Massacre in Blacksburg

onionhead · April 17, 2007, 02:57:39 AM

Today unveiled what has become the most horrific of events in Blacksburg, Virginia as a lone gunman--identity still unreleased by the authorities--relentlessly and mercilessly took the lives of 32 students on the Virginia Tech campus, then turned the gun on himself. The death toll is the highest body count in US history for a spree killing. The spree began in a campus dorm, as the killer shot two students, then later entered and chained shut the doors to a classroom building and began the real slaughter of 28 more, including at least two professors.
One reflects on these events as more and more information is released to the press, and comparisons to similar chapters, such as Columbine and the events at the University of Texas in 1966, are inevitable; one wonders what triggers these unbelievable impulses, and where the next incident will take place. For now there is grieving and unanswered questions, and prayers.
I look at my own children as they sleep, thinking it could have been here. Locally, about a year and a half ago, there was a gunman at the Tacoma Mall who shot 6 and held many others hostage in a music store for hours before his apprehension. His motive was just as mysterious and baffling.
I ramble, I know. I invite your thoughts, but for now I thank God that it wasn't here, and pray for peace and comfort to the families of the victims.

Ash · April 17, 2007, 03:22:54 AM

Most people who go on a shooting rampage go heavily armed but only kill a small number of people.
I've often wondered if they lose some their nerve when they get into the action...which would account for the small numbers of kills.
I mean, look at the Columbine Massacre.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had more guns and probably more ammunition than this lone gunman, but they only killed a fraction of the people (12 total) than this one guy did.

Obviously, this guy didn't lose his nerve and was determined to take out as many people as possible.
Crazy sick f**k.

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Why do mass killings always happen around the time of my birthday?

The Waco Siege ended in a blazing inferno on my 19th birthday.
The Oklahoma City Bombing happened on my 21st birthday.
The Columbine Massacre happened the day after my 25th birthday.

And now the Virginia Tech Massacre just 3 days prior to my 33rd birthday.

What the hell?

My prayers go out to the families of the victims of this senseless violence.

Katie · April 17, 2007, 07:08:25 AM

Columbine was April 20th, 1999. Also Hitler's birthday. And don't feel bad, it is also our daughter's birthday.

Mr_Vindictive · April 17, 2007, 08:11:58 AM

I heard about this yesterday afternoon and watched some of the CNN coverage of it. It's a truly awful situation. 33 dead and about 15 wounded.....

I wonder if it was stress that made the person go out and do this. Could it have been that they were failing out of the college? Whatever the trigger was, it had to start with some type of mental problem that had probably been ongoing.

I wonder if they wasn't someone else involved though. Like Ash said, Columbine was a much smaller number of casualties and that was with two shooters. It's hard for me to imagine that one person could cause some much carnage in such a small period of time.

And yet I fear the outcome of this will be another tirade against videogames and such by our law makers.

fortunato · April 17, 2007, 11:01:11 AM

The government won't be satisfied until every single person in the country is monitored because one guy has a vendetta. I can see them talking about installing metal detectors and cameras at the college to "prevent this from ever happening again" but you know it will. All the law abiding citizens are going to get monitored while all the scumbags and dregs in our society manage to commit these crimes once they figure out a way to do it without getting stopped beforehand. I tell you it just jerks my frickin' chain.

raj · April 17, 2007, 02:45:27 PM

So this week it's Hitler's birthday, Waco, Oklahoma City and now Virginia Tech.
On the other side of the ledger it's Katie's & Andrew's kid's (which one?) birthday and the start of the American Revolution.

Him · April 17, 2007, 04:16:42 PM

Bowling for Virginia Tech.

Coming to a theater near you!

Andrew · April 17, 2007, 04:21:40 PM

Quote from: raj on April 17, 2007, 02:45:27 PM
On the other side of the ledger it's Katie's & Andrew's kid's (which one?) birthday and the start of the American Revolution.

Jenna's, our oldest. She will be four.

Raffine · April 17, 2007, 05:22:58 PM

Quote from: fortunato on April 17, 2007, 11:01:11 AM
The government won't be satisfied until every single person in the country is monitored because one guy has a vendetta. I can see them talking about installing metal detectors and cameras at the college to "prevent this from ever happening again" but you know it will. All the law abiding citizens are going to get monitored while all the scumbags and dregs in our society manage to commit these crimes once they figure out a way to do it without getting stopped beforehand. I tell you it just jerks my frickin' chain.

Quite true. The USSR had that serial killer who killed 60 or so people.

Both sides of the gun control issue are already using this tragedy to demonstrate why their side was right all along.

Snivelly · April 17, 2007, 05:33:53 PM

It makes me mad that they can't even wait until the poor victims are buried before they start with the Ban Guns/Make everyone carry guns debates.

From what I've heard, the guy was here legally, and bought the gun legally from a licensed dealer who did everything he was required to. Gun control laws don't stop unbalanced people from going over the edge and doing something stupid.

And I agree about some people not being satisfied until there were cameras watching us everywhere we go......Someone I know in the UK was appalled once when I explained to her that our cities don't have CCTV cameras all over, and that the townhouse community I live in didn't have them either. she said she would be too scared to sleep at night wondering who might be walking the streets here. I replied that common sense and good strong locks were more protection than cameras, and some of us preferred to feel that WE, as in those of us who aren't criminals, weren't the ones being watched.

raj · April 18, 2007, 12:55:02 PM

Britian has really gone down hill. From what I've read, now you shouldn't even defend yourself if you're getting beaten up as the police will arrest both parties.

And Happy Birthday Jenna

dean · April 19, 2007, 04:07:42 AM

Tough times all round really. Surveillance is up, fear is up, and through it all I find out I can only bring 100ml of water onto a plane for drinkin' when I go overseas. World's coming to a bad place if we aren't careful.

And through it all, I remember back in the Columbine days how serious that was. Yet for me, this massacre doesn't seem to phase many people. I suppose we are on the other side of the world to the US, but whilst the news is making a meal of it here, I haven't talked in depth to anyone about this other than 'wow that's crazy/that sucks' or a brief chat about whether it will spark fresh racism/fear of Asians in the States.

It's almost like everyone here kind of expected something like this to happen eventually, and don't really care that much, and I, for one, don't like feeling that we don't care anymore.

Ash · April 19, 2007, 05:52:02 AM

After hearing about the videos the killer made and the fact that he actually took the time to mail them to NBC right in the middle of the madness tells me that this was one twisted dude.

He wanted attention...plain & simple.
He wanted to be remembered for this and he definitely knew that the media would be all over it.
And he was right...they are all over it.

I think the killer's body should be thrown into an unmarked grave.
No casket either.
Just dig a deep hole and toss him in.
He doesn't deserve a headstone.

RCMerchant · April 19, 2007, 06:32:33 AM

Quote from: dean on April 19, 2007, 04:07:42 AM

Tough times all round really. Surveillance is up, fear is up, and through it all I find out I can only bring 100ml of water onto a plane for drinkin' when I go overseas. World's coming to a bad place if we aren't careful.

Coming? It's there. And things will get worse untill...POOF!!!!!!!!!! That's All FOLKS!

Fausto · April 19, 2007, 07:14:12 AM

Last night, I went over to a friend's house for a club meeting, and the subject of the massacre came up. We ended up finding and reading one of the guy's plays on the internet; it was called "Richard McBeefy" or something like that...not only was it completely deranged, but it was even a poor exercise in craft (and the guy was an english major). This guy seriously had problems, not that its any excuse.