Virgina Tech Shooting.

[aeni]

How about we just sit back and come back to this topic in a week when more facts come pouring in? Everyone's just going to run their mouth and spread more unverified facts.

I also recommend watching this article (I personally like the historical context and reading the Bath School Disaster): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre

 

[*Stargazer*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raerae No i understand that... He had 2 handguns and a few clips of amunition, so he wasn't heavily armed. But you would think someone who saw the shooting would have followed. I have a hard time believing that not a single person witnessed the killings of how many people?

1 or 2. The initial shooting was in the dorm and killed either 1 or 2 people, depending on the report you read. It is entirely possible he shot those people in a dorm room and was gone before anyone could react, or even knew it had happened.

 

[EmbalmerBabe]

Sorry I have not heard much about this, so the individual who murdered
the students is supposedly dead too? Sorry I am way behind on this issue.

 

[Shimmer]

Oh yeah. He's dead. Shot himself from the back of the head forward to prevent immediate identification, is the speculation.

 

[Raerae]

Ugh... So messed up =( Such a waste of life.

 

[Beauty Mark]

At least in Wikipedia (and on CNN), the shooter has been identified. On the radio this morning, they claimed not to be releasing the name just yet.

I'm kind of disappointed that despite this tragedy, so many people are being selfish about things. I've been reading a lot of people lobbying about gun control and in one of the Asian communities I belong to, someone had the- nerve, I guess, to worry about the backlash towards the Asian community because of his ethnicity. I assumed people would just shut up about their own issues and actually express some kind of concern about the victims.

 

[*Stargazer*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauty Mark At least in Wikipedia (and on CNN), the shooter has been identified. On the radio this morning, they claimed not to be releasing the name just yet. I'm kind of disappointed that despite this tragedy, so many people are being selfish about things. I've been reading a lot of people lobbying about gun control and in one of the Asian communities I belong to, someone had the- nerve, I guess, to worry about the backlash towards the Asian community because of his ethnicity. I assumed people would just shut up about their own issues and actually express some kind of concern about the victims.

I was on another forum yesterday and the immediate concern was not thoughts for the victims but how this would be detrimental to gun rights. I was appalled.

 

[Raerae]

Well considering the President made a statement specifically saying that American's have the right to bear arms, but people need to follow the rules, or something to that extent, It's not surprising gun control made it into the conversations.

I think we know where everyone stands on that issue though

 

[Shimmer]

The victims and their families are a secondary concern to the bigger agenda(s) affected.
THAT is the greatest tragedy.

 

[Beauty Mark]

That's what I meant. I'm just sort of flabbergasted that I was reading these responses yesterday. Not even 24 hrs past before people had to bring up how this affects them.

One of the social networking sites, Facebook, has one group called "I'm Korean and Have a Gun, Don't Be Scared." Until I see a good number of people making a big deal out of it (ironically, I've only seen Asians calling attention to the guy's ethnicity) or someone who's important/famous, I think people are being really ridiculous.

 

[*Stargazer*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raerae Well considering the President made a statement specifically saying that American's have the right to bear arms, but people need to follow the rules, or something to that extent, It's not surprising gun control made it into the conversations. I think we know where everyone stands on that issue though

Those were the first questions I heard asked of the WH spokeschicky in the press conference before he gave his speech. Not one person asked anything at all about what would be done to help the community, but were immediately bombarding her with questions about what the President thinks of gun control and blah blah. I really loathe journalists.

 

[Shimmer]

Not even ten hours passed and there was rampant critique of the handling of the situation by LEO and the school administration.

The initial killings were considered a homicide, nothing to disrupt the entire campus about. The second shooting was two hours later and totally unpredictable. NO ONE ever expects that a killer will take on a second rampage. Which, btw, the dude was a helluva shot and completely planned it out really amazingly well; according to ER docs, none of the patients brought in had less than three bullet wounds. That's fucking amazing. He was walking through like the fucking Terminator and managed to get groupings of three on each of his victims? That's just beyond insane. That's mechanical.

 

[MACisME]

=*(((

 

[Raerae]

He was a loner...

He probably has hours and hours and hours of playtime under his belt of Counterstrike, Quake, and Unreal Tournament ;p Not to mention other games that require amazing hand eye coordination. I'm really not surprised that he was a good shot. Not to mention this was planned out months in advance according to the reciept on the guns that he purchased. He probably had plenty of time to practice and get used to the fire arms.

I'm curious what the relation to the 2 killed in the dorm were to him. One of them was the dorms RA, and another was a freshman girl. I'm sure he knew at least 1 of them, if not both. I'm betting it was the RA though, as he was a senior on campus like the Asian guy. The freshman girl was prolly just living in the dorms, and wrong place wrong time.

As far as the other shooting spree, another article said he poped his head into the classroom a few times as if he was looking to see if someone was there. I'm betting he knew some of the people in that building as well. As he didn't kill an entire room, he killed a select group of people, before moving to another classroom, and then another. 4 total.

Pretty crazy stuff... Dont be mean to anyone, never know when they will go down to the local gun shop, buy a 9mm and commit murder suicide.

 

[Tash]

From what the news has said, the girl killed in the dorms was his girlfriend and the guy he though she was cheating on him with.

I'm not sure about the people in the engineering building though, but it was definitely very purposeful.

 

[Beauty Mark]

I read that the shooter started arguing with the girl and the RA was trying to settle the argument. The shooter then pulled out the gun.

 

[Shimmer]

It sorely aggravates me that news agencies all tell different stories, why? Because they have different sources, obviously, but 9/11 is a prime example, as is this.
Many stories are being reproduced either via news agencies or rumor mills that have only a shred of true information in them. :?

 

[MAC_Whore]

This is truly a tragedy for many of these kids and their families. Two of my colleagues went to VT and are visibly affected by this event these last two days. Just overall a sad statement on mankind.

In regards to how the attacker was allowed to carry on, the reality is that these are a bunch of kids who have most likely have no training in weapons or self-defense techniques aimed at disarming an attacker. This isn't in their menu of skills.

They are in an environment that most would consider "safe". IMO, these kids didn't react or did but failed to stop the shooter because they most likely didn't have the skills and were experiencing a tremendous amount of fear and shock.

The media can quaterback this event until their heads pop off. If they want to find things that were handled positively, they will. If they want to find problems with the way it was handled, they will. In America, we live with a reasonable expectation of "safety". However, nothing is finite. We have to understand that we are open to acts of violence, acts of terrorism, etc. It has become part of our reality now, unfortunately. I wish it hadn't, but it's there. We could fence up, barricade, arm, xray and close off every building in this country, but the truth is that violence is an intrusive, invasive element that can always find a way. The media can pick apart this event, but the reality is you can't be prepared for every possible scenario.

I guess we shall see how this plays out.

 

[Raerae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shimmer It sorely aggravates me that news agencies all tell different stories, why? Because they have different sources, obviously, but 9/11 is a prime example, as is this. Many stories are being reproduced either via news agencies or rumor mills that have only a shred of true information in them. :?

Well the authorities haven't really released an official statement yet eigther. So all we really have is he said she said.

 

[Shimmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raerae Well the authorities haven't really released an official statement yet eigther. So all we really have is he said she said.

If that's all there is, why speculate?