As the nation joins the Virginia Tech community in mourning the senseless slaughter on their campus, serious questions need to be addressed about the handling of this case. On Monday, fingerprints and ballistic tests link both incidents to Cho Seung-Hui, a very disturbed South Korean who had been living in this country since 1992. Hui killed his first two victims in a dormitory after 7 a.m. and then two hours later he committed suicide after killing 31 others in a classroom building across the campus. Why did campus officials wait two hours before alerting students about the first incident? Why wasn’t there some sort of campus lockdown or at least a campus-wide alert system to warn students about the fact that a killer was on the loose? An e-mail was sent to students at 9:26 a.m. informing them of the first incident, but this was right as the killer was at the classroom building killing more innocent victims, giving students no chance to take evasive action.
This incident should be used by colleges across the nation as an example of what not to do. After slaying two incident people at the dorm, Seung-Hui evidently returned to his room to reload his ammunition.In the classroom building, Seung-Hui methodically killed unarmed students and teachers, who had called police immediately. According to reports, police arrived quickly, but were not able to stop the killer was killing over 30 people. Could the police have entered the building sooner and been able to apprehend or kill Seung-Hui before he murdered so many people? A comprehensive investigation into the response is ongoing and needs to be publicized as soon as possible.
Seung-Hui eventually took his own life after destroying the lives of so many on Monday morning. Virginia Tech will never be the same and all college campuses will be changed and security will undoubtedly be increased and an adequate and speedy warning system will be implemented throughout the nation. Here in New Orleans, local universities are pledging to implement a text messaging system to warn students immediately of a major incident. Other low tech solutions would work as well, such as loudspeakers and sirens placed across campus.
Universities also need to examine their procedures on how to treat troubled students. Seung-Hui was the poster child for anger, depression, even rage. According to his roommates, he rarely spoke, was rude and even hostile and on multiple occasions stalked female students. The campus police interrogated Seung-Hui after at least one of these episodes, but did nothing else. He took inappropriate cell phone pictures of other students during class and again nothing was done. Police believe that he probably was the one responsible for multiple bomb threats in recent weeks.
In his English class, Seung-Hui wrote such disturbing material that his teacher reported this writing to counseling officials and again, nothing was done to protect the other students. He was taken out of class and given one on one instruction, an unusual situation to say the least. A student that writes often about killing people and is an anti-social loner who stalks women should not be allowed to remain in any university setting. No student should have the freedom to harass other students, take inappropriate pictures, and write threatening material without severe repercussions.
At Virginia Tech, it seemed plenty of people knew that Seung-Hui was dangerous; unfortunately, the authorities did not remove the individual from the school. Now it is too late for the 32 innocent victims of his rage, but it is not too late to save other students across the country. If only other universities learn from the mistakes made at Virginia Tech.
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 8:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and Noon till 2 p.m. weekdays on several Louisiana radio stations. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hui, Virginia Tech shooting, Virginia Tech killing, Virginia Tech death, student kill, student death, campus death, campus killing, campus shooting, South Korea, dormitory, campus, technology, students, teachers, college campuses, technology, campus.
this psychos actions remind me of Australias murderer Martin Bryant who cooly gunned down 35 people and wounded several others in Port Arthur back in 1996.
http://massmurder.zyns.com/martin_bryant.html
Take a look and see for yourself.
Apparently he's going insane with his life imprisonment and is trying to kill himself.....Good, let him rot! and then he can burn and suffer in hell!
Written by Dude love
on 6/11/2007
How many of you saw the film "Carrie", based on Stephen King's novel, and which was released more than twenty years ago? What happened to Carrie in the movie was what happened to Cho. They endured all kinds of cruelty until something within them snapped. Then they lashed out - unthinkingly, indiscriminately, mercilessly. What I'm saying is, if people will go on pampering their innate cruel streak and tormenting others who are different from them or weaker than they are, then they can rest assured that, sooner or later, Krakatoa will explode. Keep up the viciousness, the bitchiness, the heartlessness - and you will have repetitions of retaliations like Cho's. Who knows, next time you might get really lucky - it might be a bomb! So, people, get humane (ir really doesn't take that much effort) or be prepared for the backlash.
Written by Eugene Khoo
on 5/1/2007
How easy it is to blame Cho. How easy it is to kick someone when they are dead. How easy it is for all those students who in one way or another bullied and picked on Cho to all of a sudden remain quiet in his aftermath. Where are all those students now? Maybe they were some of those students in Norris Hall, who knows. 15 years of Cho's life here in the USA must have been pure hell for him. Can any one of you relate to his ordeal? Try to picture his life for even a few minutes. Real uncomfortable huh. What Cho did that day was just a symptom of a problem that was festering for 15 years. To even have one of his own professors call him a "creep", clearly shows the lack of respect even received from a so called professional. To his own family that doesn't defend him even after he's dead but take the "safe" route and say that the person they knew no longer exists is quite callous. No friends, no love life, no figures of authority, no family...his only choices were to turn that rage within and kill himself or turn that rage outwards and then kill himself.
Written by Joseph L
on 4/27/2007
Question Marks...
"This didn't have to happen", Cho Seung-Hui said, after brutally murdering thirty-two people at Virginia Tech University.
And this terrible tragedy of sons, daughters, mothers and fathers didn't have to happen, if we'd only listened.
But we never listen.
We never listen to those that are different from us- the outcasts, the lonely, the homeless, the ones that are unspoken for. We don't try to understand. We shun them and put them out of our minds because of our fear that we will become like them.
And these people become more and more lonely and alienated in their isolation.
Words like "creep", "deranged misfit" and "psycho" devalue this killer's humanity so we don't have to face how similar he is to us. Cries of "how could he have been stopped" are uttered by media quick to sensationalize and gain market share, when the words "how could he have been listened to" are never considered.
Because we don't want to listen.
We don't want to hear about loneliness and alienation when we're all so busy with our lives, making money and making friends. And the unpopular, the ones that don't fit in, the lonely ones are ignored or made fun of because we don't care to understand anything about them.
As a boy, Cho Seung-Hui "was picked on, pushed around and laughed at over his shyness" (Associated Press). When he started college, according to the Guardian, "his mother took his dormitory mates to one side to explain about her son's unusual character and implored them to help."
And he clearly needed help, devaluing himself so much that he called himself "Question Mark".
There are more "Question Marks" out there. There are millions of them. And if we don't listen to them, they will follow the same path again and again, because people are not connecting. We are becoming more and more disconnected from each other, creating more and more "Question Marks" every day.
Most "Question Marks" don't become murderers. Some just kill themselves. Most harm no one and live just as we do, needing antidepressants to appear what we call "normal". They may be someone you know, someone you love.
This "Question Mark" was once a little boy, who cried, and smiled and loved, He wanted to fit in just like you and I. But that desire to fit in transformed itself into anger towards a society that shunned and ignored him.
How many more times will we shun and ignore the one that doesn't fit in, the one in the corner, the one that's different? When all we have to do is listen, before it's too late.
But we won't.
Thirty-two human beings who did not know Cho Seung-Hui were murdered.
They were sons, daughters, fathers and mothers, with dreams of futures that will never come and children that will never be born. The thirty-two leave behind people that love them. People that are now scarred for life by this horrible day of death.
To most of us that have not been directly involved, this tragedy will become a memory and fade like all the others that came before.
And the "Question Marks" will appear with more frequency, again and again, because we don't listen.
We never do.
---------------
http://www.x-thc.com
Written by X: THC
on 4/23/2007
I would not say popular but I am well known and a social butterfly. In my opinion I would not say it is one single persons fault. I mean yes Cho pulled the trigger but he was not mentally stable. He did not get the help that should have been provided to him. I mean as long as you can tell the people your name, date, age, birthday, and where you are, they are not going to institutionalize the person. I mean a big sign to the University would have been when Nicky Giovanni gave them an altamatum. I mean that is a hint that the boy was extremely disturbed. I mean This is the systems fault mostly because our mentally ill patients are taken care of like they are suppose to be. I am a sixteen year old female and I see this. Cho had a point in everything he said, he just did not go about it the right way. I believe he wanted the help and was waiting to get it but they "spilled his blood" that is why they have "blood on there hand that won't wash off."
Written by LeAndra Frank
on 4/20/2007
Many of us are going to place blames and point fingers because emotions are still raw at this time. People need to vent and need outlets. This is just human nature and part of healing process. I believe once the shock and anger are over, most of us will begin to cope with rationales again. The only person that's really at fault here is Cho, but what drove he to commit such an evil deed? I totally agreed with Marc Thomson’s comment. "What are we going to do as a society to protect not only ourselves, but these troubled ones from their own turmoil?" There are so many Chos out there hiding in dark corners that no one can see or is willing to see. How did one seemingly quite teenager turn into a cold-blooded murder with massacre in mind? Could he be helped and saved at one point if the authority kept him with the counseling? Since we will ever know, the point is moot. Gun control and school security are legitimate arguments. But I believe the root of this problem is the mental state of these troubled kids. I really like to raise the awareness of mental health issues among high school and college students. We have to try to reach out to them. They are living in pain, rage and resentment even though their grievances may not fully be real. We must do what is necessary to help them because our society cannot afford pay the price for ignoring them. If we can help even just one soul, the risk of that person harming himself and the society is that much less. Let's pray that there will never be another incident like this ever again.
Written by sad_owl
on 4/20/2007
Bullying in America: Think twice about how you treat someone...
Guns do not kill people. People kill people.
Most folks are aware that law enforcement was on the scene "minutes" after the first shooting.
So, the question still remains,
Why was the gunman allowed to continue two hours later?!
Written by arcticblueice
on 4/19/2007
I'm glad that you guys are indiscriminately blaming the institution to be at fault here. Oh yes, if only the university had sent out an e-mail immediately afterward the first shooting, maybe even cancelled classes! That obviously would've saved lives. The sad truth is that any human who wishes to kill, will be able to and to the extent that they wish to if they premeditate and think it through enough. Cho had peeked into the classes prior to chaining the doors shut in Norris Hall, presumably having scanned the rooms and seen that classes were in session and that enough people had attended. So cancel classes then. Oh wait, that's right, Cho is a university student, let's move the shootings back into the dorms instead where he has access anyway. Those dorms have common areas where sometimes up to a dozen kids might gather up? Ah, and those don't have windows. The point is, someone can always slip past the system when their mind is sound enough to think though their procedure.
And the insult that you throw at the institution does sadden me and it cheapens the death of my schoolmates.
Written by Sam
on 4/19/2007
There were plenty of signs that this person was not fit for participation in a social environment. Isn't that the root of the problem with any sociopath? Something we'll have to accept is that this type of personality exists elsewhere. There are kids out there right now with the same potential. What are we going to do as a society to protect not only ourselves, but these troubled ones from their own turmoil? I fear that we will do little, because we seem to react to what happens by blaming the sane and rational ones. Teachers, police and administrators get the shaft instead of the root causes. Don't even get me started with the depression drugs as a potential cause for heightened insanity.
Written by Drew
on 4/18/2007
Even if you'd kicked this boy out of school, it doesn't mean he couldn't have walked onto that campus (or any other campus/public area) and carried out a massacre. Universities/colleges/public places are not Fort Knox. People can wander in and out. Are you going to start forcing people into mental institutions on the SUSPICION that they might snap? That would be a fundamental violation of a person's rights. It would be a power that could be easily abused.
Written by Sad
on 4/18/2007
thats sad
Written by m
on 4/18/2007
To Whom It May Concern:
Please, right Now the last thing the community at Virginia Tech needs is for irresponsible people in the news media to lay the blame on them for what happened at the campus Monday. If you have any shred of decency you could at least wait a week or two before publishing stories like this which could wound and hurt people in a situation that is already too horrible to contemplate.
I beg you to please consider the parents who have to endure the loss of their children before you continue to publish articles like this.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Daniel Farrow
Written by Daniel Farrow
on 4/18/2007
What I don't understand is how did this guy was able to purchase a gun if he was committed to a mental institute? In Oklahoma you can not purchase a guy if you have any history of mental institute. Sounds like Virginia needs to tighten the gun purchase law. I get really tired hearing people say the blame on others and not themselves. People kills people not the guns, automotive or whatever else. Also remember times are changing but we still have rights. What about right to protect ourselves? If those rights are taken away then we have done something very wrong. Lets think ahead and not way ahead.
Written by Mark
on 4/18/2007
This incident makes me sad, not angry. Placing blame on the University or the Police won’t help things. We can only hope that a lesson was learned and pray for the families, friends, and everyone affected by this travesty. The news and Internet are bursting with stories and events so horrific that it seems to be the norm any more. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if more stories of positive events were covered?
Written by Jan E. Smith
on 4/18/2007
I blame Virginia Tech for the fatal deaths of these innocent victims.Are they that stupid?I mean come on,you have 911 calls bieng made after the first shooting and students E-Mailing the front office and you have police cars ect. all lined up outside.Hint,Hint obviously a very bad sign.And why didn't the police go in after the shooter?Why did everyone wait 2 hours for a lock down and police to finaly go in?Do you all have any idea about how many innocent lives you's could've saved?Of course not cause the college was to stupid to see the signs and listen to the teachers and students who new something was wrong with this person and something bad was going to happen.What did you all do?Brushed it off probably because none of you's wanted a law siut on your hands.Selfish that's all I can say.It was a very careless thing the University officials did by not calling a lock down the minute they heard something was going on.Domestic,Isolated,distpute or not ,there job is to protect the people ,not assuming that it was an isolated incedent.Because of their Incompatance 32 not counting the shooter are dead.The University Officails are all alive and well,but what about the parents,husbands,wives,brother's and sister's that died?They can never be replaced they're not animals .We can replace pets,but you can never replace human life.These innocent people lost thier lives because of the University Officials didn't take precautionary actions to help save them.As I said earlier,They were all Incompatent,Unfit to do their Job!!!My prayers go out to all who survived and to those who have fataly lost their loved ones.May god be with you all.As to the University Officials "You's should all be FIRED for your lack of Actions.
From:Furious,Canada,Ontario
Written by Julie
on 4/18/2007
I blame Virginia Tech for the fatal deaths of these innocent victims.Are they that stupid?I mean come on,you have 911 calls bieng made after the first shooting and students E-Mailing the front office and you have police cars ect. all lined up outside.Hint,Hint obviously a very bad sign.And why didn't the police go in after the shooter?Why did everyone wait 2 hours for a lock down and police to finaly go in?Do you all have any idea about how many innocent lives you's could've saved?Of course not cause the college was to stupid to see the signs and listen to the teachers and students who new something was wrong with this person and something bad was going to happen.What did you all do?Brushed it off probably because none of you's wanted a law siut on your hands.Selfish that's all I can say.It was a very careless thing the University officials did by not calling a lock down the minute they heard something was going on.Domestic,Isolated,distpute or not ,there job is to protect the people ,not assuming that it was an isolated incedent.Because of their Incompatance 32 not counting the shooter are dead.The University Officails are all alive and well,but what about the parents,husbands,wives,brother's and sister's that died?They can never be replaced they're not animals .We can replace pets,but you can never replace human life.These innocent people lost thier lives because of the University Officials didn't take precautionary actions to help save them.As I said earlier,They were all Incompatent,Unfit to do their Job!!!My prayers go out to all who survived and to those who have fataly lost their loved ones.May god be with you all.As to the University Officials "You's should all be FIRED for your lack of Actions.
From:Furious,Canada,Ontario
Written by Julie
on 4/18/2007
I linked to your article from <a href="http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2007/04/more_guns_not_fewer.html">More Guns - not fewer is the Answer to West Virginia Massacre</a>
Written by bernie
on 4/18/2007
Isn't it time to relook at the ease with you can buy a gun in this country.you can't have a watertight system to catch or identify psychopaths before they strike but surely it would be a lot easier to restrict their ease of access to deadly weapons.
Written by Marc thomson
on 4/18/2007
you would make a real good monday morning quarterback or a better back seat driver. give me a break noone even take you creditable.
Written by l l norman
on 4/18/2007
Poorly reasoned column.
Mr. Crouere suggests that Virginia Tech was "at fault" for the deaths of 32 people killed by a mass murderer. Using hindsight, he suggests that the university should have "locked down" the campus, a community of 26,000, after the early-morning dormitory shooting, even though it has been reported that police had an apparently excellent, albeit incorrect, lead in what appeared to be a domestic shooting.
Mr. Crouere writes from New Orleans, a city in which several people are murdered each week. Does he normally cry out for the NOPD to "lock down" entire neighborhoods or sections of the city after each of these murders? It is highly unlikely that he does.
Nowhere does Mr. Crouere note that, prior to Monday, the most extreme violation on Mr. Cho's record was a speeding ticket. (One of his stalking victims declined to press charges, a decision that was no fault of the police; otherwise, we know very little so far about the details of these stalking accusations.)
Any yet Mr. Crouere believes that the university should have taken extreme measures against a student, who by most accounts, was merely a sullen, depressed loner who wrote a couple of screenplays loaded with violence. The world, however, is full of sullen, depressed loners, but only one in ten million or so turns out to be a mass murderer. Meanwhile, the Greek tragedies and Shakespeare's plays are loaded with violence. Got to ban those immediately.
Mr. Crouere is looking past the people or person "at fault" for these 32 deaths. That person is Cho Seung-Hui.
Written by Ben Nicholson
on 4/18/2007
You are absolutely right. What did this kid need to do to get kicked out of school?
Written by smokie
on 4/18/2007
As a parent of a current Virginia Tech student, I take great offense at your remarks as to the deficiencies of the Virignia Tech administration and the law enforcement officials. It's easy to say what should or should not have been done, now that the tragedy is over. Hindsight is 20/20, after all. I undersand your questions; however I think that the troubled university does not need criticism like yours at this time. Your comments are a knee-jerk reaction to an event that will take much time to process and understand. You don't know all of the facts; therefore it's too early for you to berate these people for their alleged inefficiencies. Your time would be better spent praying for the victims, families, and community that has been devasated by this event. Time will tell what could have been done differently. Right now is not the time for your verbal attacks and they are not appreciated by those devastated by this tragedy.
Written by Anne Marrin
on 4/18/2007
As a VT alumnus, I am deeply offended by crap like this that attempts to place the blame on the university for what was clearly the fault of a demented madman. You don’t even take the time to familiarize yourself with the basic facts of the incident before pointing your finger.
First, regarding Tech’s response, there is no way you can deduce from what appears to everyone to be a domestic incident where two people were shot and the killer fled that the killer is still even on campus, let alone is planning something like this. And even if they did somehow know what he was capable of, locking down a campus of this size (if possible at all) would have done nothing to help. Yes, had that been done the students in Norris Hall would not have been killed. Instead, quite possibly more students in the killer’s dormitory would have suffered that fate. And people like you would be complaining that the university was at fault since they locked the students in the same building with a cornered madman. Could they have had a better system for alerting the students? Yes, and in fact a text message based one like those that you describe as being proposed at New Orleans universities is already in development.
Second, regarding the police’s attempts to get in to Norris Hall, yes they were slow to get in the building where the killer was committing his heinous act. But that’s not because they were lazy or cowardly, it is because the killer had chained the doors shut from the inside in an intentional act to keep first responders from getting to the scene. They were able to quickly breach these doors and were able to provide life saving assistance to the wounded. Because of their brave actions, all of the wounded in Norris Hall safely made it to the hospital despite multiple gunshot wounds. These men are heroes and deserve to be praised, not criticized. What’s next; blaming the firefighters on 9/11 for not getting more people out of the towers?
Third, regarding Tech’s handling of Chou prior to the incident, there are a lot of shy students with dark imaginations out there. 99.9999% of them do not go on killing sprees in real life. You cannot seriously propose expelling students just because they write offensive plays. Think of all the popular writers today, from Stephen King to Thomas Harris, who would be locked up under your reasoning. He was recommended for counseling which is about all they could do without him committing an actual crime.
If you really want someone to blame, we already have the perfect candidate. His name is Cho Seung-Hui. Do the world a favor and stop trying to put the blame on innocent groups for what this madman did.
Written by Nick
on 4/18/2007
Written by Cheryl Ramos
on 4/18/2007
Written by Cheryl Ramos
on 4/18/2007
I wouldn't say we could point fingers at any one party besides the shooter himself. It's America's fault.
How? We live in an overly-litigious society where I'm sure the school was afraid of a lawsuit without a specific threat by the young man. The flood of silly lawsuits and political correctness in this nation paralyzes people from making rational decisions based on the evidence they have at that moment. Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but there were several cries for help from teachers and students regarding this guy. Unfortunately everyone is to afraid of being sued or having some political activist ranting about them on the 6:00 news about them making a decision that impacted just one person's "right" to creep out everyone around them.
I hope America uses this situation by treating the cause, and not the effect by enacting a bunch of frilly legislation that makes life more difficult. Rather, we need less legislation - make it easier to get people like this away from others.
Written by Matt Larson
on 4/18/2007
There are no words that can take away the pain that the family of Virginia Tech community are going through.There will be alot of finger pointing thru the next few days and weeks, but I think at this time, prayers and friendships are needed to help everyone get thru this very very difficult time. My prayers are with you and the families, may God bless you all,
With Deepest Sympathy
Written by Cheryl
on 4/18/2007
Right on, great comments!
Written by A.C. Chappell
on 4/18/2007
Notice that the people closest to this tragedy, as represented by the attendance of the Convocation yesterday afternoon, indicated their support of the University's actions by giving their school president a resounding standing ovation, moreso than that for the President or the Governor.
As to the fitness of the perpetrator to be allowed to mingle in the school society in light of previous events, well, if we want to live in constant anxiety, we can try to weed out those with aberrant behaviour and become total paranoids. There are a whole lot of strange people in the world, but only a very tiny percentage of them would proceed as this guy did.
By the way, the caption on your 'buzz right back' button on this form is misspelled.
Written by Phil Larkum
on 4/18/2007
Where are sharpton and jesse jackson now....thousands of people including minorities need help dealing with grief and of course these two are nowhere to be found, isnt sharpton a reverend? couldn't he go and put that title to good use rather than just use it to get people to listen to his agendas. Now im not saying Don Imus was right and im not trying to make this racial in any way but this is what a national tragedy is, not when a washed up old radio host tries to be funny and fails...i hope this event opens everyones eyes to whats really important in life and what should really be focused about in the media and its got nothing to do with comedians being unfunny and two "leaders" blowing it out of proportion for their own gain....
someone from my town died during this senseless act and I still have to read about Imus and the other two stooges....wake up America, stop making ridiculous week long stories out of nothing and look for whats really wrong in our country cuz there is alot
Written by blank
on 4/18/2007
I think if the police had a credible lead that this was a domestic incident then they proceded properly. Only thru hindsight can we say that this was the incorrect course of action. V-tech is bigger than most small to medium towns. If someone is shot and killed in a town of 25,000 does one really expect the police to evacuate and shutdown an entire town. Its impossible.
rich
Written by Rich
on 4/18/2007
To blame the college for this is rediculous. If colleges started kicking every loner out of school, they'd be hit with lawsuits all over the place. This piece of garbage would have killed people no matter where he ended up. Also, to say that if the college responded faster, less people would have been killed is just as stupid. Do you really think that a widespread panic across the campus would have made things any better? I have no doubt this animal was going to kill people regardless of where and when. If they kicked him out of college, he would have probably went to a crowded mall. If he never went to college, he would have done it at the fast food restaurant he ended up at. Stop blaiming anyone but the criminal!!!
Written by Zel
on 4/18/2007
Attempts by the mass media to attribute fault in this case are getting increasingly disgusting. Without much useful information blame has been attributed to nearly everyone at Virginia Tech, from teachers and friends, to campus police and the president. The fact that the student was 'disturbed' is rather obvious, but that was not enough to kick him off of campus in and of itself. There are likely a hundred more students in a school of 25,000 that fit the same profile at this very moment, and it is not feasable to kick all of them off of campus. As a doctoral student in counseling psychology, and with extensive experience in psychological evaluation in emergency rooms, I have seen many students and patients who are 'disturbed,' many times much more than this student seemed, but none of them have ever acted in this way. Exceptionally violent behavior is highly unpredictable, so it is likely that no one except this student is to blame for the heartache and tragedy he created. Attempts to place blame (other than on the one individual who deserves it) just serve to cause more confusion in an already complicated situation. Sure all mass killers seem to share a common set of characteristics, but not all loners, stalkers, or angry and depressed people are mass murderers. This is a clear case of hindsight bias by the media and everyone else with this 'we should have known it all along' mentality. Can we at least have a moment of reverence and remembrance for the victims before we focus on firing the president and the police chief?
Written by Brandon
on 4/18/2007
don't be ridiculous. This is a huge problem with our present society. We blame and extort money from anyone and everyone but the person who commits the crime. Would you hold his roommates responsible for not reporting his weirdness to the authorities? and if he was kicked out, what would stop him from sneaking in to any building on that campus! and what if he took his rage out in a local mall instead of the campus, then who is responsible.
Written by susie
on 4/18/2007
Cho Seung Hui At Fault For Virginia Tech Shooting
There. Fixed your headline for you.
Written by Molly
on 4/18/2007
It may be that the chemical used in dry cleaning known as PERC, a neurotoxin has something to do with the creation of this monster.
It has been found that the children of dry cleaners have a 340% higher risk of schizophrenia than other children.
Someone credible should follow up this story because it might prevent future monsters if we took firm action to use safer dry cleaning techniques which are available.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17113267&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum
Tetrachloroethylene is a solvent used in dry cleaning with reported neurotoxic effects. Using proportional hazard methods, we examined the relationship between parental occupation as a dry cleaner and risk for schizophrenia in a prospective population-based cohort of 88,829 offspring born in Jerusalem from 1964 through 1976, followed from birth to age 21-33 years. Of 144 offspring whose parents were dry cleaners, 4 developed schizophrenia. We observed an increased incidence of schizophrenia in offspring of parents who were dry cleaners (RR=3.4, 95% CI, 1.3-9.2, p=0.01). Tetrachloroethylene exposure warrants further investigation as a risk factor for schizophrenia.
PMID: 17113267 [PubMed - in process]
As the nation joins the Virginia Tech community in mourning the senseless slaughter on their campus, serious questions need to be addressed about the handling of this case. On Monday, fingerprints and ballistic tests link both incidents to Cho Seung-Hui, a very disturbed South Korean who had been living in this country since 1992. Hui killed his first two victims in a dormitory after 7 a.m. and then two hours later he committed suicide after killing 31 others in a classroom building across the campus. Why did campus officials wait two hours before alerting students about the first incident? Why wasn’t there some sort of campus lockdown or at least a campus-wide alert system to warn students about the fact that a killer was on the loose? An e-mail was sent to students at 9:26 a.m. informing them of the first incident, but this was right as the killer was at the classroom building killing more innocent victims, giving students no chance to take evasive action. 
To
Buzz Right Back on this article