I think it is quite clear that criminals are not able to be properly aware of the consequences of their actions, which is consistent with the spontaneity and nature of most armed crimes. And with massive crossfire from everyone with a powerful weapons that have become popular, the collateral will be inevitable and massive.

Actually, that was only a rumor. Apparently, this kid was a loner, and would write plays centered around violence.

They really were idiots for not doing something about him. I mean, I could understand if he never acted in such a manner before, but this kid was clearly either psychotic or psychopathic.

EDIT: Just noticed your post, BM :p.

Actually, most criminals are aware of the consequences of their actions. Only the psychopathic or sociopathic criminals would either would not realize the enormous consequences of their actions, or ignore them completely and commit the crime regardless.

And if the criminals were surrounded by a bunch of armed citizens, I doubt a gunfight would ensue.

Yeah the Chancellor just issued a statement for all of us here at my University. I definately think we take our safety in college for granted. However, hands down the kid was mentally ill it does not excuse it, but this is no doubt going to turn into a debate about politics and gun control, etc. Not to mention idiots in this country and abroad will most likely use the fact that he is Korean to pull some bullshit about "foreigners" and that we shouldn't let people in the country, blah blah blah. Makes me absolutely sick.

This is a failure on society as well for isolationism that we practice towards people, if he was identified by the disturbing writings he was writing his strange behavior in the gun shop etc this could have been prevented as well. I dunno whether I have labeled him as a psychopath yet, or once again another youth lost in the crowd of society and not wanting to die alone, or whether he had some other severe mental conditions.

Definitely. I mean, look at the freaking plays he wrote. If those don't constitute a trip to a psychiatrist, nothing does.

Precisely. Unfortunately, it boils down to the fact that yes it is a fault of society and like I said that we isolate those and shut them out to the world sometimes unknowingly. I guess it means having to actively engage at least since its a huge problem here in the U.S. in the past two decades but to pay attention to what's going on around us, otherwise one day we find a completely changed world.

Okay I'm a human being, but I'm an extremely sadistic one and I just can't let this pass without making at least on 'oops-I'm-going-to-hell-for-this' comment. So with the risc of being flamed half to death:

1. He might have done us a favour as at least 8 of those kids probably deserved to be shot now or in the future.

2. Then again he might have killed someone who would have cured cancer...

3. Then again... we didn't know these kids at all. Who's to say he's not a hero for stopping some 32 man terrorist plot? Maybe the victims were hand picked.

4. I really don't give to dimes about this entire thing except for the fact that it's taking the place of news that's actually important. Can't turn my damn TV on without hearing about this. Can we get back to nuclear wars and Russian superpowers please?

Please be gentle...

Havoc

At the moment Australia holds the record for most deaths by a single gunman (35). No World Record for you. Plus he's still alive. That deserves bonus points.

All kidding aside, there are 2 things that have irked me with this event. As I understand, the first killing happened at about 7am. Then after that the next lot happened at around 9am. How on earth is it possible that someone gets shot and no one seems to care. Surely after the first shooting the Police should have been called and they could have saved 31 lives. What happened in those 2 hours? Did people just go on with their business like they didn't hear someone being murdered? Does anyone know at what time the first 911 call was made? Also the school sent an email around to warn of a gunman on the loose. Forget about the slowness, how many people are going to read an email that they can only access on the computer. How could the poor people in class be able to receive this email? Surely there has to be a better system than that.

My other point is I don't like how the Media keeps say that the shooter was from South Korea. I know they don't actually lie but the way they word it, us the viewer assumes that he is an exchanged student or something. He came to America when he was 8. In my eyes, he's an American. Not some loner kid from another country. If he was born in North Korea I bet the media would have had a field day with it.

And what's with the owner of the gun shop that sold him one of the guns. He acting like "Oh, if I knew he was going to shoot people with the gun, I wouldn't have sold it to him". If you are selling a pistol to anyone then chances are it ain't for hunting. What is the love that Americans have for guns? They should be banned. I know that guns don't kill people, but the crazy mother ****er who is holding it might.

Havoc get real....you know you're being completely ridiculous.

I'm isolated... But I take care of myself and I actually like it.
I just remembered the theme from a gaming magazine I read a few months ago. "Bloody pixels", it said one guy returned to his EX-school (see that:EX) and wounded 37 people and in the end comitted a suicide. The "experts",of course, blamed it on counter strike! But it also says that he's been complaining on his blog about being mocked, bullied, etc... so I wouldn't really blame it on a game. Not only that, but he also listened to death metal... So the reason being bullied might be a motivation for the killer to get his revenge.

As for the rising violence and there will probably be more gangs because of the gangsta rap and all those gangsta movies along with GTA:San Andreas.

They didn't think he was going to come back. Seems pretty logical to me - if he'd wanted to go on a rampage, I would have expected him to do it straight away and not leave for a while and potentially cool off.

The other interesting thing is that I heard on the radio today that he'd been sent to a psychiatric institution because he was seen to potentially harmful to society but was released a day later. The big question being how someone with psychiatric problems got a gun license.

A little update that I havn't seen anyone talk about yet. People are saying it did it because of his girlfriend but while I was listening to the radio yesterday there was an interview with the friend of his apparent girlfriend. She basically said that she had never heard of him, let alone seen him and she seriously doubted that her friend knew him either.
Also, I read a post in another forum that said that he had an imaginary girlfriend. He would tell his room mates that he had a girlfriend called Jelly and say they she called him Spanky.

He went to the Post Office, not kidding.
He mailed a package to NBC News in New York, it was time stamped 9:01.
According to the paper today the package contained a number of self-videos
and a 23 page "manifesto", and some photos.
The quotes from the video and the written work seem to be a litany of violent statments about everything that pissed him off.

One such as" Thanks to you, i die like Jesus Christ, to inspire genreations of the weak and defenseless people"
not quite sure what that ment.

NBC aired some of the videos last night.

Another reason the police were slow to respond was that they spent to much time tracking down the first victim`s boyfriend thinking this was a domestic relation attack.

Oh guys check this out btw. Can't have a mass school killing without Jack Thompson and Dr. Phil!

http://www.gamestooge.com/2007/04/16...ech-shootings/

Are these two idiots actually suggesting banning violent videogames because one or two morons can't seen the border between reality and a game? Why don't people like Jack Thompson ever get shot be these people?!

Havoc

A different perspective
 

Just saw an article by some European journalist who were interviewing
people on the street in Bagdad. One of the questions was what did they think about the shooting at V Tech.
As you can imagine the prevailing opinion was "So What".

This should come as no surprise when you think about their situation, but two
of the answers I found rather chilling.

One man said " 33 dead, that would be a good day for us ".

Another responded, " They were lucky, at least they got to look into the eyes of their killer ".

A very different perspective.

I want to see that video so badly. It may sound sick, but I have always been fascinated by what drives people like this kid to go completely insane. Watching these videos would be the perfect opportunity to delve into the mind of this madman. Although, that may be kind of a waste, since this guy just seemed to be off his rocker, and lacked any real motives.

It might seem sick to some people, but I understand your wish to see that. I am a little curious about it myself. What could possibly drive this guy to DO such a thing might have an answer right there!

Yay! I'm not alone! :D

Well, I think the guy was just psychotic, is all. Although, watching the video could prove otherwise. Maybe he really was conscienceless.

If you have not seen this yet, you can see part of the video here.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/vi...?videoId=49186

The shooter comes off as very cold indeed.

Thanks for the link :). He does, although I'm pretty sure that he's a paranoid schizophrenic. He just had a screw loose the entire time, and no one did anything about it.

Also, did anyone else notice that he sounds as whiny as Napoleon Dynamite? "You guys spilled my blood, GOSH!"

This is wierd...
The guy has expressionless expression on his face...
And his eyes...
So empty...
Anyway, it looked like he was in some kind of a trance for that last part of the video, but again, it might just be me...

Dr. Phil is what many psychologists define as a crackpot. He has some good ideas sometimes, but please Violent video games to blame? They always forget that correlation does not equal causation. Not to mention I play violent video games all the time and have since I was growing up and I'm calm and collected and don't act out irrational thoughts or imaginery/real world conflicts with violent behavior or deadly actions and I know I am no where near alone in that. Where are the theories on environment factors, nature/nurture, family, friends, societies' role in all of this? I hate when people defuse responsibility from what could be the real causes and instead use the cliche and for that matter moot points.

Violent video games have about as much to do with actual violence as Harry Potter has to do with devil worship.

Exactly! They find one out of a lot of people who murder on this planet... Oh wait! He's different! He has..........COUNTER STRIKE!!!! OMGWTFHELLNO! And then assholes that agree with Mr. Thompson arrive and start talking about violence in video games and how it should be banned! While actually there's about 300% more murderers that don't even know what video games are!(okay, maybe they do, but they don't play them) Not only that, but every single "videogamekiller" story I've read in the "bloody pixels" section says that the killers have a psychological disorder, took pills that raise violence level, etc. etc...

EDIT:If they really do ban violence there might be no more oddworld... I hate that thought, although I'm not really a hardcore fan, but I think the game is innovative! I hated one special kind of violence in OW games... the BAD ENDING violence. It just made me feel sick to cut up poor Abe, or that scene where they get the tears... not to mention poor Munch in MO...

It was probably because he recently killed those two people. People tend to get a twisted expression on their faces after they commit a murder. Especially when it's their first.

QFT.

This happened on my birthday. How shitty is that? I'll turn 21 next year and all this Virginia Tech stuff will dominate the news and everybody will be talking about it. And I don't want to be all like "Hello! I'm 21 here! Major Birthday! STOP TALKING ABOUT CHO DAMN YOU!" because I'll look like a dick.

This whole damn incident is terrible - 32 innocent people killed, all a school massacre? Disgusting. I feel really sorry for both the victims and the relatives of the victims. I can't even begin to imagine what the victims' relatives are going through. I saw this on the news last night, as well as portions of the video that the sick young child made. I can only say that I'm glad Cho dead. He was a real danger to all in that area. It's filth like Cho that spoil this world. If he was still around, I'd wring the little git around the neck. I hate him, and I hope that Cho doesn't get a good funeral, if he gets one at all. He doesn't deserve one. In fact, I believe his body deserves to just be fed to the dogs. I feel strongly about this case, as one of my late relatives were killed in a massacre, but I don't want to discuss it.

All in all, I hate murderers, I hate cowards (who are basically murderers that shoot themselves afterwards, and even if they don't, I believe they are cowards), and I hate the fact that this has happened. I hope all thirty-two of the victims get as much respect as they deserve. Lastly, I don't know how to end this post. I could go on forever how I feel about this case.

How are murderers cowards exactly?

They can't accept something that someone has done, or that someone is different, so they go off and kill them.

That's not exactly a cowardly act. In their minds it's a means of achieving superiority.

I suppose it's a matter of fact and opinion what is a cowardly act and what's not, but you're probably right, Snuzi.

It might look cowardly to you, but to them it makes them feel far more superior than, for example, an old bully. Think of it this way: The guy(or gang) bullied you for several years in the school. You come back a while after seeking revenge and you have the desire to see the fear in their eyes while you have the control over their fate. That's what makes killers feel superior, so they don't really think of it as an cowardly act, more like a revenge.

It makes him FEEL superior? You're saying it like he THINKS he is...

The guy's got a gun in your face... he IS superior... and there is nothing cowardly to killing someone. Takes some huge freaking balls to pull a trigger and see someone die with your own eyes. Unless your doing it in a blackout which this guy obviously didn't do, so he saw everyone who he shot die. That gets to every single person. Now the act turns cowardly as soon as the killer kills himself, because then he is to cowardly to deal with what he just did. But if this guy would have emptied his guns and surrendered himself to the police, I guarantee you not only would he feel good about it, he'd get a fanclub and I'd join it because anyone who can shoot up a school and still have the guts to walk away from it without taking his own life deserves at least a bit of applause, no matter how horrific the act was.

Havoc

In a sick, disgustingly disappealing way you're actually right! I just wonder if there would be anyone stupid enough to think of doing that kind of thing and actually getting the thought of getting away with it... Not suicide!

Actually, when dealing with a psychopath, or in this case, a paranoid schizophrenic, it doesn't really take anything for them to do something like this. For them, it's as easy to decide to kill someone as it is to brush their teeth in the morning. All they have to do is decide to do it, and it's as good as done.

As for him killing himself, it isn't an act of cowardice, but a means of glorification. In his mind, he felt that by killing himself, he would be immortalized as the killer of all those individuals, and be spoken about for years to come. It was just a means of sealing the deal, and making himself famous.

Well in any case, if I ever run into a school and kill a few dozen people, I better get a fanclub or I'm gonna kill some more f*ckers!

Havoc

You would. There will always be people who admire this sort of insanity.

You brutal hunter...

Well people tend to admire the things they can't do for them selfs. It's how the human mind works. Monkey see monkey do, unless monkey cannot do then monkey admire.

On a side note; There's also plenty of people who think Hitler was a bloody genius and I'm one of them. And before I explain why that is I'm gonna wait and see if anyone can figure it out.

Havoc

Is it because he had the remarkable ability to convince people to join his insane cause, just by speaking to them?

Or is it because he had the same moustache as Charlie Chaplin?