Massacre at Virginia Tech

[Ollivak]

All right, if you guys haven't heard (I didn't hear until I got home and saw it on CNN) the deadliest campus shooting in US History occurred today. Somewhere between twenty and thirty people died (got conflicting information from the websites I check out) from a lone gunman.

If you want to see the story you can see it at CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html) or MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18134671/). You may want to pick the MSNBC since it's probably more accurate because it was updated like twenty minutes ago (it says at least 31 are dead, as opposed to CNN's 21).

So anyway, just share your opinions on this. Does this say anything about current security measures? Could it have been prevented? I saw someone in some other forum say "Only in America..." which annoyed me (like insurgents aren't terrorizing the Middle East). I also heard that this is common in America . . . if this is true why did it make it to national news within a few hours?

I find it interesting that the two shootings (one in a dormitory and another in the Engineering building) were two hours apart. You'd think the school would have been locked down by that point? I mean, how did he get in there with a gun with the police that were surely IN the area at that time?

Also, I've barely looked at this, so if you know anything I haven't mentioned (I've barely mentioned anything, so I'm sure many of you do) then please share it.

Anyway, I would appreciate it if you refrained from posting things such as "Those {insert insulting word of choice} deserved it!" Just keep it civil pretty much.

[Jethr0]

Completely unsurprising.
This is why I hate going to school, the constant death-threats that might be carried out. I wonder what the guy was trying to do? I'll edit my post when I find out more.
EDIT: Virginia attorney general says 32 dead, including gunman. Four hospitals report 29 wounded. Hm... he killed them, then himself. In a state of desperation, maybe due to the stress of school? That's assuming he wasn't shot by police.

They were telling us to put our hands above our head and if we didn't cooperate and put our hands above our heads they would shoot, I guess they were afraid, like us, like the shooter was going to be among one of us.

Overkill? could have caused the following? Saying that makes people panic.

These two kids I guess had panicked and jumped out of the top-story window and the one kid broke his ankle and the other girl was not in good shape just lying on the ground.


The shootings came three days after a bomb threat Friday forced the cancellation of classes in three buildings, WDBJ in Roanoke reported. Also, the 100,000-square-foot Torgersen Hall was evacuated April 2 after police received a written bomb threat

Well, that confirms Smooth's "people have been going crazy these past few months"

"Virginia Tech has canceled all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where they are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus

So they can't leave campus, eh? That would cause some distress among parents, no?

[SmoothCriminal]

I don't know why, but people have been going crazy these past one or two months. A kid I used to know in middle school was planning to kill hundreds of kids in his school and had a hit list but got caught... something similar happened in Maine... and I'm sure there are many more places that we just haven't heard about.

Found out about the Virginia one while watching MTV, lol. Thirty people isn't that much when you think about it though... I mean, the guy could've waited till some kind of big school gathering and just let a few bombs off...

[Jethr0]

Well, where I live, it's not hit the news yet.

[Jipped]

Teenagers dont kill people hormones do!

[Bilehd92]

I just heard about it. Very tradgic incident in Virginia tech. I actually saw the recording where they told you how many fires were shot and it was 28 shots heard. It's the Worst shooting ever in American history.


"Don't you find it odd that it's always in schools?" The newsman said. It's true when you think about it. Colleges and highschools are always involved in crazy things like such.

[krki]

i heard about virginia and its nasty

[Il]

And I was going to go to that college...

[Jethr0]

I just heard about it. Very tradgic incident in Virginia tech. I actually saw the recording where they told you how many fires were shot and it was 28 shots heard. It's the Worst shooting ever in American history.


"Don't you find it odd that it's always in schools?" The newsman said. It's true when you think about it. Colleges and highschools are always involved in crazy things like such.

Well, that's because schools are stressfull. Thus, end in shooting.

[buffoldguy]

Here's another link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070416/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting

This is crazy. I found out about it this morning but I guess it didn't happen until I started school.

"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.

Well, if 2 students were killed, and there was a bomb threat, wouldn't they lockdown the school by then?

Police only released that the shooter had 2 pistols and numerous clips.

[Fatality]

I heard about it after I got home on Cnn too. CNN was saying that there were 22 deaths but, the people they were interviewing said there were 33.

[buffoldguy]

32 students were killed, the death toll rised when the shooter killed himself after killing the other 30 students.

[SharpY]

33 confirmed dead, including the shooter, at least 29 others injured.

Tomorrow is a national day of mourning, as a sign of respect, every one is asked to wear orange and maroon tomorrow.

For today, we are all Hokies.

[AF]

Scary! There's lots of weirdo people out there. Beware of them! When I heard it, I was shock!

[Grenchler]

And I was going to go to that college...

O NOZ, IL MUSHT NOT DAI!

on topic: yeh, i read this on google news. sad.

[Pooshybear]

for all of you who knew already, I live in virgina, and I go to college...

[Bilehd92]

Well, that's because schools are stressfull. Thus, end in shooting.

I don't know. It is stressful, but it's more like a drama theatre play then it is school. There's always problems going on. Thus, end in shooting, if that's what you mean.

[Jipped]

He did it dirrty hary style (ish dirty harry only ever fired 6 shots)
I heard he had two 48. magnums wich, yes could blow your head clean off, i also saw a interview with the only girl who managed to survive when he opened fire in the class he was in. also the offical death count rised to 35, they found two corpses that he kiled EALIER before he started shooting. So yeh he had killed two guys and i assume the stress would have made him snap and shoot evrybody :D

[greb]

He was South Korean legal alien living in the US. He was a senior at Va Tech and an English major. I beleive they also said he had 2 9MM handguns.

[Busstopper]

Zomg.. Im watching the news today! =O

PS: I dont get it..

[buffoldguy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070419/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_killer_speaks

Cho released his rageful vid. You can watch it, it should be at the left side.

[Jethr0]

The shootings are a bad thing. A very, very bad thing, and I really do feel for the victims and their parents. The sheer horror of the thing is just beyond my scope of imagination. BUT, we have to maintain a perspective on this thing that I just do not think is happening.

First of all, I really don't think it is a good idea to go around calling this the "worst shooting in US history" since all it does is make something like this attractive. They even keep score. 32 dead beats the 16 Texas shootings in 1966... Ding! Crown a new winner! It's a freaking competition! All it is doing is daring somebody else to aim for 33. It's so retarded. You just cannot frame this event in the same way you do a football score. It sends all the wrong messages to the wrong people. It makes statistics out of victims and gives success to someone who's only real success is being a worse person than someone else.

Second, is it me or does every single quote by every politician, school official, or whatever seem to come from the generic sadness playbook? None of them have quotes which seem to show an understanding of the gravity and horror of this event. No, we are shocked and saddened. This was a sad event of horrific proportions. Our prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones. Weren't these same things said about Katrina? About 9/11? How can someone mistake a cliche as empathy? I know you can't just say nothing, but to have an empathetic gesture that sounds like it was written by a script writer seems even more offensive. Who uses alliteration for this sort of thing?

Here's what the president of my own alma mater, FSU, had to say: On behalf of every member of the Florida State University family, I extend my support and deepest sympathy to Virginia Tech. We are shocked and deeply saddened at this terrible tragedy, which reaches all of us in higher education. Such an attack is especially cruel when it robs talented young people of a promising future. (It wasn't just "talented young people" who got shot, and I would think that whether their future were promising or not, it would really suck to die regardless. And why didn't he mention the surviving parents and friends of those murdered?).

Third, they are blowing it out of proportion. Yes, it was a very, very bad thing, but it is an isolated incident. Out of all the days of school, with the millions of school kids out there, there is still only a handful of incident of school shootings in our entire history - and most of those happened during a year's time when the media went apeshit over school shootings practically begging for more to happen (aim for 33, next guy). Unless you go to VA Tech, this didn't happen to you. That's not happening at the college your daughter is going to. You've got to maintain perspective. This was one screwed up guy, not a movement. Not the begining of the end. Practically the only thing that would predict another incident would be the media blowing things out of proportion. Again, don't make heroes out of victims. Don't make super villians out of retards with a gun.

Five bucks says that schools all over this nature increase security tenfold in response. What's that? Two people were shot in a dorm room and you only released an email? You didn't close down the entire campus because of something that a reasonable person would NOT say predicted more violence? Expect metal detectors. Expect the schools getting shut down for every fire alarm, every bomb threat, every kid with an unusual creative writing paper. Expect every student to be seen as an enemy, every comment as a veiled threat. Just when you thought it was safe to go back to wearing trenchcoats...

Keep perspective. There is NOTHING that could've been done to prevent something like this. But on the bright side, there's no reason to EXPECT something like this to happen. It does happen, but it is so rare as to be non-existent. Yes, it sucks if you are that statistical anomaly, but you are still way more likely to get hit by lightning, slip in your bathtub, or die in a car accident. Heck, the last one is even preventable through safe driving, but nobody bothers. But man, gotta duct tape up the house in case of anthrax, add racial profiling to airport security, and do surprise dorm room searches. Perspective. After something like this, irrational fear is the worst enemy we have, and as Ben Franklin once put it, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Fourth, get that crap off the news. The police aren't releasing any information? I know! Why don't you just make up whatever the heck you want in the meantime? Speculation is NOT news, and almost always exists in a darker, more sinister place than reality. The best way to create irrational fear is to feed it the unknown wrapped in danger presented with an exclamation point.

This sums up MY opinion, but I am not fluent at saying what I mean, think, or feel. But this is what I think, down to the last detail.

[wilhelmwonka]

Wow, 32 kills. He's better than The300.

[XcraziiX]

yes i heard it from my mom thats sad im not racist or anything but mostly was BLACK ppl who died and the killer was azn

[SonicBudah]

This is horrible. I even made a sig for it.

[doug08]

It was acually 33, he killed himself after killing 32 victims.

[buffoldguy]

dont bump. locked