"Shooting Rampage At Virginia Tech - 22 death " !

[Dr Mordrid]

My readings indicate he was arguing with his ex girlfriend and the dorm monitor came up to check on the disturbance. He was the first killed and she the second. After that he went to his room, got his backpack & bandoliers, reloaded and went back for round 2.

I guess she could have been involved with the dorm monitor, but without evidence either way it sounds more like the guy was doing his job in the wrong place at the wrong time.

EDIT: reports now that his works in the creative writing class were also disturbing.

Are we now so politically correct that when professors see this kind of thing it's inappropriate to report it to the counselors? Unfortunately we probably are

[ND66]

More A _ _ _ _ _ S.......

Threats rattle 3 universities, 2 schools 12 minutes ago



Campus threats forced lock-downs and evacuations at universities in Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee and two public schools in Louisiana on Tuesday, a day after a Virginia Tech student's shooting rampage killed 33 people.

In Louisiana, parents picked up hundreds of students from Bogalusa's high school and middle school amid reports that a man had been arrested Tuesday morning for threatening a mass killing in a note that alluded to the murders at Virginia Tech.

Schools Superintendent Jerry Payne said both schools were locked down and police arrested a 53-year-old man who allegedly made the threat in a note he gave to a student headed to the private Bowling Green School in Franklinton. Both towns are in southeastern Louisiana.

"The note referred to what happened at Virginia Tech," Payne said. "It said something like, 'If you think that was bad, then you haven't seen anything yet."

In Austin, authorities evacuated buildings at St. Edward's University after a threatening note was found, a school official said.

Police secured the campus perimeter and were searching the buildings, St. Edward's University spokeswoman Mischelle Amador said. She declined to say where the note was found and said its contents were "nonspecific."

The two other scares were determined to be unfounded.

At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, officials ordered three campus administration buildings evacuated for almost two hours Tuesday morning in response to a telephone bomb threat. The city's bomb squad searched the buildings but found nothing, campus spokesman Chuck Cantrell said.

Cantrell said there was no reason to believe the bogus threat was related to the shootings at Virginia Tech, but "we just chose to err on the side of caution today."

The other, at the University of Oklahoma, had started with a report of a man spotted on campus carrying a suspicious object, officials said.

The man was carrying an umbrella, not a weapon, and he later identified himself to authorities, University of Oklahoma President David Boren said in a statement. Boren initially had said the person was believed to carrying a yoga mat.

"We now consider the matter closed," Boren said. "We always want to err on the side of caution in a situation like this."

At St. Edward's in Austin, students who live on campus were being allowed to return to their dormitories as police finished searching each building, Amador said. Faculty, staff and all other students were asked to stay away from the campus, and morning and afternoon classes were canceled. About 5,200 students are enrolled at the Catholic university south of downtown Austin.

Amador said the university's reaction was not influenced by Monday's attack at Virginia Tech.

"No matter what day or when this would have happened, we will always take the necessary precautions to protect our students, our faculty, our staff, the entire university community," she said.

[Dr Mordrid]

Typical copycat BS.

[Dr Mordrid]

I usually don't reply to myself but this is interesting....

This blog is by an AOL employee who was one of Cho's classmates last year. He also has two of his plays posted. I'll let you judge them for yourselves.

Link....

What happened yesterday:

When I first heard about the multiple shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday, my first thought was about my friends, and my second thought was "I bet it was Seung Cho."

Cho was in my playwriting class last fall, and nobody seemed to think much of him at first. He would sit by himself whenever possible, and didn't like talking to anyone. I don't think I've ever actually heard his voice before. He was just so quiet and kept to himself. Looking back, he fit the exact stereotype of what one would typically think of as a "school shooter" – a loner, obsessed with violence, and serious personal problems. Some of us in class tried to talk to him to be nice and get him out of his shell, but he refused talking to anyone. It was like he didn't want to be friends with anybody. One friend of mine tried to offer him some Halloween candy that she still had, but he slowly shook his head, refusing it. He just came to class every day and submitted his work on time, as I understand it.

A major part of the playwriting class was peer reviews. We would write one-act plays and submit them to an online repository called Blackboard for everyone in the class to read and comment about in class the next day. Typically, the students give their opinions about the plays and suggest ways to make it better, the professor gives his insights, then asks the author to comment about the play in class.

When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare. The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of. Before Cho got to class that day, we students were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter. I was even thinking of scenarios of what I would do in case he did come in with a gun, I was that freaked out about him. When the students gave reviews of his play in class, we were very careful with our words in case he decided to snap. Even the professor didn't pressure him to give closing comments.
>
While I "knew" Cho, I always wished there was something I could do for him, but I couldn't think of anything. As far as notifying authorities, there isn't (to my knowledge) any system set up that lets people say "Hey! This guy has some issues! Maybe you should look into this guy!" If there were, I definitely would have tried to get the kid some help. I think that could have had a good chance of averting yesterday's tragedy more than anything.

[xortam]

re: playwriting class

He was recommended to counseling after that but it wasn't known what came of it.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup. ABC story;

Lucinda Roy, a co-director of the creative writing program at Virginia Tech, taught Cho in a poetry class in fall of 2005 and later worked with him one-on-one after she became concerned about his behavior and themes in his writings.

Roy spoke outside her home Tuesday afternoon, saying that there was nothing explicit in Cho's writings, but that threats were there under the surface.

Roy told ABC News that Cho seemed "extraordinarily lonely—the loneliest person I have ever met in my life." She said he wore sunglasses indoors, with a cap pulled low over his eyes. He whispered, took 20 seconds to answer questions, and took cellphone pictures of her in class. Roy said she was concerned for her safety when she met with him.

She said she notified authorities about Cho, but said she was told that there would be too many legal hurdles to intervene. She said she asked him to go to counseling, but he never did.

[xortam]

It's frustrating that with all the red flags that were set off regarding this individual, that this massacre still occurred. What hope is there to prevent further school shootings? Cho also was able to purchase guns and ammo legally even though there were these concerns and he was on antidepressants. He probably still would have been able to obtain arms illegally so I doubt there would have been any different conclusion.

[Dr Mordrid]

Many years ago that kind of intervention was possible, but now it's much more difficult. The 'change' happened in the 70's after the publicity surrounding a few negligent institutions and the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

The reformers basically over-reacted, as usual, throwing out many of the civil committment laws in effect at the time including those that could have been used to force a psychiatric examination of someone like Cho.

Today getting a court referral for someone like him would be extremely difficult, and even then 95% of the time it would be for only 3 days.

[jms]

How can a South-Korean student buy a 9mm Glock over the counter legally in the US? Do they contact some South-Korean agency when they do the background check?

[lowlifecat]

he had a green card

[Gurm]

Ok, what makes me MAD?

Jack Thompson is blaming this on video games, and stirring up a shitstorm.

And the media outlets are calling him a "school shooting expert" and giving him massive airtime.

WHY?

WHY do people have to use a senseless tragedy like this to promote their personal agenda, and personal vendettas?

Jack is a bitter, bitter old man, a lousy lawyer, and he got sick of Tycho and Gabe picking on him...

[Dr Mordrid]

How can a South-Korean student buy a 9mm Glock over the counter legally in the US? Do they contact some South-Korean agency when they do the background check?

There are actually 2 sets of gun laws; federal and state.

Federal law in this case sets up the citizenship requirements and says that a permanent resident, either citizen or alien, can purchase firearms once the background check is completed.

Unfortunately this check only reports convictions in their database, not necessarily pending charges. Federal pendings would probably show, but not locals.

This law is so poorly written that it excludes citizens that are non-residents from purchasing but as a resident alien Cho could

On the state end of things Virginia lets you purchase immediately after the federal background check has come back negative. IMO this is too soon.

Virginia should enact a waiting period for pistols. Most states set this at 3 - 10 days, during which psychiatric records, protection orders and pending local charges can be checked.

States have to be careful though as federal law has precedence, meaning that they can't necessarily make federal rules like citizenship rules tougher.

[Jessterw]

Now, I'm not denying that Jack Thompson's ranting or gun laws as they relate to this incident are worth discussing, but let's please keep this thread as on topic as we can. I think a good example to follow would be Doc's own posting of a secondary thread discussing intervention.

We all know how opinionated we can be about such things.



@Gurm and Doc: not saying you guys are off-topic, just posts in reply have the potential to go way off course.

[Dr Mordrid]

FLASH: he mailed a "manifesto" to NBC news, they think between the 2 shootings; written, photos and video!! NBC says it's very disturbing.

I bet

2005 commitment order says he was mentally ill and an immanent danger to himself and others, yet he was allowed to stay in school?

[ND66]

And of course, everyone around him is the guilty, but him.... .


.