Virginia Tech Debacle/ Work of a Deranged Man............Or

Forums: United States, Crime, True Crime, Homicide, Virginia Tech
Email this Topic • Print this Page

There are things about the Virginia Tech killing that has me scratching my head.

The press has revealed that the shooter was an Asian, but has said nothing more about him. Why haven't all sorts of information about him been disseminated? Didn't he have any friends? Classmates? Are facts being hidden from the public?

What HAS been said was that the shooter seemed very calm. That flies in the face of a picture of a deranged shooter. His actions, killing many people, were obviously random and deliberate, calcualated to cause as much damage as possible. What kind of person would do that?

It really bothers me that one person had the ability go into a public area and foist so much carnage. Sound familiar? Are we safe from others who might do something similar?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 0 • Views: 12,965 • Replies: 205

No top replies

this just in...

Quote:

The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-Hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday.

University officials said they were still trying to determine if Cho was responsible for an earlier shooting at a dormitory that left two dead.

However, Flinchum said ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was used at Norris and at the dorm.

Cho, a 23-year-old South Korean and resident alien, lived at the university's Harper Hall, Flinchum said. He was an English major, the chief said.

Cho was a loner and authorities are having a hard time finding information about him, said Harry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/vtech.shooting/index.html

we are not safe...

0 Replies

somwtimes a crazy mofo is just a crazy mofo....

0 Replies

Phoenix - Luckily my cable was out most of yesterday due to the high winds we're having here on the east coast. When it came back on, and that was the first thing I saw (I already knew about it though, via the internet) I changed the channel.
I threw away my front page this morning immediately because the over-sized headline read "MASSACRE."
I refuse to put myself thru what I went thru watching and hearing about Columbine, as this one seems even worse.

I don't care about the shooter, his race, religion or motives. I don't care how he did it, or what he thought and planned before he did it.

Terrible things happen to good people (the 30+ that he killed) and I'm just hoping to get thru life without someone doing that to me or anyone I care about.

0 Replies

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

somwtimes a crazy mofo is just a crazy mofo....

This may sound strange, but I would be very relieved if they determined that he was nuts. That would be the least problematic.

0 Replies

a man is found wandering on the local campus naked wrapped in Saran Wrap. They arrest him and take him to the station and , not knowing who to call, call a psychiatrist.

He comes in, takes one look at the man and says "I can clearly see you're nuts".

Sorry Phoenix.... crime of opportunity.

0 Replies

Phoenix32890 wrote:

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:
somwtimes a crazy mofo is just a crazy mofo....

This may sound strange, but I would be very relieved if they determined that he was nuts. That would be the least problematic.

Phoenix - Have you ever known any sane people that do things like that?
Seem pretty cut n' dry to me.

0 Replies

Phoenix32890 wrote:

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:
somwtimes a crazy mofo is just a crazy mofo....

This may sound strange, but I would be very relieved if they determined that he was nuts. That would be the least problematic.

What do you mean Phoenix, doesn't this incident make him nuts by definition?

0 Replies

happycat wrote:

I don't care about the shooter, his race, religion or motives. I don't care how he did it, or what he thought and planned before he did it.

Oh, I damn well care about his motives, whether he was just some nutcase, or something even more sinister.

I think that this happening is an object lesson on what might happen if someone with an ulterior motive pulled the same deal in other places.

0 Replies

stuh505 wrote:

Phoenix32890 wrote:
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:
somwtimes a crazy mofo is just a crazy mofo....

This may sound strange, but I would be very relieved if they determined that he was nuts. That would be the least problematic.

What do you mean Phoenix, doesn't this incident make him nuts by definition?

Not necessarily. What about those jokers in Baghdad, who think that they are giving up their lives for a higher purpose? Are THEY all crazy, or something else?

0 Replies

I dunno. There are all kinds of studies about "hot states," and how people's brains actually work differently in these states. That a hot state brain is as different from a person's brain in a normal state as people are different from each other.

As in, it could be something like: Cho's girlfriend was cheating on him. That made him fly into a rage. He got the gun, and plotted killing her and the person he was cheating on her with. He hatched the plans in a hot state, then maybe calmed down, then something set him off again. (Maybe he originally only suspected it and then got confirmation.) He found them, he killed them.

Then, having become a murderer (and in the "hot state" of emotion that would have caused) he may have had a thought process something like "I'm headed for prison or the death penalty ---> I'm just going to kill myself ---> if I'm going to kill myself anyway I'll take as many people with me as I can."

0 Replies

stuh505 wrote:

Phoenix32890 wrote:
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:
somwtimes a crazy mofo is just a crazy mofo....

This may sound strange, but I would be very relieved if they determined that he was nuts. That would be the least problematic.

What do you mean Phoenix, doesn't this incident make him nuts by definition?

Another reason why I won't listen to reports or read articles about it.....who give a F*** about the shooter? Why give any time or thought to what was going on inside his dead head?
His name will live in infamy now, and all those good, promising students have lost their chance at making something of their lives.

0 Replies

sozobe wrote:

I dunno. There are all kinds of studies about "hot states," and how people's brains actually work differently in these states. That a hot state brain is as different from a person's brain in a normal state as people are different from each other.

As in, it could be something like: Cho's girlfriend was cheating on him. That made him fly into a rage. He got the gun, and plotted killing her and the person he was cheating on her with. He hatched the plans in a hot state, then maybe calmed down, then something set him off again. (Maybe he originally only suspected it and then got confirmation.) He found them, he killed them.

Then, having become a murderer (and in the "hot state" of emotion that would have caused) he may have had a thought process something like "I'm headed for prison or the death penalty ---> I'm just going to kill myself ---> if I'm going to kill myself anyway I'll take as many people with me as I can."

Soz- I really hope that you are right. I am not so sure. I think that until all the facts come out, we won't really know.

0 Replies

Oh, I have no idea. I'm not saying this DID happen. Just I can imagine that some variation of the above might have happened.

We'll see.

(One part that does make sense to me is that it was his girlfriend [or just an object of his affections if not someone with whom he was in an actual relationship] and her lover who were killed, since the police were so convinced at the outset that it was a domestic dispute.)

0 Replies

Re: Virginia Tech Debacle/ Work of a Deranged Man...........

Phoenix32890 wrote:

The press has revealed that the shooter was an Asian, but has said nothing more about him. Why haven't all sorts of information about him been disseminated? Didn't he have any friends? Classmates? Are facts being hidden from the public?

The press didn't know who the shooter was until about 3 hours ago. Did you expect that they had built up a dossier on every student at the school overnight just waiting to know which one to publish? I'm fairly confident we'll get more than we want in the next 48 hours.

Phoenix32890 wrote:

What HAS been said was that the shooter seemed very calm. That flies in the face of a picture of a deranged shooter. His actions, killing many people, were obviously random and deliberate, calcualated to cause as much damage as possible. What kind of person would do that?

IMO, this is more of a misunderstanding of the deranged than it is a contradiction. Once a mentally unstable person decides on a course of action they are often very calm and composed in carrying it out. The "agitated state" is when they are uncertain or something does go as they planned. The calmness only flies in the face of the deranged shooter as popularized in the movies. I think if you look back at past incidents you'd find that most of the witness's describe the shooters as calm and collected.

0 Replies

OK, guys...........I will sit back and watch this whole thing unfold.

0 Replies

Quote:

Not necessarily. What about those jokers in Baghdad, who think that they are giving up their lives for a higher purpose? Are THEY all crazy, or something else?

Yes, I'd say they are absolutely crazy. Complete lunatics.

Quote:

I dunno. There are all kinds of studies about "hot states," and how people's brains actually work differently in these states. That a hot state brain is as different from a person's brain in a normal state as people are different from each other.

How many people do you know of have been dumped, and how many of them responded by going on murderous rampages? I don't deny that something triggered this guy -- clearly he was out of his daily routine here -- but that doesn't mean its normal for a person to go into this state, only a crazy person would be capable of entering such a state.

0 Replies

Re: Virginia Tech Debacle/ Work of a Deranged Man...........

fishin wrote:

The press didn't know who the shooter was until about 3 hours ago. Did you expect that they had built up a dossier on every student at the school overnight just waiting to know which one to publish? I'm fairly confident we'll get more than we want in the next 48 hours.

It's very surprising that googling his name turns up NOTHING!

0 Replies

That's what I'm saying, NOT only crazy people are capable of going into that state.

That doesn't mean that everyone will, for sure. But that's the whole premise of "crime of passion" or "temporary insanity."

0 Replies

Re: Virginia Tech Debacle/ Work of a Deranged Man...........

stuh505 wrote:

fishin wrote:
The press didn't know who the shooter was until about 3 hours ago. Did you expect that they had built up a dossier on every student at the school overnight just waiting to know which one to publish? I'm fairly confident we'll get more than we want in the next 48 hours.

It's very surprising that googling his name turns up NOTHING!

Why? He was nobody until yesterday. Why would you expect "Google" to know anything about him. Give it a week, you'll find more than you want to read.

0 Replies

Virginia Tech Debacle/ Work of a Deranged Man............Or

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know