Virginia Tech shooting

[Sasaki Kojiro]

The one story I heard was that the guy came into the doorm and found his girlfriend with the RA and shot them both, and then game back later and shot all the other people. But the guy in the press conference said he did not believe that the girl in the first shooting was the girlfriend...almost the only info to come from the press conference.

I think it's happening because there are crazy people who do crazy things. Didn't that whiteman guy have a brain tumor and hear voices?

[Marshal Murat]

Asian male who shot a professor and tens of students, then goes to his GF's dorm and shoots her and friends.

[Csargo]

Some people just snap under the pressure.

[Adrian II]

Some people just snap under the pressure.

I found a nice long fact-sheet on school schootings from the Chicago Sun-Times which includes an anaysis done by the Secret Service. It turns out shooters usually don't 'snap' and they don't have a 'history' either that allows for profiling.

If you ask me, Michael Moore was bang on in that movie. Canadians own about as many guns as Americans, yet make far less use of them because their society is different, infinitely more relaxed. There is a Hobbesian aspect to American society that goes a long way toward explaining these occurrences, I think.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I think Kanamori is on the mark.

What do you think of the campus administrations actions regarding not cancelling school? I think they made the right decision at the time personally.

[Hosakawa Tito]

The school should have been on lock-down till they could either find the shooter or verify he was gone from the campus. I think they were too complacent, and their lack of vigilance and situational awareness may have cost the lives of those in that class room. Since when is any shooting such a ho-hum business as usual affair?

[Beirut]

Very sad thing. Such a waste.

I can't understand why the school was not locked down.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

The school should have been on lock-down till they could either find the shooter or verify he was gone from the campus. I think they were too complacent, and their lack of vigilance and situational awareness may have cost the lives of those in that class room. Since when is any shooting such a ho-hum business as usual affair?

Well, it's not like the president has a red button on his desk which magically makes the campus safe. With 30,000 people it's the size of a small city and you can't shut down a small city for every murder. Hindsight is perfect of course, but I don't think there's ever been a killing spree with a 2 hour gap like that. At the time of the killing most of the commuters would be on their way there, and no one checks there email before hand. The first killing was in a dormitory anyway, how would canceling class help? Most campus's don't have the manpower to shut down quickly.

[Del Arroyo]

It's been my hypothesis for some time that things like this happen because the drastic decay of "community" within the US. If an individual falls by the wayside, they are allowed to stay there. In the land of freedom and individualism, people are allowed to live with no social connections-- even if those connections are the thing they need the most.

But really, who knows? This latest will undoubtedly shed some light...

[rory_20_uk]

Why do these people never invest in silencers? Surely then they could execute far more people.

[Marshal Murat]

Tisk tisk....


The school thought they had caught the killer after his first attack, but then he killed again, and thus the school was locked down.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Why do these people never invest in silencers? Surely then they could execute far more people.

Don't even joke about that.

[edyzmedieval]

Why do these people never invest in silencers? Surely then they could execute far more people.

Old Rory and his jokes.

Me and my dad found it shocking. I mean, shoot 3-4, but more than 30? You're kidding. This is totally sick!

[Bijo]

Why do these people never invest in silencers? Surely then they could execute far more people.

That is logical. Using silencers combined with a good amount of careful stealth.... they could even get away with their murdering if they're good :|


Regarding that shooting PDF:
The PDF article is annoying to read: it doesn't get to the point quickly and repeats things all the time. After reading about two pages I just skimmed through it. It doesn't really provide any solid answers, then again it's said basically they don't have 'em.

Also peculiar is the fact that the Secret Service has been investigating these cases with great interest. Why the heck the SS-- eh, I mean... Secret Service? Is this not something for the p'lice force?
There has been no progress we could say in avoiding these cases from happening, as they continue to happen, and the Secret Service is investigating it thoroughly? Sounds fishy and sucpicious.

But one thing caught my eye often there: those kids who plan shootings tell their peers and these peers don't take any action, nor are all of these kids listened to by elders. Peculiar, and in a certain way expectable.
Kids can be cruel human creatures and who knows what goes on in their minds regarding these killings, and how they all influence the whole shebang.

But my basic thought about this whole thing is this: " Pffff.... humans. *sigh* "

[Csargo]

I found a nice long fact-sheet on school schootings from the Chicago Sun-Times which includes an anaysis done by the Secret Service. It turns out shooters usually don't 'snap' and they don't have a 'history' either that allows for profiling.

If you ask me, Michael Moore was bang on in that movie. Canadians own about as many guns as Americans, yet make far less use of them because their society is different, infinitely more relaxed. There is a Hobbesian aspect to American society that goes a long way toward explaining these occurrences, I think.

I always have problems expressing my views, which is why I rarely visit this place. I ment that usually something happens which pushes the person to plan something like this. People usually don't just randomly shoot up places for the hell of it there's always a reason behind it whether we find out about it afterwards or they take it to the grave.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Indeed, Ichigo.

A interview with one of the victims:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=67f_1176750363&o=1

Apparently, he just walked in to that classroom, shot 10-15 people, then left. Students barred the doors, which was good, because he tried to get in again, shooting through the door, but couldn't get in.

CR

[The Spartan (Returns)]

God bless them. 20+ wounded i believe?

[Gregoshi]

What a sad day. It was horrible seeing the death count go up during the afternoon. With so many dead, it is hard to believe this was just some Joe Blow who picked up a couple of guns and started shooting. I'm sure tomorrow will reveal who the killer was, but the "why" may take a little longer.

[Csargo]

Indeed, Ichigo.

I don't know if your agreeing with my post or not. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

[Kanamori]

I would say a cultural influence on crazy people tends to make these things happen more in the US...

Here, people are more prone to think that when they're snapping, they have to go shoot people in some giant blazing flame of glory... violence in general just seems to be more prevalant, talked about, and less taboo; people are easily influenced, which is also probably why it happens less elsewhere...

As to the other question, we'll have to wait and see I suppose... I don't know how reliable any of the details I've heard are, yet.

[Fragony]

I would say a cultural influence on crazy people tends to make these things happen more in the US...

Maybe things are a bit simpler then that, USA has somewhat more space where these things may occur, I mean it's bigger then all countries in Europe combined. How long has it been since Columbine? Let's not act as if there is a trend of some sort.

[naut]

Very sad indeed.

Fox news is full of bollocks, not much new there though. They believe the following: "he came from a Socialist country and was offended by Western decadence so decided to kill 32 people" and "being an immigrant makes you more susceptible to psychological disorders and violence"; utter garbage.

[Csargo]

Very sad indeed.

Fox news is full of bollocks, not much new there though. They believe the following: "he came from a Socialist country and was offended by Western decadence so decided to kill 32 people" and "being an immigrant makes you more susceptible to psychological disorders and violence"; utter garbage.

It actually said that?

[Del Arroyo]

If suiciders start becoming a common problem, perhaps we should start killing their families as retaliation. Not their *whole* families, mind you, just their parents, (ex)-wives and any offspring. Perhaps adult siblings, too. That would make them think twice before going berserk.

[naut]

It actually said that?

Yep, I kid you not.

[PanzerJaeger]

It actually said that?

No.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Maybe things are a bit simpler then that, USA has somewhat more space where these things may occur, I mean it's bigger then all countries in Europe combined. How long has it been since Columbine? Let's not act as if there is a trend of some sort.

If you want to make that argument you should base it on population and not area. The US is inhabited by 300 million people (plus some illegal immigrants, but Europe has some too so we won't count them)and iirc Europe has roughly 700 million inhabitants. That being said I have heard of a couple of school shootings in Germany since I first got here (last September) so it's definately not as American a phenomenon as people may think. They may be at times far worse in the US, but I can't say that for sure either. Europeans may also hear more about American school shootings as European ones, and I don't think Americans hear much of anything about European ones. But again I have no evidence so it's just a thought.

My condolences to those affected by this tragedy. I can't imagine what it would be like to be at the college at the time it occurred or to have a loved one that went to VT.

[sapi]

This is bad enough without it being blamed on violent video games

[Andres]

This is bad enough without it being blamed on violent video games

Hmmm... I'm looking forward to Rockstar's newest game: "Kill Dr. Phill"...



The bodies of the victims are still warm and the vultures who are in dire need of some media-attention are already popping up...

Sad, very sad

[Adrian II]

This is bad enough without it being blamed on violent video games

Phil McGraw is not blaming this uniquely on video games. It's a wider criticism of movies and of the glamorization of violence in society as a whole:

The question really is can we spot them. And the problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high. And we're going to have to start dealing with that. We're going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murders of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.