Virginia Tech Shooter

Frightening:

Virginia Tech says gunshots have been reported on campus, and authorities are seeking a suspect.

The university said in a Thursday post on Twitter that the shots were reported at the coliseum parking lot and that people should remain inside.

The suspect is described as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, gray hat with neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack.

I hope history is not repeating itself.

Cho Seung-Hui slaughtered 32 people, and then killed himself, on Virginia Tech's campus in 2007.
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UPDATE: Va. Tech: Police officer, 1 other killed

Virginia Tech officials say a police officer and another person have been shot and killed on the school's campus.

The suspect remains on the loose.

A news release from the school says the police officer had pulled someone over in what was a routine traffic stop Thursday. The officer was shot and killed during the traffic stop.

Witnesses told police the shooter ran toward a parking lot on campus. A second person was found dead in that parking lot.

My prayers are with the family and friends of the police officer and the other individual killed by the suspect.
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UPDATE: New information--

Lockdown Lifted at Virginia Tech After Shooting Leaves at Least 2 Dead

Virginia Tech says there is no longer a threat on campus and normal activities can resume after two people, including a police officer, were gunned down on Virginia Tech's campus on Thursday.

While officials would not confirm that the second victim in the shooting was in fact the gunman, a law enforcement source tells Fox News that authorities do believe that the second victim is the gunman, and that he suffered a self-inflicted wound.

So apparently, the police officer was the only murder victim and the gunman then killed himself.

How utterly senseless!

Why murder an innocent man just doing his job?

If the gunman was suicidal, then why add murder to the misery, why take someone else's life?

Assuming the gunman has some family, now he's committed them to a life of guilt. He's left his survivors to deal with the burden of murder and suicide.

My heart goes out to the police officer's loved ones.

Nothing is necessarily routine for an officer. A simple traffic stop turns into a deadly encounter.

It's so very sad.
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UPDATE: Another twist--

Slain Va. Tech officer identified as father, vet

A gunman killed a Virginia Tech police officer Thursday at a campus parking lot and then apparently shot himself to death nearby in an attack that shook the school nearly five years after it was the scene of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

...The officer, identified late Thursday as 39-year-old Deriek W. Crouse of Christiansburg, was killed after pulling a driver over in a traffic stop. Police said a gunman—who was not involved in the traffic stop—walked into the parking lot and ambushed the officer.

Shortly after, police found in a parking lot a man with a gunshot wound and a gun nearby. Authorities said he is suspected in the officer's slaying.

"The second victim is observed on the in-car video camera system with a weapon at the time of the initial encounter with the officer," state police Major Rick Jenkins said.

State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said investigators are trying to determine why the deceased suspect was wearing different clothing than that worn by the individual in the video and described by eyewitnesses.

Authorities said they did not know what the motive was and were investigating whether the officer was specifically targeted.

"At this point, we haven't been able to establish any kind of immediate connection between the officer and the shooter," Geller said. "That's obviously something that's being looked into."

...Crouse was an Army veteran and married father of five children and stepchildren who joined the campus police force about six months after the 2007 massacre. He previously worked at a jail and for the Montgomery County sheriff's department.

Very bizarre.

This story has changed so many times.

Now, the gunman wasn't the individual involved in the routine traffic stop.
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UPDATE: Ballistics tests--

Va. Tech officer, suspect shot by same gun

Police say ballistics tests have confirmed that a Virginia Tech police officer and a man suspected in his slaying were shot by the same handgun.

The Virginia State Police said in a news release early Friday that the tests have "officially linked the two fatal shootings."

State police said a review of Officer Deriek Crouse's in-car video showed a male suspect with a handgun at the officer's car at the time of the shooting Thursday afternoon. Crouse had pulled over a motorist, and police suspect that the gunman killed Crouse and then took his own life nearby.

One Year Ago at Virginia Tech

The following is a list of victims killed by a gunman on the campus of Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007:

Ross Abdallah Alameddine

Alameddine, 20, of Saugus, Mass., was a sophomore who had just declared English as his major.

Friends created a memorial page on Facebook.com that described Alameddine as "an intelligent, funny, easygoing guy."

Christopher James Bishop

Bishop, a 35-year-old German professor known as "Jamie," wore his hair long, rode his bike to campus and worked alongside his wife in the foreign languages department at Virginia Tech, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was known for his gentle manner and generosity toward students. He is the son of science fiction writer Michael Bishop.

Brian Roy Bluhm

Bluhm, 25, of Stephens City, Va., was an avid fan of the Detroit Tigers, who announced his death before Tuesday's game against Kansas City.

"He went to a game last weekend and saw them win, and I'm glad he did," said Bluhm's close friend, Michael Marshall of Richmond, Va.

The master's student in civil engineering and water resources also received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at Virginia Tech and was getting ready to defend his thesis. He had already accepted a job in Baltimore, Marshall said.

Ryan Christopher Clark

Clark, a 22-year-old senior from Martinez, Ga., was called "Stack" by his friends, many of whom he met as a resident assistant at West Ambler Johnson Hall, where the first shootings took place.

He was "an amiable senior memorable for his ready smile and thoughtful ways," according to the student paper.

Austin Michelle Cloyd

Cloyd, 18, an international studies major and member of the honors program from Blacksburg, Va., was so inspired by an Appalachian service project that helped rehabilitate homes that she and her mother started a similar program in their Illinois town, her former pastor said.

Jocelyne Couture-Nowak

Couture-Nowak was a French instructor and former Montreal resident originally from Truro, Nova Scotia.

She taught at Virginia Tech for eight years, along with her husband, Jerzy Nowak, a horticulture professor and the head of the horticulture department at Virginia Tech.

Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva

Perez Cueva, 21, was a native of Peru and a sophomore majoring in international studies. He was active in the Peruvian campus community, according to The New York Times.

Kevin Granata

Engineering science and mechanics professor Granata and his students researched muscle and reflex response and robotics.

Granata served in the military and later conducted orthopedic research in hospitals before coming to Virginia Tech. The head of the school's engineering science and mechanics department called Granata one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy.

Matthew Gregory Gwaltney

Gwaltney, 24, of Chester, Va., was a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, according to his father and stepmother, Greg and Linda Gwaltney. He also did his undergraduate work at Virginia Tech, graduating in 2005, The New York Times reported.

Caitlin Millar Hammaren

Hammaren, 19, of Westtown, N.Y., was a sophomore majoring in international studies and French, according to officials at her former school district.

"She was just one of the most outstanding young individuals that I've had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator," said John P. Latini, principal of Minisink Valley High School, where she graduated in 2005. "Caitlin was a leader among our students."

Jeremy Michael Herbstritt

Herbstritt, 27, was from Bellefonte, Pa., according to Penn State University, his alma mater and his father's employer. He had two undergraduate degrees from there, one in molecular biology and biochemistry and the other in civil engineering, according to The New York Times.

Rachael Elizabeth Hill

Hill, 18, was a freshman studying biology at Virginia Tech after graduating from Grove Avenue Christian School in Henrico County.

Hill, of Glen Allen, Va., was an only child. She was popular and funny, had a penchant for shoes and was competitive on the volleyball court.

Emily Jane Hilscher

Friends posting messages of tribute on Facebook.com Monday night remembered Hilscher, a 19-year-old freshman from Woodville, Va., as a vibrant girl with an engaging personality.

"Emily was a kind and wonderful person who always put a smile on my face," wrote Jessica Gould.

Jarrett Lee Lane

Jarrett Lane, from Narrows, Va., was a senior civil engineering student who was valedictorian of his high school class in tiny Narrows, Va., just 30 miles from Virginia Tech. His high school put up a memorial to Lane that included pictures, musical instruments and his athletic jerseys.

Matthew Joseph La Porte

La Porte, 20, a sophomore from Dumont, N.J., was majoring in university studies. He had been an Air Force cadet at Virginia Tech, according to his former platoon leader, David Wheeler.

Henry J. Lee

Born Henh Ly, the 20-year-old Roanoke, Va., first-year student majoring in computer engineering was ecstatic to earn his U.S. citizenship in 1999. It was then that he changed his name to Henry Lee, The New York Times reported.

He had enough advanced-placement credits to be considered a sophomore at Virginia Tech.

His family emigrated from China by way of Vietnam, and when Lee first arrived in the States as an elementary school student, he couldn't speak English, according to the Times.

Liviu Librescu

Librescu, 76, a Holocaust survivor and an Israeli lecturer in mathematics and engineering science and mechanics, was born in Romania and was known internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering. He had taught at Virginia Tech for more than 20 years, joining the faculty in 1985.

G.V. Loganathan

Loganathan, 51, was born in the southern Indian city of Chennai and had been a civil and environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech since 1982.

Loganathan won several awards for excellence in teaching, had served on the faculty senate and was an adviser to about 75 undergraduate students.

Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan

Lumbantoruan, 34, of Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, was a civil engineering doctoral student, according to ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo. He was also an aspiring teacher, according to The New York Times.

"Mora," as his friends called him, was only two semesters shy of graduating, after which he planned to go home to Indonesia to teach, when he died in Norris Hall, the Times reported.

Lauren Ashley McCain

On her MySpace page, McCain, of Hampton, Va., listed "the love of my life" as Jesus Christ.

Her family said the 20-year-old freshman international studies major became a Christian some time ago.

"Her life since that time has been filled with His love that continued to overflow to touch everyone who knew her," the family said in a statement.

Daniel Patrick O'Neil

O'Neil, 22, a first-year graduate student in environmental engineering from Lincoln, R.I., graduated in 2002 from Lincoln High School and last year received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., before heading to Virginia, according to The Providence Journal.

A Lafayette publication said that while there, O’Neil was vice president of the Arts Society. His high school yearbook noted he was on the cross country and outdoor track teams, the drama club and the National Honor Society, according to the Providence Journal.

A high school friend, Steve Craveiro, said O'Neil played guitar and wrote his own songs. Craveiro described O'Neil as smart, responsible and a hard worker.

Juan Ramon Ortiz

Ortiz, 26, who was from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was teaching a class as part of his graduate program in civil engineering at Virginia Tech.

The family's neighbors in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon remembered Ortiz as a quiet, dedicated son who decorated his parents' one-story concrete house each Christmas and played in a salsa band with his father on weekends.

"He was an extraordinary son, what any father would have wanted," said Ortiz's father, also named Juan Ramon Ortiz.

Minal Hiralal Panchal

Panchal, 26, of Mumbai, India, wanted to be an architect like her father, who died four years ago. She was a first-year graduate student in architecture.

She was very keen to go to the United States for postgraduate studies and thrilled when she gained admission last year, said Chetna Parekh, a friend who lives in the bustling middle-class Mumbai neighborhood of Borivali, India, where Panchal lived before coming to Virginia Tech. "She was a brilliant student and very hardworking. She was focused on getting her degree and doing well."

Erin Peterson

Peterson, 18, of Chantilly, Va., graduated in 2006 from Westfield High School, three years after gunman Cho Seung-Hui graduated from the same school. It wasn't clear if the two knew each other.

Peterson was a star basketball player at her high school, according to The New York Times.

Michael Steven Pohle Jr.

Pohle, 23, of Flemington, N.J., was expected to graduate in a few weeks with a degree in biological sciences, said Craig Blanton, Hunterdon Central's vice principal during the 2002 school year, when Pohle graduated.

"He had a bunch of job interviews and was all set to start his post-college life," Blanton told The Star-Ledger of Newark.

...One of his old lacrosse coaches, Bob Shroeder, described him as "a good kid who did everything that good kids do."

Julia Kathleen Pryde

Pryde, 23, of Middletown, N.J., was a graduate student in biological systems engineering. She traveled to Peru with a professor to work with students there on improving water systems in South America, was fluent in Spanish and enjoyed hiking the Appalachian Trail.

She was hoping to improve water quality in mountainous areas with her studies in watershed management, according to The New York Times.

Mary Karen Read

Friends remembered Read, a 19-year-old freshman from Annandale, Va., for her smile and her caring nature. Read was a fan of marching band and French.

"She was really caring, never had bad intentions for anybody, she put everybody else before herself," friends told FOX News on Tuesday.

Reema Joseph Samaha

Samaha, 18, a freshman from Centreville, Va., was described as fun and energetic, and a dancer.

“She was in theater. She was just real upbeat. Always had a lot of energy. Always a great person to be around. She’d always make you laugh,” said friend Matthew Dockins, 19, a freshman civil engineering major.

Waleed Mohammed Shaalan

Shaalan, 32, came to Virginia Tech last year from Zagazig, northern Egypt, to be a doctoral student in civil engineering, according to The New York Times. His wife and son were back home in Egypt, another student, Shered Fadek, told the paper.

Shaalan was involved in the university's Muslim Student Association, and took part in many of the organization's activities in the community, the Times reported. He was hard-working and friendly. He was studying in Norris Hall when he was killed.

Leslie Geraldine Sherman

Sherman, 20, of Springfield, Va., was a sophomore in history and international studies, according to her grandmother, Gerry Adams. She was also an honor roll student.

She enjoyed history, foreign languages, running and making people laugh, according to The New York Times.

"She was just amazing," sophomore Deepika R. Chadive, 19, told the Times.

Maxine Shelly Turner

Turner, 22, was a senior majoring in chemical engineering from Vienna, Va., according to her father, Paul Turner. She described life as "awesome," The Roanoke Times reported.

Turner was a member of Alpha Omega Epsilon, an engineering sorority, according to The New York Times.

Nicole Regina White

White, 20, of Smithfield, Va., was a strawberry blonde junior majoring in international studies, according to a family statement released by the Suffolk, Va., Police Department.

She loved animals, and enjoyed taking care of them, The New York Times reported.

White was an honor student and a summer lifeguard who grew up in the eastern Virginia town of Smithfield, according to the Times. The two great loves of her life were animals and religion. She hailed from a very religious family.

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Photos of the victims
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Life at Virginia Tech a year later

Va. Tech begins day of mourning a year after mass shooting

Facebook is Forever

I don't get how some people can be so stupid.

Not only do they engage in demeaning behavior, they document it with photos and then post them online.

Remember the photos of students at Tarleton State University "celebrating" Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

They were proudly posted on Facebook.



No shame there.

Facebook is forever.

Now, more offensive photos have been found on Facebook, these from a Halloween party.

Now that they're out, so is the outrage.

From MSNBC:

Some members of the Virginia Tech community were outraged on Thursday night after some pictures of a controversial Halloween costume were posted on the Internet. The pictures displayed on the social networking site Facebook showed two Penn State students dressed as the Virginia Tech shooting victims.

In the photos, the students are wearing Virginia Tech T-shirts, have bullet holes in their clothes and are wearing elaborate makeup.

The students said the costumes were worn to a small Halloween party and were meant to be private.

In an interview with Roanoke's WSLS-TV, one of the students in the pictures called the costumes "crazy controversial" and said they were trying "to push the envelope just for shock value."

"The thing is, everybody's making a big stink about Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was 32 deaths out of the 26,000 that happen in America every day," he said.

"That's the problem with college students," he continued. "They all live in an ivory tower of privilege. They don't understand, when it all boils down to it, it's someone wearing a costume."

The student quoted above has a lot to learn.

He exhibits a remarkable degree of immaturity. To argue that it's acceptable to mock the murder of 32 people at Virginia Tech is to reveal that he doesn't understand the preciousness of life and the depth of the tragedy.

After seeing the pictures, a Virginia Tech student created a Facebook group for people against the costumes. Some of the upset members have left threatening statements to the Penn State students.

"This is a group of college students who now think it's trendy to be upset about their friends being killed," the student in the photos told WSLS-TV.

Of course, threatening statements are inappropriate.

I wonder if any threats were made by Penn State students posing as Virginia Tech supporters. Did they pull a "James Buss"?

Again, the student quoted is really a jerk.

Would he take the same stance if his friends had been gunned down on campus?

Penn State officials said they are appalled by the students' actions.

"We are appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity, indifference and lack of common decency and sense by dressing up in this manner," officials told the Roanoke station. "These two people do not represent 90,000 Penn State students. They represent themselves."

"These two people" have a problem.

They may have thought that it would be fun to wear a "crazy controversial" Halloween costume, but they're in for some long term crazy unpleasantness. Not fun.

I suspect that their costumes will come back to haunt them when it's time to apply to graduate school or when they are out on job interviews.

They should attach the photos to their resumes.

They're famous now. The photos will live forever.

They wanted to be crazy controversial. They succeeded. Crazy.

Virginia Tech: Memorializing the 33 Dead

It's the first day of classes at Virginia Tech since Seung-Hui Cho took the lives of 32 innocents and his own one week ago today.

The day on campus has hardly been normal. Normal days don't begin with tributes to slain members of the Virginia Tech family.

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Thousands of Virginia Tech students and faculty filled the center of campus Monday to pay solemn tribute to the victims of last week's massacre — listening quietly as a bell tolled for the dead on the day classes resumed at the grief-stricken school.

An antique 850-pound brass bell was installed on a limestone rostrum for the occasion, and 33 white balloons were released into the air in memory of the 32 victims and the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho. About 1,000 balloons in Virginia Tech colors — maroon and orange — were also released.

"I've been back with my friends, but I don't know how it's going to feel, seeing the empty seats in the classroom, noticing the people who aren't here anymore," said David Patton, a 19-year-old freshman who was friends with two victims. "I'm wondering where they are now, if they are in heaven, and when I'll see them again."

The chimes of the bell echoed through the campus, covered with a week's worth of memorials and tributes to the students, including flowers, writings and candles.

The bell rang at 9:45 a.m., around the time when Cho killed 30 students and faculty members in a classroom building before committing suicide. The tribute lasted 11 minutes, as the bell rang for each of the victims and Cho.

As the crowd broke up, people started to chant, "Let's Go Hokies" several times.

...A moment of silence was also observed at about 7:15 a.m., near the dormitory where Cho's first victims, Ryan Clark and Emily Hilscher, were killed.

In front of the dorm, a small marching band from Alabama played "America the Beautiful" and carried a banner that read, "Alabama loves VT Hokies. Be strong, press on."

Afterward, a group of students and campus ministers brought 33 white prayer flags from the dorm to the school's War Memorial Chapel. They placed the flags in front of the campus landmark and adorned them with pastel-colored ribbons as the Beatles' song "The Long and Winding Road" played through loudspeakers.

...On the main campus lawn stood a semicircle of stones — 33 chunks of locally quarried limestone to remember each of the dead.

Someone left a laminated letter at Cho's stone, along with a lit purple candle.

"Cho, you greatly underestimated our strength, courage and compassion. You have broken our hearts, but you have not broken our spirits. We are stronger and prouder than ever. I have never been more proud to be a Hokie. Love, in the end, will always prevail. Erin J."

In all of these tributes, Cho is included -- the tolling of the bell 33 times, the releasing of 33 white balloons, the displaying of 33 white prayer flags and 33 chunks of limestone in remembrance of the dead.

Question: Was 33 the right number?

Should the killer be memorialized alongside his victims?

Recall the Columbine controversy.

Creating a suitable, permanent memorial to the victims of the Columbine High School massacre will be a daunting task. Greg Zanis, a good man trying to do the right thing, made the point dramatically if inadvertently last week.

Zanis is the Illinois carpenter who builds crosses to honor victims of violence across the country. He has built about 200 since 1996, when his own father-in-law was murdered, and last week his mission brought him to Denver. Zanis put up crosses in memory of those who died at Columbine, and the site, on a hill in Clement Park, soon became a magnet for the thousands who gathered to mourn the victims.

What surprised many onlookers, and angered some, was that the carpenter put up 15 crosses — 13 for the victims of the shooting and two for the killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. "They (the killers) had a mom and a dad," he said at the time. "They had friends. I think everyone has lost here." His point was valid, and generous in spirit. But as Zanis himself later recognized, honoring the victims and remembering the killers in one location strikes the wrong note, especially for the grieving families and friends of the 13 innocent people who died at Columbine.

Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was among the victims, took matters into his own hands last Friday; he removed and destroyed the crosses erected in memory of Harris and Klebold. After that, Greg Zanis hauled away the remaining crosses and left town, regretting that his well-meaning gesture had upset some of the very people he wanted to support.

Does it strike the wrong note to honor the victims and the killer?

Should there be a distinction made between the innocent lives lost and the one guilty of taking them?

I think so.

But memorials really serve a purpose for the survivors of the dead.

Cho's family is grieving, too. I don't know how they will ever come to terms with what Cho did.

My prayers are with all the grieving families.

Forgiveness is truly a divine act.

Cheap Shot at Gun Owners

I'm not a gun owner, but I find Rob Rogers' editorial cartoon to be extremely insulting to Americans that do.

Russert: "Let's Go, Hokies"

I decided not to watch the podcast of Meet the Press.

Instead, I scanned the transcript, and found absolutely nothing about the firestorm over NBC's exploitative airing of Seung-Hui Cho's message from the grave.

Not one word.

Here's a screen cap of the transcript portion with the end of Virginia Tech president Charles Steger's interview:



When did Tim Russert become a doctor?

I know it's a typo.

What's really lame though is Russert's "I would like to say, on behalf of all of us here at NBC, let’s go, Hokies."

Blah, blah, blah.

NBC's exploitation of "Cho's Manifesto" showed no sensitivity for the victims and their families.

Cho intended senior project multi-media presentation of self-portraits and his writings to monopolize the news.

NBC eagerly obliged.

The network's excuse for its crassness?

It used great restraint, airing just "some" of the material that Cho sent to NBC.

The "some" that was aired, nonstop, was too much -- WAY TOO MUCH.

And now Russert, speaking on "behalf of all of us here at NBC," acting as if they care -- it smacks of insincerity.

When they were drooling over being selected by Cho to be the recipients of his obituary and when they were milking it, they didn't stop to show concern for the survivors of the victims then.

Russert's mention of the Virginia Tech Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund doesn't make up for the damage done by the network and its abysmal cable outfit MSNBC.

Shifty Chuck Schumer

Are Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer Democrats or Americans first?

I think it's clear.

They put party before principle.

They put personal political opportunity ahead of the good of the nation.

There is no question that Dems hope to make political hay in Iraq.


This morning on FOX News Sunday, I caught the very end of a segment with Chuck Schumer and Arlen Specter.

Chris Wallace was asking Schumer to comment on Harry Reid's comment: "I believe ... that this war is lost."

Schumer was an absolute buffoon, trying to explain that Reid didn't really mean that the war is lost.

He tried to say that Dems aren't about throwing their hands up in surrender.

Schumer said that if the mission is redefined, if it becomes just a series of small operations targeting al Qaeda in Iraq, then the war is not lost.

He floundered around, insisting that Reid meant the war as it's now defined is lost, but he never meant to say that the war is lost.

Schumer did more dodging and lame rationalizing than Bill Clinton at his slickest.

Wallace challenged Schumer with his own words as well as Reid's. He questioned whether it was appropriate for Dems to be attempting to capitalize politically on the war in Iraq.

For instance:

Reid: We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war.

Schumer: Look at the poll numbers of Republican senators, and the war in Iraq is a lead weight attached to their ankles.

Schumer brushed it off.

Specter rather impotently called Schumer on his hypocrisy. It wasn't much of a rebuttal, but at least he didn't just sit there while Schumer played semantical games.

Schumer claimed that the Dems are pro-victory in Iraq.

That, of course, isn't the case.

Schumer has made the Dems' intentions very clear.

Look at the poll numbers of Republican senators, and the war in Iraq is a lead weight attached to their ankles. They know that, and we've just been at this a couple of months and we're going to keep at it. It's not an accident that the ones who are squirming the most are the ones who are up in '08.

Defeat in Iraq is in the Dems' self-interest.

How can they be on the same page as America's enemies?

How can they live with themselves?

Seriously. It's nauseating.
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On another Sunday morning show note:

I want to watch the podcast of today's Meet the Press.

A number of guests were on the program to discuss the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus. University president Charles Steger was interviewed.

Did Tim Russert bring up the Cho "manifesto" and NBC's role in promoting it?

I'd like to know.

I only saw a little of the roundtable discussion, including panel members Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Gregory, Jon Meacham, and Pete Williams. Russert did launch the Virginia Tech topic. I heard a few bits about gun control and Seung-Hui Cho's "manifesto," but I didn't hear the NBC group talk about NBC's disgraceful glorification of the killer.

Perhaps I missed it.

I saw enough to notice that Doris Kearns Goodwin had work done on her eyes. She never struck me as the type that would do that.

Kenny Rogers, yes. Kearns Goodwin, no.

Sun-Kyung Cho and the Cho Family Speak

Sun-Kyung Cho, the sister of Virginia Tech mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho, issued a statement on behalf of her family.

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho told The Associated Press on Friday that they feel "hopeless, helpless and lost," and "never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence."

"He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare," said a statement issued by Cho's sister, Sun-Kyung Cho, on the family's behalf.

It was the Chos' first public comment since the 23-year-old student killed 32 people and committed suicide Monday in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

Raleigh, N.C., lawyer Wade Smith provided the statement to the AP after the Cho family reached out to him. Smith said the family would not answer any questions, and neither would he.

"Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us," said Sun-Kyung Cho, a 2004 Princeton University graduate who works as a contractor for a State Department office that oversees American aid for Iraq.

...Authorities are in frequent contact with Cho's family, but have not placed them in protective custody, said Assistant FBI Director Joe Persichini, who oversees the bureau's local Washington office. Authorities believe they remain in the Washington area, but are staying with friends and relatives.

Persichini said the FBI and Fairfax County Police have assured Cho's parents that they will investigate any hate crimes directed at the family if and when they ever return to their Centreville home.

...Cho's name was given as "Cho Seung-Hui" by police and school officials earlier this week. But the the South Korean immigrant family said their preference was "Seung-Hui Cho." Many Asian immigrant families Americanize their names by reversing them and putting their surnames last.

Cho's family must be devastated.

They not only have to deal with the loss of their loved one; they'll no doubt drag around a heavy burden of guilt with them for the rest of their lives.

They have to question themselves. They have to be feeling at fault for not realizing what Cho was capable of doing.

I wonder if the parents feel responsible for creating a monster.

In the case of suicide, but especially in the case of murder-suicide, the killer leaves a trail of living victims. Cho had to know that he was going to put his family through hell.

I guess he didn't care. How this would affect the people who loved him was irrelevant to him.

Notice that Cho's sister is a Princeton graduate.

Obviously, Cho and his family had been given tremendous educational opportunities and a chance to live the American dream. It makes his alienation and his rantings about the rich and the elite seem that much more demented.

Read the Cho family statement.

It says the family is heartbroken. I believe it.

I think it was particulary appropriate to actually mention the names of each victim rather than just lump them together.

It highlights the fact that the Cho family recognizes that 32 people were killed by Seung-Hui. It acknowledges each loss more personally.

What's great about the family's statement is that it doesn't say anything about their own fears of becoming victims of revenge.

The family expresses their sorrow. They aren't asking for forgiveness. It's a very selfless statement. That's unusual in today's public apologies.

Eric Thompson: The Green Bay Connection

One of the guns that Cho Seung-Hui used in the Virginia Tech shootings was purchased from The Gun Source, an online gun store based in Green Bay.

It's no surprise that the site couldn't handle the traffic.

Here's what visitors find:



Maybe my perception is skewed, but it seems that Wisconsin always figures into national stories. So often, there's some sort of connection.

So one of the murder weapons used in the worst act of gun violence in American history was purchased from a Wisconsin store.

Watch a raw interview of store owner Eric Thompson here.

From Milwaukee's NBC affiliate, TMJ4:

Eric Thompson, owner of TheGunSource.com said the ATF agents who came to interview him were friendly and non-threatening. He said everyone is "on the same page" in terms of keeping people safe and following the letter of the law.

He said Cho sent an email with two questions. “What they were basically was just asking a little bit more detail about the firearm and and how new it was," Thompson said.."The second question was about where he would like us to send it."

TEXT OF EMAILS FROM VA TECH SHOOTER TO THEGUNSOURCE.COM IN GREEN BAY:

“IS WALTHER P22, PRODUCT 10632, SECOND GENERATION? WHAT YEAR WAS THE ASSEMBLY DATE?”

“THE DEALER THAT I CHOSE DON'T FAX THEIR FFL, THEY ONLY MAIL IT, SO I THINK I WANT MY ORDER PUT ON HOLD & SEE IF I CAN FIND ANOTHER DEALER.”

Thompson said that when he sends out a firearm he has to send it to a federally licensed dealer, to comply with all state and federal laws.

“We sell about 400 weapons a month at this point right now, and it is 100 percent legal," he said. "We never ship guns directly to a customer."

Thompson said Cho ordered the weapon on Feb. 2, and GunSource shipped it out on Feb. 5. Thompson said the dealer in Virginia received it on Feb. 8.

"It’s just absolutely tragic. I’ve got three small children myself, and I can’t even fathom something like this happening," Thompson said. "And it’s just an unbelievable tragedy."

It's really an incredible interview.

In spite of learning that Cho used his store to purchase one of the murder weapons, Thompson is remarkably poised.

This has to be a nightmare for him. Nonetheless, he seems to be in complete control. He doesn't fit that maniac, gun crazy stereotype that the Left likes to employ.

When he says that he feels sick to his stomach about selling Cho a gun, I believe him. I believe that he's really hurting.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"I just feel completely terrible about this," [Thompson] said.

Thompson's Web site linked Thursday to a site where donations could be made for the victims' families. Thompson said he has donated but declined to say how much.

He also said one of his employees late Thursday received a threatening phone call from a person angry about the gun sale.

Thompson, 34, launched the online shop in 1999. He said handgun sales make up about 30% of his business. He said the Virginia Tech shootings were tragic but would not shut down his company.

"There are 1,000 laws in place. Everybody did what was right from a legal standpoint," he said. "How can you ever know the mind of a madman?"

It's kind of ironic that one of Thompson's employees would be threatened by a person angry about the sale. So much for non-violence.

I feel sorry for Thompson. What are the odds that he would find himself in the center of this?

He shouldn't even consider shutting down his business. Does a car dealer shut down when a fatal accident occurs involving a vehicle bought off his lot?

I hope hateful people don't blame and harass Thompson for the bloodshed. He had absolutely nothing to do with it. There is no blood on his hands.

It should be remembered that a gun is an inanimate object. It can't do anything. It didn't kill anyone.

Cho was the killer, not the gun.
_________________________

This isn't Thompson's fault.

A judge's ruling on Cho Seung-Hui's mental health should have barred him from purchasing the handguns he used in the Virginia Tech massacre, according to federal regulations. But it was unclear Thursday whether anybody had an obligation to inform federal authorities about Cho's mental status because of loopholes in the law that governs background checks.

Cho purchased two handguns in February and March, and was subject to federal and state background checks both times. The checks turned up no problems, despite a judge's ruling in December 2005 that Cho "presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness."

...Virginia State Police send information on prohibited buyers to the federal government. They maintain that the sale was legal under state law and would have been barred only if the justice had committed Cho to a psychiatric hospital. Barnett ordered outpatient treatment instead.

..."The law is very confused about this," said Richard Bonnie, a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Virginia who heads a state commission on mental-health reform. "The source of the confusion is the relation between federal and state law."

All of this is hindsight.

Cho wasn't committed to a hospital so no laws were broken in the sale of the gun to him.

I wouldn't call it a background check "loophole."

"Loophole" implies that the evil gun lobby found an underhanded way to get guns into the hands of nutcases.

That's just not true. It's not fair.

Absolutely no one wants mentally ill people to purchase guns.

Cho's Manifesto: NBC's Assault

After the package from cold-blooded killer narcissist Cho Seung-Hui arrived in the NBC mailroom, the network chose to take the lowest of low roads.

NBC put out the tease in the afternoon that they were contacted by Cho and then waited until its Nightly News broadcast to give details.

That disgusting move paid off. As Drudge points out, NBC scored a "ratings blowout."

The network's decision to make the most of Cho's self-made obituary truly sickens me.

The New York Times explains what went into the network's choice.

The arrival [of Cho's package] in the mailroom set in motion intense decision making, much of it directed by Steve Capus, president of NBC News.

"Intense decision making"?

Like what?

How best to promote the contents of Cho's "gift"?

In a way, Cho's violence didn't end on Monday morning when he put the gun to his head. NBC is keeping him virtually alive and allowing him to continue to fire shots.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Some family members of the victims killed at Virginia Tech university canceled interviews with NBC on Thursday because the television network aired video and photographs of the killer it received in the mail.

Police handling the investigation into the shooting also expressed disappointment at the airing of the images and rants by Cho Seung-Hui, who killed 32 people and then himself in the worst shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

"We had planned to speak to some family members of victims this morning but they canceled their appearances because they were very upset with NBC for airing the images," said NBC "Today" morning program co-host Meredith Vieira.

...While NBC acknowledged that the material from Cho were likely devastating to the victims' families and that its news division was split over whether to air the material, NBC News President Steve Capus defended the decision to do so, arguing it only showed a small amount of the images they received.

Of course, the families are upset with the network's crass exploitation of the Cho manifesto.

Frankly, I don't understand why family members of victims agree to do those TV interviews in the first place. I do understand why they bailed on the insensitive, greedy, "profits first" NBC.

Cho's Photo Shoot and Cartoons of Mohammed

Last year, some CARTOONS of Mohammed that appeared in the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten sparked riots -- violence, bloodshed, and death. The violence went on for weeks.

Muslims all over the world took to the streets in protest of the publication of these CARTOONS, leaving burned out embassies and other destruction in their wake.

Christians were attacked. Muslims torched churches and killed people.

In reporting on this major story, lib media outlets refused to display the images that started all the unrest.

CNN wouldn't show the cartoons. "CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam." (GAG!)


NBC Nightly News also wouldn't show the cartoons as a sign of respect.

CBS News officially banned the reproduction of the cartoons in its coverage.

ABC dared to briefly show a couple of the cartoons -- once.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, and TIME all avoided publishing the cartoons out of respect for Muslims.

MSNBC's website had a link to the cartoons but with this disclaimer:



"Warning: Contents may be offensive"

Most of the outlets wouldn't even provide a glimpse of the cartoons because that would have been just too disrespectful, too over the line.

What bastions of sensitivity and good taste!

Disgracefully, all sensitivity and good taste was thrown out the window on Wednesday when the Cho Sueng-Hui mother lode arrived at the NBC mailroom.

Every news network website has one of Cho's self-portraits slapped on its main page. No disclaimers. No warnings.

Photos of the killer's face, chosen by the killer himself, are everywhere.

As expected, the coverage by NBC/MSNBC, Cho Manifesto ground zero, is the worst.

(I didn't watch the coverage as it aired. I saw video on the MSNBC site.)

Chris Matthews with Steve Capus and Brian Williams put on the most despicable, insensitive, exploitative display imaginable.

Williams said that they realized the "multi-media manifesto" had to be treated with "a preponderance of caution."

Yeah? I must have missed the cautious part.

He went on to justify their seemingly never-ending exhibition of Cho's photos, videos, and words.

Williams called Cho a "crazed, narcissistic killer, a mass murderer who is responsible for the largest act of gun violence in American history."

That's right. Cho currently holds the record. Quite an overachiever, that Cho.

Records, of course, are made to be broken.

Williams kept talking about Cho's writings, "pages and pages."

"It goes on and on..."

"On and on..."

Matthews said, "This kid thought that the world was listening. Well, they will be for a couple of days."

Williams said, "Yes, that's right. And I get that by airing it we're completing that equation."

Really?

Do they really get it?

They understand what narcissist Cho wanted and yet they're carrying out the ruthless murderer's wishes?

That's sick.

Williams said, "This was a sick business tonight. I admit going on the air with this stuff we felt compelled as journalists; but I'll tell you, we showed restraint because all of us are also humans, parents, and spouses."

RESTRAINT????

If that was restraint, I can't imagine how Williams would define exploitation.

Matthews added, "Well, this will go down as a major chapter in NBC News to be this part of a horrible story and have it brought right to you in the mailroom."

What a pile of self-serving crap!

It sickens me that the 32 innocents murdered by Cho were merely vehicles to transport his creepy photos and his ramblings around the globe.

The incessant airing of Cho's "presentation" is wrong.

It demeans his victims while turning him into a sort of infamous icon for the deranged to idolize.

If the crass Steve Capus really cared about showing restraint, he wouldn't have fulfilled Cho's dreams.

Why can't these news outlets show at least the same level of respect for Cho's victims and their grieving loved ones as they granted to Islam over some cartoons?

The cartoons were too offensive to be seen.

Apparently, Cho's photo shoot isn't.

Looking for Cho's multi-media project?

Turn on TV, any newscast. Go to any news website. Pick up any newspaper.

The next shooter, and there will be one, is really going to have to take it up a notch to outdo Cho.

He's left quite a legacy, brought to you by the drooling members of the press.

Someone tell Brian Williams and Chris Matthews to wipe the slobber off their faces. It's very unbecoming.

Cho's "Multi-Media Manifesto"

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Sometime after he killed two people in a Virginia university dormitory but before he slaughtered 30 more in a classroom building Monday morning, Cho Seung-Hui sent NBC News a rambling communication and videos about his grievances, the network said Wednesday.

This reveals a few things.

The killing spree was a carefully planned, premeditated event.

Cho was looking for notoriety.

He knew that he would become a figure in American history.

What's pathetic is that his plan is working.

Apparently, Cho made the determination that NBC and its desperate ratings bomb of a cable network MSNBC would jump on the opportunity to carry it out.

The "Blame America and Guns First" Crowd

The world has seized upon the Virginia Tech tragedy as an opportunity to criticize the U.S.

The American lib media are using the biting editorials from across the globe and the snide remarks from world leaders as ammunition to advance their agenda to infringe on the Constitutional rights of citizens.

LONDON -- The Virginia Tech shootings sparked criticism of U.S. gun control laws around the world Tuesday. Editorials lashed out at the availability of weapons, and the leader of Australia — one of America's closest allies — declared that America's gun culture was costing lives.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the government hoped Monday's shootings, allegedly carried out by a 23-year-old South Korean native, would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation."

This backlash crap really pisses me off.
Just the suggestion that racial prejudice and confrontation against Koreans might result because the murderer of 32 innocents was South Korean is an insult to all Americans.

Dozens are dead and South Korea's Foreign Ministry responds in a completely selfish and irrational manner.

I don't blame South Koreans for the slaughter. I blame Cho Seung-Hui.

Gee, do you think English departments on campuses across the country are putting out statements of concern that the Virginia Tech incident might stir up prejudice and confrontation against English majors?

It's ridiculous!

While some focused blame only on the gunman, world opinion over U.S. gun laws was almost unanimous: Access to weapons increases the probability of shootings. There was no sympathy for the view that more guns would have saved lives by enabling students to shoot the assailant.

"We took action to limit the availability of guns and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country," said Australian Prime Minister John Howard....

...Handguns are also banned in Britain — a prohibition that forces even the country's Olympic pistol shooting team from practicing on its own soil. In Sweden, civilians can acquire firearm permits only if they have a hunting license or are members of a shooting club and have no criminal record. In Italy, people must have a valid reason for wanting one. Firearms are forbidden for private Chinese citizens.

It's so clear that an effort is being made by those in the lib media to depict the U.S. as backward.

Still, leaders from Britain, Germany, Mexico, China, Afghanistan and France stopped short of criticizing President Bush or U.S. gun laws when they offered sympathies to the families of Monday's victims.

Editorials were less diplomatic.

"Only the names change — And the numbers," read a headline in the Times of London. "Why, we ask, do Americans continue to tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year, when presumably, tougher restrictions, such as those in force in European countries, could at least reduce the number?"

The French daily Le Monde said the regularity of mass shootings across the Atlantic was a blotch on America's image.

"It would be unjust and especially false to reduce the United States to the image created, in a recurrent way, from the bursts of murderous fury that some isolated individuals succumb to. But acts like this are rare elsewhere, and tend to often disfigure the 'American dream.'"

I don't know where to begin.

That editorial from London's Times is despicable.

And it's laughable that the French have the gall to cite blotches on our image.

...The killings also hit a nerve for Virginia Tech alumni abroad.

"I think if this does prompt a serious and reflective debate on gun issues and gun law in the States, then some good may come from this woeful tragedy," said British Home Office Minister Tony McNulty, who graduated in 1982.

That's a callous remark.

"Hey, too bad 32 people were murdered but now maybe the U.S. will pass tougher gun laws."

What a jerk!

..."If the guns are harder to get a hold of, fewer people will do it," said Michael Dent, a 65-year-old construction worker in London. "You can't walk up to a supermarket or shop and buy a gun like in the States."

Americans can walk up and buy a gun at a supermarket? Really?

Are guns for sale at Piggly Wiggly?

I hadn't noticed.

Are they out on the supermarket shelves or are they kept behind the deli counter next to the potato salad?

...The Swedish daily Goteborgs-Posten said without access to weapons, the killings at Virginia Tech may have been prevented.

"What exactly triggered the massacre in Virginia is unclear, but the fundamental reason is often the perpetrator's psychological problems in combination with access to weapons," it wrote.

...In Italy, there are three types of licenses for gun ownership: for personal safety, target practice and skeet shooting, and hunting. Authorization is granted by the police. To obtain a gun for personal safety, the owner must be an adult and have a "valid" reason.

Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera's main story on the shootings was an opinion piece entitled "Guns at the Supermarket" — a critical view of the U.S. gun lobby and the ease with which guns can be purchased. State-run RAI radio also discussed at length what it said were lax standards for gun ownership in the United States.

"The latest attack on a U.S. campus will shake up America, maybe it will provoke more vigorous reactions than in the past, but it won't change the culture of a country that has the notion of self-defense imprinted on its DNA and which considers the right of having guns inalienable," Corriere wrote in its front-page story.

Blah, blah, blah.

I don't have a gun. But if I did, there is no way that I would commit such a heinous act as Cho did. Never.

Obviously, someone like Cho, someone with the capacity to slaughter 32 innocents, isn't going to follow laws.

...In Mexico, radio commentators criticized the availability of firearms in the U.S. Others renewed Mexico's complaint that most guns in Mexico are smuggled in from the United States.

The killings led newspapers' front pages, with Mexico City's Dario Monitor reporting: "Terror returns to the U.S.: 32 assassinated on university campus." The tabloid Metro compared Mexico's death toll Monday from drug violence to the number of people killed at Virginia Tech, in a front-page headline that read: "U.S. 33, Mexico 20."

If America is such a dangerous place, maybe the Mexican exodus will stop. They should reconsider coming into this violent country illegally.

Why risk getting shot?

President Bush: Father-in Chief

President Bush's remarks at the Virginia Tech Memorial Convocation weren't long.

Although the nation was watching, he didn't use the moment as an opportunity to perform or push anything even vaguely political.

He didn't take the spotlight. The leader of the Free World didn't monopolize the event. He was just one among the several people who spoke.

I was struck by his expression as he delivered his relatively brief remarks. His anguish was clearly visible. You could see how deeply immersed he was in the sorrow surrounding the tragedy.

This wasn't an act. It wasn't political posturing. It wasn't a slick performance.

Here was a man speaking from his heart, a father of daughters not much older than the students killed.
Transcript

(Excerpt)

For many of you, your first instinct was to call home and let your moms and dads know that you were okay. Others took on the terrible duty of calling the relatives of a classmate or a colleague who had been wounded or lost. I know many of you feel awfully far away from people you lean on and people you count on during difficult times. But as a dad, I can assure you, a parent's love is never far from their child's heart. And as you draw closer to your own families in the coming days, I ask you to reach out to those who ache for sons and daughters who will never come home.

These sources of strength are also in the faith that sustains so many of us. Across the town of Blacksburg and in towns all across America, houses of worship from every faith have opened their doors and have lifted you up in prayer. People who have never met you are praying for you; they're praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There's a power in these prayers, real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God. As the Scriptures tell us, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

And on this terrible day of mourning, it's hard to imagine that a time will come when life at Virginia Tech will return to normal. But such a day will come. And when it does, you will always remember the friends and teachers who were lost yesterday, and the time you shared with them, and the lives they hoped to lead. May God bless you. May God bless and keep the souls of the lost. And may His love touch all those who suffer and grieve.

Cho: The Warning Signs

Virginia Tech English major Cho Seung-Hui was a known threat.

Like the Columbine shooters, there were plenty of warning signs that he was about to explode.

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as a English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service.

News reports also said that he may have been taking medication for depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic, and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

...Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university's English department, said she did not personally know the gunman. But she said she spoke with Lucinda Roy, the department's director of creative writing, who had Cho in one of her classes and described him as "troubled."

"There was some concern about him," Rude said. "Sometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it's creative or if they're describing things, if they're imagining things or just how real it might be. But we're all alert to not ignore things like this."

She said Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was. Rude refused to release any of his writings or his grades, citing privacy laws.

The Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site that he left a note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances. Citing identified sources, the Tribune said he had recently shown troubling signs, including setting a fire in a dorm room and stalking some women.

Investigators believe Cho at some point had been taking medication for depression, the newspaper reported.

OK.

Now we have a slew of more people to blame for the 32 murders.

Of course, university president Charles Steger has been deemed responsible for the carnage.

In addition to every member of the NRA, we can fault members of the Virginia Tech English department.

I suppose we must also blame the inadequate counseling services on campus.

We also need to point fingers at every student that was aware of Cho's erratic behavior. They should have done something. They're guilty, too.

Don't forget those "rich kids."

They did this. They pushed Cho over the edge.

Cho left a note, explaining his actions.

He clearly assigns blame.

Sources have now described the note, which runs several pages, as beginning in the present tense and then shifting to the past tense. It contains rhetoric explaining Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this," the sources told ABC News.

So, if you monitor the media, you'll learn that there are many people with blood on their hands.

Some nuts are considering anyone who owns a gun to be complicit in the murders.

Yes, there are millions of people responsible for the deaths.

And don't let the actual guns that Cho used off the hook. Inanimate objects are responsible for killing 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus yesterday.

BS.

I think ONE person is responsible for the slaughter:

Cho Seung-Hui

Loner Cho Seung-Hui

This undated black-and-white photo provided by the Fairfax County, Va. Public Schools shows Cho Seung-Hui, who police have identified as the gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre. (AP Photo/Fairfax County, Va. Public Schools)

By day's end on Monday, just about all we knew from officials about the Virginia Tech shooter was that it was a male. Witness accounts described him as Asian.

Today, we know his name. We can see his face.


This photo provided by the Department of Homeland Security shows Cho Seung-Hui , the gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead. (AP Photo/Department of Homeland Security)



In this undated photo released by the Virginia State Police, Cho Seung-Hui is shown. Seung-Hui, 23, of South Korea, is identified by police as the gunman suspected in the massacre that left 33 people dead at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Monday, April 16, 2007, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police)



This is a police handout image made available Tuesday, April 17, 2007 of Cho Seung-hui, 23. The fourth-year student from South Korea was behind the massacre of at least 30 people locked inside a Virginia Tech campus building in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, the university said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Police Handout)

From the Associated Press:

The Virginia Tech student identified as the assailant in Monday's deadly gun rampage was a South Korean immigrant who had been in the United States since 1992 and who held a green card signifying his status as a legal permanent U.S. resident, federal officials said Tuesday.

Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English major, was listed with a home address in Centreville, Va, a suburb of Washington, D.C., not far from Dulles International Airport.

Immigration records maintained by the Department of South Korea on Jan. 18, 1984 and entered the United States through Detroit on Sept. 2, 1992. He had last renewed his green card on Oct. 27, 2003.

University officials said he lived in a dormitory on the Virginia Tech campus, but could shed no light on a motive for the shooting spree that left 33 dead. "He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," said Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker.

Cho was found with a backpack containing a receipt for a Glock 9mm pistol that he had bought in March. Ballistics tests by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms showed that one gun was used in Monday's two separate campus attacks that were two hours apart. Cho's fingerprints were found on the two handguns used in both shootings, said two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been announced. The serial numbers on the two weapons had been filed off, the officials said.

As usual, Cho was described as a loner.

Do you recall any shooter in cases like this ever being described as an extrovert with tons of friends?

It troubles me that Cho's name will go down in American history, and the names of the victims will be a footnote.

That sort of notoriety is attractive to some.

It's sick. It's twisted. It's reality.

Bowling for Virginia Tech

The shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday have left me reeling.

It's difficult to write about because I can't pick it apart rationally, at least not yet.

The randomness of the killings, the senselessness -- it's all truly frightening to me.

The shooter's complete disregard for the sanctity of life and his total lack of conscience is something that I can't understand. It's inhuman.

My heart breaks for the victims and for their families. Their loss is so great. May God be with them.

My heart also breaks for the Virginia Tech family -- students, faculty, staff, and alumni. They're experiencing a different kind of pain. The full impact of the shootings on them, the stress of the trauma on witnesses and friends and colleagues of the dead, may not be known for quite some time.

Then, there's the rest of us -- students across the country, their parents, their loved ones.

As President Bush said in his remarks on the shootings:

Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community.

That's so true. We're an enormous country; but at times of such enormous tragedy, we're close. We can relate to the fear and the sorrow. We open our hearts and we pray.

It's not uncommon to have that "it can't happen here, it can't happen to me" attitude. The unthinkable only happens to other people. Not so.

The 32 murders at Virginia Tech yesterday remind me of how false that sense of security really is.

We are so very fragile. In spite of all our plans and expectations, what lies ahead for us is an unknown.

Each day is a gift and each life is so very precious.

I'm still reacting to the shootings on an emotional level. I suppose shock does tend to hamper one's ability to be rational.

Although my thoughts are with the suffering, I do have a few thoughts on what happened.

To begin, questions about inadequacies regarding the university's response after the initial murders are valid.

Read the emails sent by Virginia Tech.

The first 911 call from the dorm shooting came in at 7:15 AM. The first email warnings came over two hours later.

I see that as a problem, but I don't have all the facts. The investigation is ongoing. Police and the university haven't provided a lot of specific information as to why certain decisions were made, but more is being learned.

The Washington Post reports:

The shooter, whose name was not released last night, wore bluejeans, a blue jacket and a vest holding ammunition, witnesses said. He carried a 9mm semiautomatic and a .22-caliber handgun, both with the serial numbers obliterated, federal law enforcement officials said. Witnesses described the shooter as a young man of Asian descent -- a silent killer who was calm and showed no expression as he pursued and shot his victims. He killed himself as police closed in.

He had left two dead at the dormitory and 30 more at a science and engineering building, where he executed people taking and teaching classes after chaining some doors shut behind him. At one point, he shot at a custodian who was helping a victim. Witnesses described scenes of chaos and grief, with students jumping from second-story windows to escape gunfire and others blocking their classroom doors to keep the gunman away.

Even before anyone knew who the gunman was or why he did what he did, the campus community in Southwest Virginia began questioning whether most of the deaths could have been prevented. They wondered why the campus was not shut down after the first shooting.

...Although the gunman in the dorm was at large, no warning was issued to the tens of thousands of students and staff at Virginia Tech until 9:26 a.m., more than two hours later.

"We concluded it was domestic in nature," [Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell] Flinchum said. "We had reason to believe the shooter had left campus and may have left the state." He declined to elaborate. But several law enforcement sources said investigators thought the shooter might have intended to kill a girl and her boyfriend Monday in what one of them described as a "lover's dispute." It was unclear whether the girl killed at the dorm was the intended target, they said.

The sources said police initially focused on the female student's boyfriend, a student at nearby Radford University, as a suspect. Police questioned the boyfriend, later termed "a person of interest," and were questioning him when they learned of the subsequent shootings at Norris Hall. A family friend of the boyfriend's said the boyfriend was stopped by police alongside Route 460 in Blacksburg, handcuffed and interrogated on the side of the road and later released.

...[University president Charles] Steger said that, even though the gunman was at large, "we had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur." He said only a fraction of the university's 28,000 students live on campus, and "it's extremely difficult if not impossible to get the word out spontaneously."

Students on campus and parents were angry. When Blake Harrison, 21, of Leesburg learned of the shootings, he said, he called an administrative help line and was told "to proceed with caution to classes." He said: "I'm beyond upset. I'm enraged."

...Parents arrived at the Inn at Virginia Tech to meet with other grieving families and were distraught at the university's management of the incident. "I think they should have closed the whole thing. It's not worth it. You've got a crazy man on campus. Do something about it," said Hoda Bizri of Princeton, W.Va., who was visiting her daughter Siwar, a graduate student.

I would have cancelled classes immediately.

I think two students being gunned down in a dorm and no suspect in custody is ample reason to go into lockdown.

I know that's easier said than done when you're talking about 28,000 students, with few of them living on campus. Locking down a university is not like locking down a high school.

Still, whether or not all students and faculty could have received the information is irrelevant. That's not an excuse to fail to shut down the university with shooter at large.

At this point however, I prefer to withhold judgment on Virginia Tech President Charles Steger and the police response. I understand the outrage and the desire to place blame, but I think all the information about what happened should be aired before making determinations about culpability.

I think it should be remembered that the shooter committed the murders. Blame him first and foremost.

It's just like after Columbine -- so much finger-pointing.

Of course, the death toll wasn't even known yet and the great gun debate heated up.

I find it unseemly for groups to jump all over the tragedy to push their agendas, just hours/minutes after the story broke.

Can't there at least be a brief period of national mourning before the arguing begins?

And then there's the media. Of course, there's a desire to get information and the press has a duty to inform the public.

But I don't like all the excessive promos of "news" specials offering no new information. The exploitation factor is already running very high.

The musical scores that accompany the coverage truly bother me. I don't need a piano in the background to add dramatic effect. It's as if the event is being packaged as entertainment. This isn't a movie -- yet.

That brings up another question: Will Michael Moore do a sequel to Bowling for Columbine?

Can Bowling for Virginia Tech be far off?

I really think it's disrespectful to turn such a horrific event into a circus and the pain into a cash cow.

I don't want any part of that.

President Bush spoke for me when he said this:

Today, our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. We hold the victims in our hearts, we lift them up in our prayers, and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today.

Now's a time to grieve and a time to pray.

Let the dead be laid to rest with dignity.

Virginia Tech Slaughter

This is absolutely horrific.

The deadliest campus shooting in American history took place today.

In two separate shootings on the Virginia Tech campus, at least tweny have been killed.

This is how the story was being reported earlier this morning:

BLACKSBURG, Va. Apr 16, 2007 (AP) -- Shootings in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech left at least one person dead and seven or eight more wounded Monday before police arrested the suspected gunman, officials told The Associated Press.

Police confirmed they had a suspect in custody, the university said on its Web site.

On the Web site, Tech reported the shootings at opposite ends of the 2,600-acre campus at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and said there were "multiple victims" at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

The university said there were multiple victims. Government officials with knowledge of the case said there were seven to eight other "casualties."

Students were asked to stay in their homes away from windows. The campus was closed and classes canceled through Tuesday.

"There's just a lot of commotion. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on," said student Jason Anthony Smith, 19, who lives in the building where shooting took place.

Those numbers have been revised, as the magnitude of the shootings become heartbreakingly apparent.

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people and wounding another 21 before he was killed, police said.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said university president Charles Steger.

The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

All entrances to the campus were closed and classes canceled through Tuesday.

It's incredible that the shootings took place two hours apart.

If only the shooter had been stopped after the incident in the dorm, before the Norris Hall murders.

This is absolutely terrifying.

The death toll isn't clear. AP says 21, 22 including the shooter. ABC News says 25 or 30.

There are a lot of conflicting stories as to how the shootings occurred.

First, there was the shooting at a freshman dorm at 7:15 AM, with multiple shooting vicitims. There were fatalities. FOX reported that the resident assistant was shot.

Then, hours later, the shooter went to Norris Hall, an engineering building.

FOX is reporting that the gunman was looking for his girlfriend. According to a student, he lined people up and shot them execution-style.

Whatever the facts of the matter turn out to be, it's certain that many lives have been lost this morning.

Utterly senseless.

It's almost too much to comprehend.

The families of Virginia Tech students and staff must be in a complete panic. Right now, there are parents desperately trying to contact their children.

Some won't be able to reach them.

Some will get a phone call informing them that their child is dead.

What's so jolting about the Virginia Tech slaughter is the realization that no place is safe.

I'm reminded that life is so fragile and so, so precious.