Virginia Tech Shootings

01bluecls - I too am glad to see that you were able to contact your friends. I also agree that people who do this are insane and there is no explanation for their actions. What I dislike is all of the speculation on what can be done to stop this behavior. There is probably not anything that can be done which in itself is the unfortunate truth. I guess our human nature though has us searching for answers and looking to "fix" things.



Then onto the stories as Josh brought up. I didn't look on that site as I can only imagine what people are saying. I really hope it doesn't turn into anything else. It was one person, an individual, there is not a group to blame! :mad:
 
Joshua312 said:
Kriminal, I absolutely agree - There are just some very hateful and sick people out there. All over the news you see Facebook and the victims profiles being shown.



If you do a search for Cho Sueng-Hui on facebook right now, your stomache would turn in disgust with what people are posting. The sad thing is they think they are doing the right thing and people will stand behind their cause. Sure this guy did an absolutely disgusting thing, but creating hate groups towards him and Koreans in general is unnecessary.



01bluecls - Im glad to hear your friend is safe and sound!
Click to expand...



Im actually half Korean and my mother is Korean. Blaming this incident on people of certain race at a time like this is pure ignorance of the masses and shows how immature people can be. No one ever says anything when a Terrorist or killer is white, but as soon as the murderer is from another country or race, automatically that is part of the blame.



Joshua- yea im glad my friends are ok but still feel such sorrow for everyone else affected. :(



Lot of people are blaming VT for their "lack of response," if you are sensible you realize that they couldnt do much with the info they had at the time. A lot of these types of killings are the all the same. Its always a could have, should have, would have...in reality this sitation cannot always be prevented.
 
I was too involved with the flooding problems in jersey yesterday to fully grasp how detrimental everything was at VT. I had a friend who's dorm is right outside of Norris Hall and he was IMing me horrified of what was unfolding in front of his eyes.



It's sad that such a sick being decided that it was necessary to go on a shooting rampage on innocent classmates. I can only pray for everybody who had friends and family killed at VT
 
The person (a VT student) who started the thread on another board did so before the second shooting, really eerie seeing it unfold...



A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.



The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case. Contact Virginia Tech Police at 231-6411



Stay attuned to the Virginia Tech | In Memoriam. We will post as soon as we have more information.



Two bomb threats last week and now this. Someone is getting pissy about not graduating on time.
Click to expand...



Few minutes later:



i hear sirens all over the place
Click to expand...



i was walking from mcbryde just now, and i just saw 2 police cars and an ambulance. now i hear more sirens
Click to expand...



A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows
Click to expand...



Like all my relatives are calling me now...
Click to expand...



My friend who is works on campus is saying the gunman went to burruss and fired more shots.
Click to expand...



[10:12] Chris : Yea.. the latest we hear from our eye's and ears on campus in teh main office is that Norris is flooded with cops, bulletproof vests, kids were running out of the building and there appears to be multiple victimes
Click to expand...



Supposedly he is cornered in Norris now.
Click to expand...



patrol officers going around wtih megaphones telling people to stay away from windows
Click to expand...



Yeah bullhorn announcements are saying to get away from windows because the gunman is still on the loose.
Click to expand...



Went on for pages, really rapid fire too, something like 10 pages in less than 15 minutes. Thread is well over 400 pages now.



Turns out the thread starter's roomate is among those killed. :(
 
I just learned a few hours ago that my friend who's a freshman at VT just lost a friend because of the shootings. :(
 
01bluecls : I'm a typical white 5' 10" Brit, and would just like to say a BIG Hello to you, just to prove that I am definitely NOT a minority moron who now thinks that ALL Koreans are shooters. Plus, I haven't got any Korean friends out there at the moment, and would like to be able to tell people that I NOW have.



Without getting too deep into racial issues here, (and basically re-emphasising on what you put) would there be a big issue against ALL people with blonde hair if the killer was blonde ? A definite nope would be the answer there. Unfortunately, there are still small-minded racisits out there who will jump on the band-wagon and start shouting issues against other races if they are involved in ANY kinda incidents such as this.



Unfortunately, this ar$ehole has now probably got one off his wishes - fame ! He's now gonna be written down in History, not for the right reasons, but his name will always be etched on people's minds. I just hope that people remember the unfortunate victims as well.
 
Kriminal said:
01bluecls : I'm a typical white 5' 10" Brit, and would just like to say a BIG Hello to you, just to prove that I am definitely NOT a minority moron who now thinks that ALL Koreans are shooters. Plus, I haven't got any Korean friends out there at the moment, and would like to be able to tell people that I NOW have.



Without getting too deep into racial issues here, (and basically re-emphasising on what you put) would there be a big issue against ALL people with blonde hair if the killer was blonde ? A definite nope would be the answer there. Unfortunately, there are still small-minded racisits out there who will jump on the band-wagon and start shouting issues against other races if they are involved in ANY kinda incidents such as this.



Unfortunately, this ar$ehole has now probably got one off his wishes - fame ! He's now gonna be written down in History, not for the right reasons, but his name will always be etched on people's minds. I just hope that people remember the unfortunate victims as well.
Click to expand...



Understood and well put. Its just amazing within 24 hours of the incident that people on facebook (which I dont use) are stating "hate groups." I can't believe people in society are so weak and ignorant to blame one's race as a reason to hate them. The United States which is probably the most diverse country in the world, you would think people would adapt a sensible attitude but I guess it will take more time.
 
Man, and it wasn't more than 48 hours ago I posted on another forum



"oh great, I can just hear the ignorant cries now. "OMG ban immigrants!!oneone"



Too many people in this country are too stupid, too unable to think for themselves. They always have to place the blame on others. They can't come to terms with the fact that there ARE still individuals, and that these individuals are capable of doing some terrible things.



Parents and media love ganging up on whoever is the easiest target. I'll make some more predictions as to who is going to take the heat:



1) The school (even though I'm curious to see what these "parents" and "media" would have done "better" in the school's place during the same exact situation. It's so easy to criticize after the fact...)

2) The police (it's all your fault! Parents always blame police, as does the media... very easy target to increase your viewership if you're the media).

3) Finally, gun owners all across America. This is the one that concerns me the most... the cries will go out again about banning guns, even though this will solve nothing.



But people in this country like solving nothing and creating more problems.
 
paul34 said:
3) Finally, gun owners all across America. This is the one that concerns me the most... the cries will go out again about banning guns, even though this will solve nothing.
Click to expand...





Very true, I agree 100%. Arguing that this incident is a gun control problem is about as smart and sensible as arguing that it is an immigration problem. If you're going to place tighter restrictions (or bans) on guns, you may as well place tighter restrictions (or bans) on who enters this country, or who is able to attend schools (from other countries)! Or, how about fertilizer control, for those that like to make big bombs out of it? People always want to blame someone after such a terrible incident. Truth is, there is noone to blame, except the person who is now dead. The University, police, nor anyone else caused this to happen. Blame rests with 1 individual and he is now deceased.



This is/was not a gun control incident, but rather a failure of the individual's character as a human being. That gun didn't hop up and do those evil things itself. The people screaming gun control need to wake up and realize it starts with *human* emotion control, after all it's people who have serious problems, not guns. When is the last time someone said..."you need to control your gun, it has serious issues?"



The problem in this country is that we all value freedom as a cornerstone of American life, and there is a massive tradeoff between keeping said freedoms/liberties and turning the country into a police state. I venture to guess that as a society we will never want to give up our feelings of living free, and as such, these types of incidents will happen again and again. That is why I believe it starts with the individual, recognizing problems, and then trying to prevent things from happening. In nearly every single gun shooting incident, there are warning signs that friends, family, or others have witnessed. How about new standards holding them accountable too if they have information about a person or their plans and do nothing, and if they were aware of potential hazzards to humanity?? We live in a time now that you can now longer brush another's views aside and think everything will be ok, but instead we need to act on it, to prevent seriously disturbed people from doing horrible things.



Mike
 
Okay, I'm probably gonna get hate mail for this....BUT....I'll hold my hands up and admit I am not a fan off guns, and would hate to live in a Society where access is as simple as popping in a shop and buying one. I've been in an "outdoor" shop in Florida and was dumbstruck to see people off all ages standing at counters, and having simple access to buying all kinds of guns and ammo - I was sooo amazed, I just couldn't believe it.....there was a Granny buying the biggest handgun I have ever seen. How the F... she's gonna lift it to shoot whatever it is, is far beyond me (hehe).



Now you're all probably either pi$$ing yourselves at my reactions, or wanting to use a gun on ME now. :shocked



However, one thing I will agree with, especially in response to paul34 & TigerMikes posts are that "shooting a gun is kinda like driving a car"......I could quite easily point my car at someone and drive 'em down no problem (if I was a freaking nutter off course). So, it's all about who's behind the wheel / trigger that IS the problem, and not the weapon.



And to emphasise on TigerMike's quote "We live in a time now that you can now longer brush another's views aside and think everything will be ok, but instead we need to act on it, to prevent seriously disturbed people from doing horrible things". Unfortunately it seems we live in the same kinda Society's (America & UK).....rather than "acting on it" to resolve these problems and preventing them from happening, Government would rather wait until it happens, brush it aside, and concentrate on how they can get money out off Society to fund their greedy fat pockets. The 7/7 incident we had over here with the morons carrying bombs in backpacks on the train in the London Underground is a good example - The Cops had a tip off that something was going to happen that day, in the London Underground, but rather than "acting on it" to prevent things from happening they simply "brushed it under the carpet" leaving families and friends of the victims devastated.



Anyway, that's my rant over. Thanks, I feel alot better now
 
Well the thing is its always easy to find SOMEONE to blame after the fact. But when it comes down to it, its just an individual who made an individual decision to do a terrible thing. I think people have a lot of trouble accepting the fact that there are people who still think for themselves - and sometimes, they make decisions that hurt other people.



I don't think this is an issue about gun control. It is true he actually owned the weapon (not true in many cases of armed crime, thus negating any attempt at gun "control"), but let's say he didn't. There's no guarantee he wouldn't have just gone out on the street and illegally acquired one.



Failing that, there's no guarantee he wouldn't have just gone to the garden section of Wal-Mart, gotten some fertilizer, and done some research on Google and created a bomb. We could take this very far... should be ban fertilizer? Google? The internet?



No of course not. What happens is that we live in a sort of free society. We could blame the school - we could say "the university should have babysitted all their students like they do in high school!" I disagree with that.



How many kids in university are "suicidal" and "disturbed"? Lol, so many. That's how it is - kids find themselves at university. I go to a university of nearly 45,000 students, and I see it everyday. Such a vast variety of people. It is what makes it so great, allows social people to mature by being exposed to an incredible variety of viewpoints and backgrounds (well, some people. Most college kids are content to waste their lives in a bath of alcohol).



But again, we could blame everyone else until the cows come home, but in the end, as TigerMike said, there's really no one to blame except Cho himself. However, you'll see plenty of stories in the following weeks about "the university ignored his counselors" or "he wrote disturbing plays." The sensationalist media loves to grab at straws for these types of things, because it increases their viewership.



Unfortunately, the people of this country are all too content to simply never use any type of critical thought and just go along with the media's exploitation of current events and emotion.



I understand how you feel, Kriminal, but I think that even the notion that we really have control over what happens in this world is just a false statement we tell ourselves to feel better.
 
paul34 : I completely hear what you're saying, and agree. However, just to finish off my li'l rant with something that nearly made me pi$$ myself with laughter this morning......they said on the radio that things may not have gotten so far out off hand if all the pupils were allowed to carry guns around the Campus ? What kinda statement is that ? Unbelievable, but like you put - they are sooo wasting time looking for reasons and directions to point the finger that they've sort of "missed" what IS the real issue NOW...the Victim's Families, and close-by survivors - they need support.



It's also been saying that one off the people who sold him a gun was a German, who has now come forward (which makes me wonder if this is just to get his claim to fame as well). The mind boggles ;)
 
Looks like there is new info coming out that the guy was admitted to a psych hospital in 2005, for stalking and possibly suicidal thoughts. If this is the case, then I think there needs to be a nationwide link as part of the gun application process that involves medical histories and mental illnesses. Is being a criminal (background check) the only predictor of possibly criminal intent when buying a gun in this country anymore? No, clearly not, so I would definitely be in favor of a medical history check on a gun application also. There is no way in heck the guy should be buying a gun after being in a mental facility! If there is a failure in the (gun) system anywhere, that is where I would personally place it. Then, of course if he can't get a gun, then there are many alternatives that could cause equal or greater loss of life.





Maybe the gun process in this country should be like a CarFax report. You know every time something happens to your car, it goes into the carfax report to create a complete history on your car. Well, maybe we need a "carfax" report for people. And everytime something happens (run-ins with the law, mental, etc) in a persons life it goes into a record and that record is evaluated.
 
Guys, I'd rather this thread not spiral into a gun control debate. I know it's hard to separate the events at VT from the topic, but we try to keep Autopia relatively "politics-free" for good reason.



Thanks,

Tort

(moderator)
 
I think if there's one thing we can all take away from this is that something like this can occur anywhere at any time. It seems like a lot of us here (at least posting on this thread) are college students, and no campus is safe. I am a student at the University at Albany in New York and the safety and security here has greatly escalated. We got an e-mail the other day outlining just what the officials would do if this same event happened here. And I'm sure similar precautions are happening all over the country. This could happen at any college at any time, no school is really safe from it. We should all be thankful that we are safe right now, and pray for those who weren't as fortunate. Let us not take for granted the men and women in our school's police and security forces who keep us safe.
 
Given what happened I been trying to rack my brains to figure out how this could have been stopped and I can't think of anything given our laws and rights.



His visit to the psych room couldn't be released because it was private. His parents couldn't be told because he was an adult. He was allowed to purchase guns because he had not committed any crime in the past. He was allowed to remain on campus because writing crazy stuff and acting a little weird and depressed is not grounds to suspend or arrest.



So what possibly could have stopped this from happening???
 
Yal said:
So what possibly could have stopped this from happening???
Click to expand...



Absolutely nothing - I would like to know however why buildings weren't at least put on lock down until the suspect was in custody. Not supposedly being questioned on the side of the highway.



Another thing that boggles my mind and hasn't been talked about on the news is..this guy knew he was going to get away with it, he knew he would be able to enter the other building. Why else would he go to the post office, mail this package of media if he had the possibility of getting caught and then just looking like a bigger idiot. He had to have known that he was not going to get caught and the campus wouldn't shut down for some reason. Or it is just a coincidence that the college stayed open?



It isn't until after the fact that we can connect all the dots, view all sides of this story and determine this guy is really sick and twisted. One thing on the news right now I hate listening to is all the "experts" trying to explain why this happened, I hate these experts that give their insights when really they don't know.



Sadly, in my neck of the woods a local college is closed for today and tomorrow due to a specific threat to the campus. Sad that there are going to be copy cats or people trying to bring terror/fear to other students.
 
Yal said:
Given what happened I been trying to rack my brains to figure out how this could have been stopped and I can't think of anything given our laws and rights.



His visit to the psych room couldn't be released because it was private. His parents couldn't be told because he was an adult. He was allowed to purchase guns because he had not committed any crime in the past. He was allowed to remain on campus because writing crazy stuff and acting a little weird and depressed is not grounds to suspend or arrest.



So what possibly could have stopped this from happening???
Click to expand...



See I keep hearing he was charged with stalking two women. Maybe he was not convicted though?
 
Danase said:
See I keep hearing he was charged with stalking two women. Maybe he was not convicted though?
Click to expand...



It was brought the the law enforcements attention but the women did not want to press charges.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top