Parents Demand Firing of Virginia Tech President, Police Chief Over Poor Handling of Mass Shooting

Fox News ^ | April 16, 2007

[shaylalala]

I disagree - it’s been a while since I was in college - but even 20 years ago buildings were pretty far from class buildings. I don’t think - except in hindsight (and going forward perhaps)- that anyone on a college campus was prepared for a gunman shooting people in a dorm in what almost appears to be a diversion - and then shooting up entire classrooms. I could be wrong, but college cops and community police are usually of a different caliber and training as well.

This is the kind of thing that movies are made of and I don’t think there should be any fingers pointed at anyone - except the gunman at this point.

Parents of kids on campus have the right to be outraged, horrified and scared for their kids - they get some leeway in their outbursts. The prez of the university also gets some leeway in trying to immediately CYA on this. They probably responded like they should have to the first thing...now what? A college campus has to prepare for multiple events? When do you get to the point where you stop preparing?

Once again, a large portion of people were caught unaware and didn’t have an inkling of what to do to protect themselves - would we? What about in a bank that gets robbed? or in a shopping mall? There’s no going back to what we knew was safe -

[Navy Patriot]

With the facts presented by the school president himself, it is clear that the school failed to take common sense precautions.

My personal experience with a few college presidents is that these guys often worry more about bad publicity than doing what is right.

You got that right.

These selfish elite types consider only how they are perceived and not how citizens are protected. Believing that law enforcement could, would, or is required to protect citizens is a leftist fabrication of utopia. Citizens must protect themselves, and have been obstructed by the very officials that incompetently failed here.

In the socialist utopia, all the citizens are dead.

[Southerngl]

These parents are right to expect accountability from the faculty and staff of VT. These days, everyone that doesn’t have a plan for terror attacks is stone cold stupid (and negligent). I don’t know that this is the case, but I’d also wonder if campus elitism and liberal disconnections from the real world Didi’t play a role. If so, CYA is what the game is from here on out for the President of VT.

**************************

A domestic homocide is not ‘terror’. If we assumed every time a husband or wife killed one or the other that it was terror and acted thus, we would all be whining about the inconvience. Look how long it took for people to complain about the long lines at the airport!

[Prokopton]

If we put everything on “lock-down” every time a romance goes bad, no American would ever be allowed to leave his house.

Two dead students in a dorm is hardly "a romance gone bad". You're not much into sensitivity are you.

[airborne]

At this point, I'm not certain that a lock down would have been the best action. It may have been though. My point was, and is, this shooting was something that "should have been anticipated"

The response may or may not be a lock down, but to say nobody could anticipate this type of behavior is, IMO, just not correct.

BTW, if teachers and students had been permitted to have CCW permits, this may have ended differently.

And I know, hindsight is 20/20. I'm just saying.

[rbmillerjr]

Thanks for missing an obvious point — that if a determined person wants to go to a densely populated place and kill alot of people, it really isnt that difficult.

[M0sby]

“I’m not even talking about locking down the campus so much as getting the word out ASAP and advising people to report anyone suspicious immediately. The guy was still there, and these people were sitting ducks for him.”

I think I would very much have to agree with what you are saying.

I work at a local area high school, and we practice “lock downs” every year. Additionally we end up in a “lock down” because of something that happens in the community at least once a year. (car chase or something)
I ALWAYS feel like a sitting duck.

So...I would have to say that although I think the idea of a “lock down” being anything REMOTELY possible on a large campus, what you (and others) are suggesting DOES seem like common sense.

I guess that they will say they didn’t want to start a panic.
It would normally be an isolated incident. (in their thinking)
I would imagine that the rules will be different from now on.

Sadly, they will try to implement rules and policies that will not include self defense.

What a sad and horrible and tragic situation.
There are just not enough words to describe the enormity of this day at VA Tech.

Prayers to all...

[Bryan24]

“There was a notice just like that.”

About 2 hours late. As soon as the police saw that a double murder had occured on campus and that they didn’t have anyone in handcuffs, the students should have been warned. It might not have prevented the next killings but we’ll never know.

Assuming the killer left campus was a TERRIBLE reason not to notify the students immediately.

[ForOurFuture]

IMO, there was NO EXCUSE for not notifying the students that a murderer may be loose on campus.

I live 20 miles south of Baltimore and 40 miles east of Washington D.C. I go to school at the University of Maryland, which lies in crime-filled Prince George's County. I spend a lot of time in my car, and I listen to AM radio. I never hear descriptions of murder suspects in the hourly news broadcasts. I've never had a cop stop me and tell me to go home because there was a murder nearby. The University of MD police department sends out e-mails when crimes occur on or near campus, explaining what happened and where and describing the suspect. These e-mails sometimes arrive in my box a day after the crime occurred. No one is calling for the police chiefs and government officials in these jurisdictions to resign over this. Why should the Virginia Tech officials resign?

Hindsight is 20/20.

[bannie]

Now we should. The fact that it was a two-part episode was the unexpected. NOW we will expect it.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Comnparisons between city life and domestic violence are invalid, IMO. The campus, while a community of its own, is more like a business or closed environment. Communication is far greater, too. Finally, terrorism IS a factor in all planning today (or should be). To neglect that fact in the face of two killings, no perp, no known motive and a whole long list of questions is evidence that somebody was asleep at the switch.

[Bryan24]

“If someone is shot in an apartment complex, do you shut down the entire complex?”

Yes, when the police don’t have the killer in handcuffs. You secure the building, then the adjacent buildings, then the neighborhood.

“Oh, we have a double murder in a campus building, but I don’t think we’ll notify the 26,000 studetns to the danger yet” is not a good plan of action.

[srmorton]

I am not one to automatically demand that someone be fired when a mistake in judgment is made, but in this case I must agree. It was absolutely unconscionable to assume that the shooter had left the campus. If he was not in custody, that campus should have been locked down immediately. They could have used the loudspeaker system to notify the students to stay in their dorms and could have turned away those who were attempting to enter from off campus. The vague email they sent did not indicate that there was any immediate danger. Although its true that the President and Chief of Campus Police could not have predicted what followed, when you are dealing with the lives of young people whose parents are trusting you to keep them safe while they are on campus, IMO you should err on the side of caution. A few hours of canceled classes are a small price to pay. I say that as a college instructor who hates to have classes canceled.

I have seen several people on TV already advocating more stringent gun laws as a way to prevent tragedies like this. I have never fired a gun in my life, but one person who had a concealed-carry permit could have taken him out with a single shot. Firearms are banned from college campuses, but only those who obey the law are going to pay any attention to those bans. Someone who is bent on gaining access to a campus with a gun in his possession is going to succeed eventually.

I was at work all day today, but even in the short time that I have been watching the coverage I have seen reports of the other similar incidents that have occurred in the US. When the picture of Luby's Restaurant came on the screen, it reminded me of an account of a woman whose parents were among those killed at Luby's. She had joined her parents for a pleasant lunch only to watch both them being shot to death. What haunted her the most was knowing that she had a gun in her car and was unable to use it to defend her loved ones. I recall her saying that she vowed that day that she would never again be without the means to protect herself or her family.

[bannie]

I guess we all must prepare for the unexpected...but the trouble is that “the unexpected” can be so many different things that it’s hard to know what to prepare for.

[Southerngl]

Btw, if I’m the shooter I go to the library which is full of people who are already studying...
BTW—you’ve got some really sicko fantasies there, bud.

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Sicko fantasies!?! I want to sign him up for the Marines! Put that guy on MY side.

[CodeMasterPhilzar]

Instead of demanding a firing after the fact... Why not demand your rights to be armed and thus more able to defend yourself preemptively?

[airborne]

What a horrible thing for these kids to deal with.

I pray there are no copy cats.

[abigailsmybaby]

Maybe this will help. Just reported on Fox that the police department was initially given a description of the perp as white male, dark greasy hair driving a pickup truck with farm plates. This is the perp that shot his girlfriend and the RA in the dorm.

[WorkingClassFilth]

IMO you should err on the side of caution. A few hours of canceled classes are a small price to pay. I say that as a college instructor who hates to have classes canceled.

The post of the day, IMO. You have spoken more sense about this incident than those outside the campus environment can ever know - students included.

[tfecw]

“Now we should. The fact that it was a two-part episode was the unexpected. NOW we will expect it”

And judging from the outcry and number of knee’s flying around on this thread I’m willing to bet it’ll cost me freedom and the jobs of folks who were unlucky enough to be in office when some chick F’er decided to shoot up VTech. Reeks of a blame the victim mentality.