Shots fired at Virginia Tech (AP: 33 dead, 15 wounded)

http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2007&itemno=248 ^

[LexHoskin]

Gunman on Campus; Stay inside your building, away from windows; Shooting incident at West Ambler Johnston Hall

[AppyPappy]

It’s nothing

[fanfan]

Good.

[Moose4]

I heard a radio interview with the announcer for VT’s football and basketball broadcasts this morning, and he brought up an interesting point that I hadn’t thought about before regarding “lockdown.”

Suppose that the VT administration had done what the second-guessers had wanted them to do, and pushed the panic button after the first murder in West AJ. It’s presumed now that Cho went back to his dorm room in Harper Hall (two buildings over from Ambler Johnston) after the first shooting, and had time to load up and maybe write his note. What happens when the campus is “locked down”? You’ve just locked him, his guns, his ammo, and his rage, in his dormitory. Maybe the targets aren’t packed quite as tight as they were in those four classrooms in Norris Hall, but you still end up with an armed killer loose amongst several hundred disarmed sheep. Maybe he doesn’t go off because he had some specific reason to go to Norris. We’ll probably never know.

I don’t know that anything short of an armed student in Norris, or a miracle snag by the VT police, would’ve stopped him.

}:-)4

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Kudos to you from American Spectator

http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp?BlogID=6336

[archy]

I wonder if the shooter was taking antidepressants?

Now confirmed. Another interesting question will be whether his autopsy indicates if he had been taking them.

And isn't this cached article interesting: Forum to address controversies over antidepressants

BLACKSBURG, Va., October 31, 2005 -- Choices and Challenges at Virginia Tech will hold a public forum entitled “On Prozac: Debating the New Technologies of Mind,” a day-long series of panels and discussions to be held on Nov. 10 in the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown. This forum is open to the public at no charge.

[archy]

Obliterating the numbers on guns takes quite a while, even with a fully equipped machine shop.

All Glocks and the Walther P99 and P22 have plastic *polymer* frames. Accordingly, the serial number is stamped into a metal tag that's then embedded into the frame casting, in addition to the obvious numbers on the slide and barrel, which can be changed between guns.

It takes about 5 minutes to *sanitize* the Glock frame's nmumber tag, given a moto-tool or die grinder with a carbide cutter or dental burr, easily available at the nearest Home Depot or Lowes, and probably easily available around a school with engineering program students.

I have not been tasked to remove numbers from one of the newish Walthers. But I don't think it'd be much of a challenge.

[BagCamAddict]

Yes, I know. That's why I was looping you in on the reply that I was making to jdm. Calm down. Sorry for the confusion.

[BagCamAddict]

Thanks.

[archy]

It takes about 5 minutes to *sanitize* the Glock frame's nmumber tag, given a moto-tool or die grinder with a carbide cutter or dental burr, easily available at the nearest Home Depot or Lowes, and probably easily available around a school with engineering program students.

Never mind looking. Per AP story following, Cho had two Dremel moto-tools.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Police say the gunman involved in the deadliest shooting in modern U-S history had previously been accused of stalking two female students at Virginia Tech and had been taken to a mental health facility in 2005 after an acquaintance worried he might be suicidal. Police Chief Wendell Flinchum says Cho Seung-Hui's actions had worried one woman enough with his calls and e-mail in 2005 that police were called in. Flinchum says he knows of no other police incidents involving Cho until the deadly shootings Monday at a girl's dorm room and then a classroom building across campus.

The gunman killed 32 people before fatally shooting himself. According to documents filed today, police searched Cho's door room yesterday and recovered a chain and combination lock. The front doors of Norris Hall had been chained shut from the inside during the shooting rampage. Other items seized include a folding knife; two computers, a hard disk and other computer disks; documents, books, notebooks and other writings; a digital camera; C-Ds; and two Dremel tools.

[ArmstedFragg]

Per the return on the search warrant: Dremel tools were found in his room.

[ArmstedFragg]

That same search warrant discloses that they found a bomb threat note near the shooter’s body, and apparently matching paper in the room.

[AppyPappy]

to clarify for history’s sake

The “shot fired at the Tennis Court” was an ill-timed transformer blowing due to the heavy winds.

[archy]

That same search warrant discloses that they found a bomb threat note near the shooter’s body, and apparently matching paper in the room.

Reportedly, eight pages worth of *note* were found in his room. Despite the statement by Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police, who said there was no *suicide note:

Cho - who arrived in the United States as boy from South Korea in 1992 and was raised in suburban Washington, D.C., where his parents worked at a dry cleaners - left a note in his dorm room that was found after the bloodbath.

A government official, who spoke of condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized to discuss details of the case, said the note had been described to him as "anti-woman, anti-rich kid."

The Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site that the note railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. ABC, citing law enforcement sources, said that the note, several pages long, explains Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this."

Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police said there was no evidence so far that Cho left a suicide note, but he said authorities were going through a considerable number of writings.

Citing unidentified sources, the Tribune also said Cho had recently set a fire in a dorm room and had stalked some women.

Monday's rampage consisted of two attacks, more than two hours apart - first at a dormitory, where two people were killed, then inside a classroom building, where 31 people, including Cho, died. Two handguns - a 9 mm and a .22-caliber - were found in the classroom building.

The Washington Post quoted law enforcement sources as saying Cho died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on one of his arms, but they were not sure what that meant.

[Hyzenthlay]

Right, I didn’t exactly think of that, so let’s rephrase my statement to say that the idea of guns and the average student found on my campus is a bad idea. I know there are people who are mature enough to deal with that kind of responsibility, and I’m totally for them having guns if they can handle it.

[DCPatriot]

Thanks....sorry for jumping the gun.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Too much making love and smoking pot for that kind of violence.

Getting the next generation of leaders ready too, I suppose. That comment makes my blood boil in a situation like this.

[af_vet_rr]

As many people have said already, we don’t know the whole story yet, so it’s premature to find fault with anyone but the shooter.

Apparently Jack Thompson does. He's convinced that Cho was playing violent videogames all day long, and Chris Matthews responded something about Cho's roommates didn't mention video games, and Thompson's response was along the lines of they don't know what he did on his computer. He was basically implying that he, Jack Thompson, knew what this kid was doing on his computer, rather than the kid's roommates.

It's no wonder Thompson has gotten in hot water with various state bars - for somebody who is a lawyer, it's pretty dumb to go around acting like he knows things which nobody else does, even though there is no evidence.

[BagCamAddict]

And while I absolutely abhor those violent video games, as someone else pointed out, there are millions and millions of kids playing those same video games every day, and they don’t go off and murder people. So even if he had been playing violent video games all day, it still wouldn’t be the video games’ “fault.”

Psycho is as psycho does. This guy was psycho, and had been for awhile.

[fso301]

You’ve just locked him, his guns, his ammo, and his rage, in his dormitory.

Yes but at 2 to 3 roomates per dorm room, he could have killed both his roommates and maybe those in the dorm room next door but buy then, everyone else on his floor would have locked their doors.

[Molly Pitcher]

This is sickening: NBC going’s to show this murderer’s video or parts of it. Grant him the twisted glory he craved. Gad!