33 Confirmed Killed in Shooting at VA Tech

[Voltron]

Originally Posted by iris

Yes. There was an escaped convict and there were deaths. My point was that this is a rare event in Blacksburg and it would have gotten their full attention.

How many times does it need to happen before it stops becoming a concern?

Well, yeah, but they they thought he wasn't out there. They had the area of the first shooting on lockdown for a while, until they thought it was safe. They were wrong. There was no way they could have expected a lengthy time window and then a killing sprell.

The point remains the same. This guy had 2 hours to wander around 2,600 acre campus. Authorities might not have known who he was, but if they were putting together the pieces of the first murders, then they would have had some semblance of who this man was, and would have had little to no trouble putting out an APB for this guy. This guy, who, mind you, was walking around campus for two hours.

Where were the security guards? Where was the man-hunt?

I'm not saying those emails were perfectly written. They were lacking. Clearly, someone didn't think of a mass murderer running around campus when they drafted the Emergency Preparedness plans.

I guess I prefer to lay blame with the actual killer, not the university personnel who failed to see into the psyche of a hypothetical killer and plan ahead.

I don't mean to be polemic.

Saying that "They thought he left campus" is the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard. What irresponsible clod decided this guy left, anyway? Did they check the whole campus? He's a murderer! It's not like a bunch of kittens escaped! The guy killed two people and disappeared. Who knows where he could be? If there was even a chance he was still on campus, then he could've still been on campus. Doesn't anyone subscribe to Murphy's Law?


That's the last I'll say on the matter. I promise.

[iris]

Originally Posted by Voltron

How many times does it need to happen before it stops becoming a concern?

It won't stop being a concern. All I know is that where I live murders don't cause as much of an interruption as in smaller towns.

I do think you have a point. A number of years ago, I approached my own university with security and information dissemination concerns after we were hit by a tornado nobody seemed to know about until they heard it directly overhead (and this was right after 9/11, and we had the anthrax threats and such around here). I see lots of ways these systems could be improved.

But I'm just jaded, I guess. Things happened, it's over, and nothing will undo it. I can't bring myself to be upset at people who are already casualties of the situation. They'll be living with their choices for the rest of their lives. Nobody's so good at lying to themselves that they wouldn't berate themselves over something like this.

Maybe that's more depressed than jaded. Heh. Whatever. I'm just happy I didn't have an anxiety attack this time.

[Spike Spiegel]

Everything shold have been LOCKED down after the first shooting took place--maybe then more lives would been spared. I'm glad the shooter is dead, though.

[Mr. Snackpants]

Originally Posted by Marty McFly

Everything shold have been LOCKED down after the first shooting took place--maybe then more lives would been spared. I'm glad the shooter is dead, though.

I'm not. I wish his @ss was in jail right now...but he got off easy.

[LogicDonny]

you think the gunman would have been better in jail than to be dead? Makes no sense? The gunman is probably burning in hell for his sins..

[Anarky]

Now before this evolves into a religious debate, let it be known that religious debates are not allowed. Now go on.

[Jo Dawn]

Originally Posted by Marty McFly

Everything shold have been LOCKED down after the first shooting took place--maybe then more lives would been spared. I'm glad the shooter is dead, though.

Well, it was locked down. Problem was they missed him and unlocked it all. Though it's almost better off that he's dead (and I hate to say that about anyone) I'd really like to know just why. Get in his head a little. I mean, the time lapse showed that this was all planned and whatnot.

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

Latest word: Apparently, Cho sent a few things to NBC before the 2nd shooting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us...gewanted=print

Originally Posted by New York Times

April 18, 2007
Network Turns ‘Disturbing’ Package Over to F.B.I.
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

The gunman responsible for the shootings at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute mailed photographs, video and writings to the NBC television news network, apparently sending them off between the two attacks on campus that killed 32 people and himself.

NBC, which turned the material over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, described the materials as a “disturbing, rambling multi-page statement,” along with the video and photos.

“This may be a very new critical component of this investigation,” said Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, at a news conference. Authorities are now in the process of evaluating its worth, he said.

NBC said the materials arrived in the mail this morning, but the network and the police did not immediately disclose their contents.

There's more, but this is the newest info.

[Mr. Snackpants]

Originally Posted by LogicDonny

you think the gunman would have been better in jail than to be dead? Makes no sense? The gunman is probably burning in hell for his sins..

If he was in jail he would set there for years, and rot away. Then he would die and get whatever is coming to him. So it does make sense.

[LogicDonny]

nah.. he should have been stoned, tortured then hanged for the ultimate crime in america's history.

[That Matt Guy]

Originally Posted by LogicDonny

nah.. he should have been stoned, tortured then hanged for the ultimate crime in america's history.

Since all of those punishments are illegal in the US, I highly doubt it. And how is this "the ultimate crime" in US history?

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

NBC News is showing a few clips of the video he sent. My God, he really should've been locked up a LONG time ago...

[Cascadia]

tomorrow night my local university is holding a candlelight service for Virginia Tech along with sending cards and peace cranes to them.

[iris]

That's very nice sci freak.

Originally Posted by Mr. Snackpants

If he was in jail he would set there for years, and rot away. Then he would die and get whatever is coming to him. So it does make sense.

In VA? No, they'd execute him lickity split.

Yet another reason to abolish capital punishment.

Although there's a rather good case for insanity here, so he might have been instituionalized.

Anyway, it's all moot. This was basically an elaborate suicide to ensure himself posthumous notoriety.

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

The Alumni Association of VT wants to promote "Hokie Hope" on April 20th (this Friday). "Hokie Hope" is when all Hokies wear orange and maroon to show love for VT. Also Governor Tim Kaine has declared this Friday to be a statewide day of mourning.

[LogicDonny]

the hockey game had a moment of silence during the canucks vs dallas game last night with what happened a few days ago.

[JetsAndHeels]

Originally Posted by Kunoichi_Haruko

NBC News is showing a few clips of the video he sent. My God, he really should've been locked up a LONG time ago...

I agree...this guy freaks me out and I am not afraid to admit it. I heard some of the people describe his demeanor on the news, but to see it in the video clips and in his pictures is just unreal. I know this has to be like salt in the wound for the families and friends of the deceased.

[jeff the cheff]

I read one of his plays.

Spoiler:

They're ****ed up!

[bullet]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18143312/page/2/

Liviu Librescu, 76, an engineering science and mechanics lecturer. Born in Romania, he survived the Nazi Holocaust and emigrated to Israel in 1978 before moving to Virginia in 1985.

An Israeli citizen, he had taught at Virginia Tech for 20 years and was internationally known for his work in aeronautical engineering.

"His research has enabled better aircraft, superior composite materials, and more robust aerospace structures," said Ishwar Puri, the head of the engineering science and mechanics department.

After surviving the Nazi killings, Librescu escaped from communist Romania and made his way to the United States before he was killed in Monday’s massacre, which coincided with Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Librescu's son, Joe, said his father's students sent e-mails detailing how the professor saved their lives by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot.

“My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee,” Joe Librescu said from his home outside Tel Aviv, Israel. “Students started opening windows and jumping out.”

it hurt a lot to read something like this...amazing people lost for no reason.

[Katie]

Originally Posted by bullet

it hurt a lot to read something like this...amazing people lost for no reason.

The guy didn't discriminate. He killed Black guys and white guys...asians and people of middle eastern decent...a Puerto Rican and a Mexican...an Indonesian kid, an Indian kid...Guys... girls...young and old...no one was spared.

What really got me was how they were talking about how he hated rich kids so much....but seeing the house he grew up in and where he was at college, I'd wager his family was not struggling too hard financially. Kind of a hypocrite, really.

He said he did it for his brother and sister. Wonder what they think about that.