Posted on 04/17/2007 6:39:31 AM PDT by starlifter
Va. Tech Gunman Named
By Michael Shear and Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, April 17, 2007; 9:36 AM
Virginia Tech officials today identified the Virginia Tech student who killed 32 people and then himself on the Blacksburg campus yesterday as 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui of Centreville.
Cho was a South Korean native who had immigrated to this country, the university announced on its Web site this morning. He was a senior majoring in English, and lived in a dorm on campus, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I would guess that they’re leaking what they want to leak in a planned way. Perhaps there’s more information in the letter and there are other issues they’re pursuing that they don’t want to be made public yet.
How about that?
Now there’s a note. It hasn’t been released. It’ll be interesting to see what’s in it.
There are mass shootings and mass shootings. Texas tower sniper had a single shot rifle and a box of ammo. That’s one thing. Other shootings involve one gun, one clip.
This guy had to acquire materiel over time.
Either this guy is a psychopath, or he had some sort of ideological motive.
I didn’t say terrorist yet, but I would not be surprised in the least if we find out he’s a Muslim convert.
It just demonstrates how phenomenally blessed we are to be living in a free society. I didn’t choose to be born into the comfort of living in America, but for whatever reason, I was. Death and evil have been prowling the earth from the time of Adam and Eve. I can’t probe the wisdom of God, but blaming someone is just the way of our society. Even the killer said, “You made me do this.” He can’t even take responsibility for his actions. It’s always someone else’s fault.
I had always been under the impression that Ishmael was simply the accepted English spelling of Ismail or Ismael (and other spelling or language variations), referring to the Biblical figure who is considered to be the progenitor of the Arab people, and for whom undoubtedly many Arabs and later Muslims were named down through the millennia. So I don’t think it necessarily has anything to do with that particular Persian Shah.
If he was an English major, any chance there’s a hint in “Moby Dick”? (”Call me Ishmael”)
This case CAN’T get cold, since they know who the perpetrator is and he is dead. The who, what, where, and when are known. The only unknown is WHY? We may never fully know.
I was amused during the CNN interview of the kid from the West Bank who took the cell phone video. Wolf complimented him on his bravery under fire and I just knew the kid wanted to burst out with “well, it’s no different than back home”.
As an engineer, I knew he was also an engineer when he knew, without looking, the manufacturer and model of his cell phone and the precise and clear way in which he answered the questions.
Watching them was like watching South Park.
yeah, I was waiting for the big buy to crouch down to assess the situation, and then the crack of his @ss leaps out. Holy friggin cow. As www.policeone.com says the way they train in ohio now:
You have bullets, you have a bullet vest, and the guy is killing people, what do you do?
Most likely both. Which category would you classify the Columbine shootings? The two boys had a ideological motive, albeit a weak and emotionally immature one, but still ideological nonetheless.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the shooter was a recent convert to some religion either. I don't believe the religions are the catalysts, however, just that people like this are drawn to cults. Remember, a lot of killers have claimed to be Christian - Eric Rudolf for example.
“Most of them to their dorm rooms which was where the shooting had just occurred.”
well......okay,...good point. But don’t they cover this in freshman orientation?
http://www.policeone.com/training/articles/94488/
did you read this? posted earlier.
“Looking for cover is not part of the program. “The training is to go directly to the bad guy and stop him from killing people,” Wood said. “You have bullets, you have a bulletproof vest and you have a guy killing people.”
What would they cover?
Also, let's not get carried away here. How many mass shootings have their been on college campuses in the 60 years? Weigh that very small number against the vast number of colleges in this country and the number of years involved. The ratio of the number of mass killings to the number of student hours would be a very tiny number.
It does no good to go into a bunker mentality where everyone is scared to leave their protective bubble...er house.
That was because they found a cell phone near his body that DID belong to a chinese student who came through Shanghai. They thought he was the shooter but he wasn’t.
Posted as a comment to the Belmont Club:
The problem with conspiracy theories is that people are not required to prove them. The result is rejecting the real world facts and simplest explanation, and inventing an imaginary one instead.
This criminologist says that the killer was following a well known pattern [no conspiracy needed]:
Premeditative and Selective
For Jack Levin, a leading authority on mass killings and those who commit them, the story emerging out of Virginia already has many sadly familiar hallmarks...
NEWSWEEK: You’ve studied mass shootings for more than 20 years. What’s the first thing you think of when a story like this starts unfolding?
Jack Levin: I can talk in general terms about this and I’m probably going to be right. In almost every case the motive is revenge. Usually the killer is on a suicidal rampage—he sets out to take his own life but first he takes his revenge on all the people he believes to be responsible for his miseries. Usually the killer has suffered from some catastrophic loss; it could be a girlfriend, a loss of a place in the university—assuming he’s a student or faculty. Either way, in his eyes, it’s catastrophic. It’s the trigger, the catalyst, what pushes him over the edge...
Almost every one of these shootings is premeditative and selective. It’s very rare to see a mass killer in a school or workplace or family target random victims. He’ll more likely step around those he doesn’t see as part of the conspiracy. I bet that happens here. At the same time this looks like a family annihilation where a husband-father wants to get even with his wife because he blames her for all his misery, but does so by killing everything associated with her, everything she loved. I’ve seen things in [the] postal service, where [the attacker] will kill his supervisor, the one who laid him off, and then target everyone else at the post office. This killer may have been setting out to kill the college. I’d like to know who his first victim was.
I would imagine many younger people don’t also quite have the same sense of the value of life either.
There are teenagers I would call “temporary sociopaths.” They’ll commit a hideous act, such as the taking of human life with impunity, when they’re 16 or 19. They wouldn’t dream of doing the same thing when they’re 30
No, these are not the times to “lighten up.”
Evidence like that shows up all the time. Like the Vince Foster suicide note that everyone knows he didn’t write...
“What would they cover?”
i was kidding. just trying to lighten the mood. even so, with what has dribbled out, the president of the univ. is not looking good, the police are not looking good, and Howard K. Stern’s chances of remaining in the caribbean house is definitely not looking good.
were those deleted because we couldn’t confirm that he was actually the gun seller?
Whadda ya mean “haven’t heard about a note” — it’s been on many news web sites since mid morning, with copious quotes, though not a full text — I expect we’ll see the full note on “smoking gun” etc w/in 48 hours. You’ll have to do better than that to find a “hide the Muslom angle” angle.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.