rushed back in and told everybody to get down. We put a table against the door and had a few students holding down the door.

"It was the scariest moment of my life."

- Ruiqi Zhang, computer engineering

Room 207: German - Only four walk out

"It's a small class, about 25 people, and I would say no more than two people didn't show up, were absent. And of those of us that were in there today, only four of us walked out of that room and two of us had been injured during the shooting.

"It seemed so strange because he peeked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, somebody, before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls and someone thought they sounded like bullets.

"He just stepped within five feet of the door and just started firing. He was just a normal-looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something.

"He seemed very thorough about it - getting almost everyone down - I pretended to be dead. I saw bullets hit people's bodies. There was blood everywhere. People in the class were passed out, I don't know maybe from shock from the pain.

"He left for about 30 seconds but he returned because I guess he heard us still talking. We forced ourselves against the door so he couldn't come in again, because the door would not lock. He tried three more times to force his way in then began firing through the door. Then he left.

"I was one of only four that made it out of that classroom. The rest were dead or injured."

- Erin Sheehan

"I hid under the desk and he proceeded to shoot everybody else in the class, practically.

"There were probably 15 to 20 people in the class and he shot 10 to 15 of them."

- Derek O'Dell, who was shot in the arm

"He didn't say a single word the whole time. He didn't say get down, he didn't say anything. He just came in and started shooting. He didn't look frightened at all, he didn't look angry. Just a straight face."

- Trey Perkins

"She said the gunman left and she and another classmate barricaded the door while others attended to the wounded. The gunman came back and tried to get in, but because of the barricade couldn't and proceeded to shoot at the door at hip level, while Kate and the other classmates were at ground level."

- Katelyn Carney's boyfriend Paul

Room 208: French - Shot in the back

"I watched my classmates get mauled in front of me. I feel crazy. People died on top of me. I am the only person who didn't get shot in my French class in Norris and I have no idea why and I don't know what to do.

"I just pretended to be dead and people got shot in the face. I was so scared. I helped this one girl who got shot in the back. She left with me, the only other person who left when the cops came."

- Clay Violand, 20

"She's recovering. We're praying for her right now."

- A friend of Kristina Heeger, the girl who was shot in the back

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21574144-2,00.html

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It sounds like the people in room 207 got the worst of it.

[goferrarigo 0]

Thats a shady story.....

My university has sent out Assurences though and abt a open discussion to talk abt this event

[GT 849 0]

Perhaps somebody else from the states can answer this for me. I though you had to be a naturalized citizen in order to purchase a gun? I know when I purchased my rifle I had to show birth certificate, drivers license and have a backround check run on me.

[dribbler 6]

It's a society issue, not an issue about people's right to bear arms. Take away the guns, nutter's will use knives. Take away the nutter's, more nutter's breed. Take away the ability to breed successfully, problem solved. The planet's natural balance is restored. AIDS will hopefully rid the planet of man, a horrible virus.

Sometimes it's hard to see the cure if you are directly affected by the cure.

[DarkLord 0]

The gunman was Korean loner student. He supposedly wrote some disturbing violent plays duing play-writing class. Here is the link of those plays (from blog of his classmate on AOL)

Link 1

Here is the blog from his class-mate describing him:

Link 2

Orkut Profile of the Indian Girl who dies in this massacre : Minal Panchal

[monza gorilla 1]

It's a society issue, not an issue about people's right to bear arms. Take away the guns, nutter's will use knives. Take away the nutter's, more nutter's breed. Take away the ability to breed successfully, problem solved. The planet's natural balance is restored. AIDS will hopefully rid the planet of man, a horrible virus.

Sometimes it's hard to see the cure if you are directly affected by the cure.

I think similarly.

[Moose11 0]

Chilling to read the play by play on what went on there. Horriffic for the survivors.

One of the professors that died was 75+ and he wedged himself in the door while the students jumped from the windows. When the gunman got in he killed him. The old man was also a Hollocaust survivor. - Such a hero.

[Quiet One 15]

It's a society issue, not an issue about people's right to bear arms. Take away the guns, nutter's will use knives. Take away the nutter's, more nutter's breed. Take away the ability to breed successfully, problem solved. The planet's natural balance is restored. AIDS will hopefully rid the planet of man, a horrible virus.

Sometimes it's hard to see the cure if you are directly affected by the cure.

I agree. In "Bowling for Columbine" Michael Moore went to Canada. They have even more weapons per capita than US, yet the crime rate is way much lower. Yet, if you know you are breeding psycopaths, limiting their access to weapons is the logic way to go.

[Max Mosley 2]

Yeah, I'd be in favour of restricting gun ownership and abolishing the death penalty, were I living in the US. But it actually surprises me sometimes that the crime rate in America isn't higher than it is, considering the inequality there.

[dribbler 6]

Interesting, this debate we're having.

Oh, by the way another 130 dead in Iraq today, if anyone cares.

[Shane2 0]

Yep, another thing the US Government have made a fine mess of

[AutoRacer5 0]

Adding to it Hurricane Katrina relief.

The US Government is too huge. It needs to be scraped down in size a lot.

[Shane2 0]

It's a society issue, not an issue about people's right to bear arms. Take away the guns, nutter's will use knives. Take away the nutter's, more nutter's breed. Take away the ability to breed successfully, problem solved. The planet's natural balance is restored. AIDS will hopefully rid the planet of man, a horrible virus.

Sometimes it's hard to see the cure if you are directly affected by the cure.

True to a point, although a knife would never have caused that much carnage, as a knifer could have been overpowered.

Adding to it Hurricane Katrina relief.

The US Government is too huge. It needs to be scraped down in size a lot.

Its not the size, its the fact that its leaders are idiots.

[AutoRacer5 0]

All leaders nowadays are idiots.