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

temporary insanity
n. in a criminal prosecution, a defense by the accused that he/she was briefly insane at the time the crime was committed and therefore was incapable of knowing the nature of his/her alleged criminal act. Temporary insanity is claimed as a defense whether or not the accused is mentally stable at the time of trial. One difficulty with a temporary insanity defense is the problem of proof, since any examination by psychiatrists had to be after the fact, so the only evidence must be the conduct of the accused immediately before or after the crime. It is similar to the defenses of "diminished capacity" to understand one's own actions, the so-called "Twinkie defense," the "abuse excuse," "heat of passion" and other claims of mental disturbance which raise the issue of criminal intent based on modern psychiatry and/or sociology. However, mental derangement at the time of an abrupt crime, such as a sudden attack or crime of passion, can be a valid defense or at least show lack of premeditation to reduce the degree of the crime.

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.

soz- I may be way off, but I could see understand a guy going nuts and killing his girlfriend. What bothers me is the two hour interval between the original and the later killings.

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."

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.

The problem there is the amount of ammo -- I don't know if he would have enough to carry out that kind of carnage if it was spur of the moment as opposed to planned.

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The problem there is the amount of ammo -- I don't know if he would have enough to carry out that kind of carnage if it was spur of the moment as opposed to planned.

soz- Interesting point, that might lead a person to believe that the second carnage had been plotted beforehand.

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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.

Because there are already articles on the web that say his name...webcrawlers do not take a week to find stuff

A single box of each would be enough ammo to causee he damage this guy caused and they'd be a fairly standard purchase of ammo.

That's one thing I was wondering about. Like, CAN you buy only a few bullets? I know next to nothing about this stuff but it would make sense that it would be more the cigarette model (many in a box).

A crime of passion is committed against a person whom passion is felt for. Not the case here.

Also let me point out that he was wearing a tactical vest (eg, SWAT or military), which carried slots for all of the 10+ magazines he needed to carry. Bullets are bought in bulk, but magazines are not...most people do not own more than 1 spare magazine maximum. He definitely had to plan a lot in advance to go out and buy 10 magazines and a tactical vest.

stuh505 wrote:

Also let me point out that he was wearing a tactical vest (eg, SWAT or military), which carried slots for all of the 10+ magazines he needed to carry. Bullets are bought in bulk, but magazines are not...most people do not own more than 1 spare magazine maximum. He definitely had to plan a lot in advance to go out and buy 10 magazines and a tactical vest.

I haven't seen any report stating that he was wearing a tactical vest or that he had 10 or more magazines.

Where did you find this info?

The gunman was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout" and wore a black ammunition vest, said a student who survived by pretending to lie dead on a classroom floor.

"There wasn't a shooting victim that didn't have less than three bullet wounds in them," said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo of Montgomery Regional Hospital.

In the link provided earlier in this thread, it says the following:

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The gunman was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout" and wore a black ammunition vest, said a student who survived by pretending to lie dead on a classroom floor.

Those black ammunition vests are tactical vests (I even own one myself).

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"There wasn't a shooting victim that didn't have less than three bullet wounds in them," said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo of Montgomery Regional Hospital.

31(33?) killed 15 wounded, plus himself, im saying thats approx 50, times 3 bullets each is at least 150 bullets. both guns have magazine capacities of approx 15 rds so it figures that he would need about 10 magazines and this necessitates a tactical vest..because you cant just fit these into your pocket.