Posted on 04/20/2007 10:05:49 AM PDT by freespirited
The Virginia Tech shooter may have been nearly mute as a child and bullied as a teenager for talking strangely and being so shy.
But as new details emerged yesterday about Cho Seung-Hui's early days in South Korea and later as an immigrant living near Washington, some students scarred by his unthinkable cruelty said they couldn't care less.
The airing by NBC of the videotaped rants he mailed at 9:05 a.m. Monday between his rampages at a dorm and a classroom building didn't help many who are trying to cope with the loss of colleagues and friends on this sprawling but close-knit campus.
"There's so much attention paid to the killer," said Shontea Sowards, 21, from Ashland, Kentucky.
"We're angry about it. It's obvious that he was disturbed. I don't think we need to hear it over and over again. He's not even close to what's important about what happened."
Sowards and her friends were walking the campus, holding eight big, glossy pictures of their sorority sister, Maxine Turner, a 22-year-old chemical engineering student killed in her German class Monday when Cho burst in and started shooting.
Her beaming face was snapped at a fancy party just last weekend.
Cho, a 23-year-old student at Virginia Tech, killed 32 people before shooting himself.
"What needs to be done is to have each of these 32 stories told," said Sowards.
"She was a support system all by herself," said Jessica Palazzolo, 22, an engineering student. "Just her smile could brighten your day."
In the end, Cho's frightening videotaped tirade about rich "brats" and their "hedonistic needs" added little to the police investigation.
Police, who are closing out their on-scene investigation, said they were disappointed NBC decided to air the frightening videos and photos Wednesday showing Cho pointing guns and wielding a hammer.
"I just hate that a lot of folks not used to seeing that type of image had to see it," said Colonel Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia State Police.
NBC said the package contained an often-incoherent 23-page written statement, 28 video clips and 43 photos.
High school classmates described Cho this week as so quiet that he rarely spoke to anyone.
"I guess a lot of people felt like maybe there was a language barrier," said Stephanie Roberts, 22, who graduated with Cho from Westfield High in Chantilly, Va.
Another high school classmate, Chris Davids, recalled that Cho read aloud in a strange deep voice that sounded "like he had something in his mouth," Davids said.
"As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying: 'Go back to China'," Davids said.
In South Korea, Cho's relatives remember him as being so quiet as a child they worried that he was mute.
His maternal grandfather told South Korean newspapers Cho "troubled his parents a lot when he was young because he couldn't speak well, but was well-behaved."
At Virginia Tech, Cho, an English major, was known by some for his violent, twisted writings.
Some called him the Question Mark Kid because that's what he used to sign in on the first day of a literature class
Cho was accused in 2005 of sending unwanted messages to two women, and had spent time in psychiatric hospital.
Despite early signs that Cho was very troubled, officials urged people yesterday to resist "the seductive temptation of blame."
Governor Timothy Kaine is appointing a panel to investigate the shootings, Cho's mental health history and how police responded to the tragedy. The panel will submit a report in two to three months.
Meanwhile the threat of copycat attacks became real in various American cities yesterday.
In Yuba City, Calif., a 12,000-student school was locked down as authorities searched for a man who threatened to make the Virginia Tech massacre look "mild" by comparison.
In Kalamazoo, Mich., a threat posted on an online blog worried Kalamazoo Valley Community College officials enough that they shut down the campus for the rest of the week, authorities said.
In St. Augustine, Fla., a 14-year-old high school student was charged with a felony for threatening in an e-mail between friends to top the Virginia Tech massacre by killing 100 people.
If you think no one should be held accountable for the preventable deaths of 32 innocent people, you just might be a liberal.
Cho is the one who should be accountable. Not guns, and not the students. And not the “whole class who laughed at him”. I am sure it was not the “whole class”.
I think he might have been more an invisible kid vs. one who was picked on.
Seditious Scumbag Rat, Joe Biden has Blamed the Conservatives ( since Gingrich) for the VT Slayings.
Biden is not only a Seditious Rat dirt-bag, he is also
certifiably Insane.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
What did Biden say to blame conservatives?
What did he say?
preparing all of this and walking to the post office to mail it, all while carrying guns(s), ammo, a video camera, and digital camera.....all in the two hours between shootings. What private place did he have to prepare all of these films, photos, and writings???? He had at least 3 roommates.
not possible.
True enough. However, there are some here who would allow the person who next commits such a terrible act to blame it on viewing the material from this murderer.
I don't have a TV so I have not been "offended." I am glad however that civilians obtained a copy and we don't have to depend upon government spin for information.
I thought Cho lived in a dorm sharing an apartment.
Where did he make the video and photos and rantings?
“There’s so much attention paid to the killer,” said Shontea Sowards, 21, from Ashland, Kentucky.
“We’re angry about it. It’s obvious that he was disturbed. I don’t think we need to hear it over and over again. He’s not even close to what’s important about what happened.”
&&&
Sounds like this young lady has more sense than morons in the press that are 3 times her age.
Entirely possible.
The manifesto and the videos could easily have been compiled over weeks or months.
He could have dropped the package off at a Fed-Ex box en route to the second crime scene.
Isn’t the MSM doing the same thing with the war on terror as they did with VT in that they only publicize the bad and encourage the demented?
Tractorman! Youre finally getting the message!
Exactly.It was compiled over time for the chosen moment.He merely grabbed the stack on his way from Harper Hall and took it to the Blacksburg Post Office on Main Street.Then walked over to Norris Hall ...an easy trek I did many times over in the 70’s.
I just reviewed the available materials on MSNBC, and now think it is more likely that he compiled his package over a matter of hours and days, rather than weeks.
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